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LOCKE & FISKE
Four Centuries in North America

GEORGE EDWARD H A RT, M .A ., M .E D .

P ublished b y the C om piler

Toronto, O ntario
© 1997 G eorge E dward H art
LOCKE AND FISKE: FOUR CENTURIES IN NORTH AMERICA. C opyright © 1998 by G eorge
Edward H art. A ll R igh ts Reserved. Published in C an ad a b y the C om piler. For
inform ation address G eorge E dw ard H art, 62 R um sey R oad,T oronto O N M 4 G
1N8.

ISBN 0 -968 3251 -0-6

The f i r s t 100 book edition o f this book has b een p r in te d in 11 p o in t A dobe Caslon by
D om inion Blue, Vancouver BC, on a Xerox D ocutech 135 P rinter. P r in tin g stock is
80/b H am m erm ill R egalia P earl vellu m fin ish paper. B in d in g is b y R asm ussen B in d ery
o f N orth Vancouver B C u sin g a fa n double m eth od o f p e r fe ct bin d in g.

Adobe Caslon, the typ efa ce used in this book, is m od eled on m eta l typ es cu t in th e L ondon
fo u n d r y o f W illiam Caslon, w h o released his f i r s t typefaces in 1722. A superb craftsm an
a n d ta len ted artist, Caslon crea ted “th e cornerstone o f E nglish ty p e d esign ”w ith his sim ­
ple, clea r m a s te fu l typefaces, w h ich becam e p op u la r throughout E urope a n d w e r e p a r ­
ticularly fa v o u r e d in th e A m erican Colonies. B en jam in Franklin u sed hardly a n y oth er
typeface. T h efirst p rin tin gs o f th e A m erican D eclaration o f In d ep en d en ce a n d th e C on­
stitu tion w er e set in Caslon. I t is f i t t i n g th a t a typ efa ce w ith these origin s has been
chosen to tell th e sto ry o f fa m ilies w ith roots in th e B ritish Isles a n d N ew E n gla n d ( R ef­
erence: th e Adobe Type Foundry).

D esign b y M cC uaig C reative, Vancouver B C

 To my wife, Jean, without whom there
would be no excusefo r compiling this book.

U b i sun t q u i ante nos fuerunt?

W h e re b eth th e y biforen us w eren...?

U nknow n E n glish poet, ca. 1275 A .D .

In our blood and bone and brain

w e carry the m em ories
o f thousands o f beings.

V.S. N aipaul, A Way in th e World (1994), p. 8

 Contents

Acknowledgements & Foreword ■ix

I • Plymouth Colony
Causes o f E m igration 1 •F ou n d in g a C olony 1 0 -N ew T ow ns 15
R eligious, S ocial a n d P olitica l 17
II ■Our Pilgrim Ancestors
A M a yflo w er F am ily 2 7 •A ncestors in th e F ortune a n d
th e A nne 34 ■P ilgrim A ncestors A fter 1623 41

III ■P ilg rim C ape C od

E xploration a n d S ettlem en t 59 • Cape C od A ncestors 69

IV • Salem and the B a y C olony

Cape A nn 153 • F ounding ofS a lem 1 5 6 -T he Quakers 162
Salem A ncestors 163
V *T h e B ay C olony
M assachusetts B ay C om pany 177 'T h e G reat M igra tion 181
G overnm ent a n d R eligion 184 ■S ocial L ife 186 • “Sedition a n d
H eresy” 188 • R elations w ith the Indian s 192 • M a in e a n d N ew
H am pshire 194 • D orchester 207 ■W atertown 208 • From Theoc­
racy to P rovin ce to R evolu tion a ry L eader 211 ■B ay C olony S ettle­
m ents o f our A ncestors 212
 VI *Massachusetts Bay Colony Ancestors • 217
VII • Martha’s Vineyard
P olitica l 269 ■S ocial 272 • V ineyard A ncestors 275
VIII • Nantucket
S ettlem en t 285 * P o w er S tru ggle 2 8 9 -N antucket A ncestors 291
IX *Rhode Island
F ou n d in g 311 - R hode Isla n d A ncestors 316
X •To Nova Scotia
M igra tion 329 *R eligiou s a n d S ocial 338
R efu gees a n d L oyalists 343

XI •The Locke Connection

N ew H am pshire 347 • N ova Scotia 354 ■H onorable S am uel a n d
S enator Jo h n Locke 390 *E llen Lockes D escen t F rom E dw ard I
T hrough Jo h n Throckm orton 391
XII • The Fiskes
E n gland 393 ■N ew E n gla n d 395 - N ova Scotia 397 •Amasa
F iske-A bigail Sm ith F am ily 401 - A lfred Fisk—M ary E m m a Smith
F am ily 416 •A masa H om er Fiske—E llen Locke F am ily 431
A p p en d ix • R id e r & C h u rch ill
R id er F am ily 441 ■C hurchill F am ily 460

B ib lio grap h y • 475

Index •49 7
 List o f Figures

L and o f M ost o f O ur N ew E n gla n d A ncestors • 60

R oger C on a n t:fou n d er o f Salem, M assachusetts * 165
N orthern N ew E ngland A ncestral T ow ns • 197
Western N ova Scotia • 331
Locke F am ily Streetscape M onum en t , Lockeport, N ova Scotia •346
F rom Joh n Locke to “Dr. "Jonathan Locke in N ew E ngland *349
Lockes in N ova Scotia •355
A. E. Frye's A pplication to M a yflow er Society: H is O rigin o fL etitia R ice •371
A ncestry o f A nn C rowell, M rs. Sam uel Locke • 378
P robate P etition R ega rd in g A nn C row ell Locke • 380
A ncestry o f Hon. S am u el Locke • 382
Lockes B u ria l Ground, Lockeport, N ova Scotia ■388
A ncestry o f A bigail Sm ith, M rs. Amasa Fisk • 405
A ncestry o f A lfred Fisk • 418
A ncestry o f M a ry E m m a Smith, M rs. A lfred Fisk ■421
W ill o f A lexander S m ith *423
N ova Scotia C ourt o f P robate R ecords f o r th e E state c f Ellen G. Fiske *433
P robable A ncestral C hart o f E lizabeth R yder • 459
 Acknowledgements & Foreword

Thanks are due to m y daughters and sons, who share with their mother this g e ­
n ealogical heritage: to Gwendolyn and Jennifer for their interest and encourage­
ment, to Deborah for the use o f her painting inside the book cover, to Charles for
the use o f his London flat during my gleanings in England, to Jonathan for his
family research in Boston and England, and to Alan for computer advice and
substantial publishing assistance.
This incomplete compilation has, o f course, been made possible by the writers
o f early New England history and by genealogists o f individual and multiple fami­
lies. The bibliography at the end o f this book tallies the debt. T he mistakes are
mine own. For more recent times, an interesting aspect o f this project has been
contact with cousins in Nova Scotia and the United States. Richard Capen, o f
Avila Beach, California, was generous in our trading of information. Ann Capstick,
o f Glace Bay, Judy Cole and Evelyn Frank, o f Brookiield, Queen County, W ilbur
D. Fader, o f Cincinnati, Emerson Fiske and his wife Laura, o f Lower Sackville,
Fred Fiske, o f Lawrencetow njohn R. Fiske o f Halifax, Rev. Dr. W allace Fiske, o f
W est Hartford, Connecticut, H elen Ghent, o f Lockeport, M argaret Hamilton, of
W indsor, Nova Scotia, M ary Gonzalez and her son, Michael Burnett, o f Hou­
ston, Texas, and Lillian Ingraham, o f Kennebunk, M aine, all contributed family
gleanings.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society at Boston deserves special
mention: without its library and publications this family history would have been
emaciated. The Public Archives o f Nova Scotia was a rich and fruitful place, with
the help o f its staff, for m y research in Halifax. The Central Reference Library of
Metropolitan Toronto and the Robarts Library o f the University o f Toronto pro-

IX
vided much historical material. I am indebted to James Trevor Bebb, of Lockeport,
for I have quoted him, with his permission, and drawn much knowledge o f the
shipping and trading business o f the Lockes and Churchills from his fascinating
and well-researched Saga o fth e R ugged Islands. M rs. Linda Raffise, director o f the
Queens County Museum, helped generously w ith material and contacts. M rs.
M arie W ilson, APG I, o f Belfast, Northern Ireland, searched for the forebears o f
Captain John McKillip and his wife, Letiria Rice. M rs. Joyce Pendery, CG RS, o f
Falmouth, Cape Cod, has done an original and highly professional inquiry for me
into the origins o f Elizabeth Rider and has carefully supplied reference material.
Special thanks are conveyed to M rs. Eleanor Smith, C .G .(C ), president o f the
Shelburne County Genealogical Society, who did thorough research for me on
some o f our New England ancestors in western Nova Scotia, provided fresh clues
and copies o f original documents and helped solve difficult problems.
This book centres primarily on the origins in the British Isles and New Eng­
land o f the families o f Amasa Homer Fiske and Ellen Locke and secondarily the
family o f his uncle Amasa Fiske and aunt Abigail Smith. This compilation has
drawn upon early records o f colony and town but it also owes much to all those
family historians, mostly o f New England, who have searched primary sources
and painstakingly compiled articles and books on their particular families. C o­
operating family members have helped to trace recent generations. For the benefit
of Canadian descendants who have not been grounded in the history of the New
England colonies I have made a brief summary of the coming o f our ancestors and
of their social, religious and political condition, without being their apologist or
their judge. We can be proud of their courage, their industry, their striving to­
wards a democratic society, and their strong family values.
The total descent chart of ten generations and 500 ancestors goes back in some
cases to the Plymouth planters, three coming in the M ayflow er in 1620, some in
the Fortune in 1621 and the Anne in 1623 and others in later ships. Some were
“saincts” and others were “strangers” who joined in the great overseas adventure
for reasons other than religious. Some of the English pioneers settled in Salem
and then moved to Nantucket to take up land grants and new opportunity or, if
they were Quakers or Baptists, to avoid further persecution by the Puritans. Five
o f our ancestral families were among the seven who moved from Plymouth in
1644 to establish Eastham in Cape Cod. Others are found at W atertown and
M arthas Vineyard and many other places in Massachusetts and in M aine and
New Hampshire. Two o f our families went with Roger W illiam s and helped found
Rhode Island and two at least were on the Loyalist side in the American Revolu­
tion.
I say “our ancestors”, but they are the forebears o f my wife and her people on her
mother’s side and o f my children and their cousins. This host, mostly o f New
Englanders, arc mine only vicariously and through spending much time with them
and sharing their joys and sorrows, their life and death. Some it was easier to get to
know because they were public figures. Others lived their quiet lives. Regretfully
the women often got little space in the records o f a society run by men, except the
name o f their husband and the many children they bore. As far as facts are avail­
able, they take their proud and rightful place in this story.
Apart from the historical backgrounds, this book is a genealogical dictionary in
the alphabetical order of the surnames, but arranged, as the table o f contents shows,
according to the areas in which those families lived, worked and worshipped: Ply­
mouth Colony, Cape C od, M assachusetts B ay Colony, M arth a’s V ineyard,
Nantucket, Rhode Island, and Nova Scotia. Included in the B ay Colony are M aine
and New Hampshire, which were a while part o f its territory or administration.
The numbering system is A hnentafel (ancestor table in German), which has been
in use more than a century. By this format, the father o f a person #1 is given the
number 2 and the mother is one more (2+1), #3. Therefore, all male ancestors
have even numbers and all female ancestors have odd numbers. I f a man is # 8 in
the table, his father is #16 and his mother is one more, #17. I f his wife, our mother
ancestor, is #9, her father is #18 and her mother is #19. Because a person may be
several times our ancestor through different lines o f descent, he or she w ill have
several ahnentafels. These numbers are shown at the head o f each individuals
sketch and in the index and the quadrant charts o f total descent. T hey w ill pertain
to the ancestors o f my wife’s grandparents, Am asa Homer Fiske and Ellen Locke.
Because the ancestry o f his mother; M ary Emma Sm ith, is unsure, her ancestors
will be shown w ith ahnentafel numbers w ith h added for hypothetical. The perti­

XI
nent dictionary items throughout the volume and a special section and chart in
chapter twelve w ill trace the ancestry o f A bigail Sm ith, M rs. Amasa Fisk, whose
ancestors will have an ahnentafel number w ith a added. Fisk(e) ancestors will
have no letter added to their ahnentafel numbers but Locke ancestors will have L
added. Thus, to repeat, plain numbers w ill indicate Fisk(e) descent, a numbers the
Abigail Sm ith line, b numbers the hypothetical M ary Emma Smith line, and the
L numbers the Locke side. Please note that the charts do not convey the doubt
implicit in the hypotheses which rest on a preponderance o f evidence. The text
presents the arguments and the caveats where the ancestral line is more or less
speculative.
The modem spelling o f first names is used. Although W illiam Bradford wrote
the name Steven Hopkins, Strachy s N arrative o f 1610 tells o f the mutiny of
Stephen Hopkins. H is son’s name was often Gyles but appears here as Giles.
Constanta was the L atin baptismal name, Bradford used, o f Stephens daughter
but she was also Constant and Constance. W hen documents o f that time are
quoted,ye for the is barred from this book. T h e y descends from an Early English
symbol for tb, and, therefore, the article written in this way was meant as a neutral
but necessary word before a noun. To repeat y e in quoting a document is to give
the text and content a quaintness that was not there and not meant, a quaintness
that smacks o f Ye Olde Plimouth Inne o f the tourist trade.
A work like this is to be dipped into, gap-filled and corrected. For instance, we
do not yet know the Irish parentage of John McKillip who lived, perhaps briefly,
in Philadelphia and then captained a British transport that in 1783 brought Loy­
alists from New York to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Finding his Ulster home and
forebears has so far proved impossible because then each Presbyterian minister
owned the church records and could decide whether to make and preserve them
and also because wills were lost in the burning of the Registry Building in Dublin
in 1922 during the civil war. Despite time and money spent, we have not found his
North Irish fam ily nor that o f his wife Letitia Rice. Strangely, Captain John
McKillip's name is not found in Carleton's Index o f the names of 55,000 Loyal­
ists and their associates contained in the British HQPapers, New YorkCity 1774-
1783.

Xll
 If you want to know about your ancestors in western Nova Scotia in the period
1760-1780, just hope they settled in Barrington, Liverpool or Yarmouth rather
than Ragged Islands or Sable River where scratching for a living seems to have
pre-empted the keeping o f vital records. The same lack of birth, marriage and
burial records obtains for the early days in the northern district of Queens County,
Nova Scotia. W hen late in the eighteenth century the pioneers moved there, they
did not continue the keeping o f vital records by church and community. The Bap­
tist church that grew there preserved only the facts of adult baptisms, members,
committees and subscriptions. Tracing some of the people of that time and place
is like chasing fireflies. A caution is, therefore, entered here. Despite stubborn
searches, the parentage of M ary Smith, the wife o f Alfred Fisk and the mother of
Amasa Homer Fiske, as shown in this book, is based not upon documentary evi­
dence but upon a strong presumption, the argument for which will be set out in
chapter twelve.
The Appendix requires explanation. Despite an arduous and unrelenting search
we have not found a record o f the birthdate, birthplace and parentage of the Eliza­
beth Ryder who married Jonathan Locke, Jr. nor enough data to apply the Pre­
ponderance of Evidence Argument. Plainly we do not know when or where she
was born nor who were her parents. A good guess, however, would be that she was
the daughter o f John Rider and Priscilla Churchill, both o f Plymouth, Massachu­
setts, whose purpose o f marriage was recorded there on 3 December 1757. The
tenuous connection o f Elizabeth with this couple from a genealogist s point of
view prevents me from integrating the biographical sketches o f John and Priscillas
ancestors into the main body o f this book. In the hope that this parentage will
eventually be proved, their interesting history will be appended.
Having grieved about records not found, we celebrate those who did carefully
keep them. The glass may be one-fifth empty but it is four-fifths full.

George E dward Hart

Toronto , February 1998

XIII
 I
Plymouth Colony

CAUSES OF EMIGRATION

hy did many English individuals and families emigrate in the early part of
W the seventeenth century? W h at impelled them to undertake a voyage of
two or three months in a small ship and face danger and extreme hardship in an
unknown wilderness? H ad they heard about the Roanoke disaster when from 1585
to 1590 the w itty and adventurous Sir W alter Raleigh, backed by Queen Eliza­
beth and other investors, sent out two colonizing fleets with settlers, o f whom
some died and the rest mysteriously disappeared? The two Virginia Companies,
one at London and the other at Plymouth, Devon, took a long tim e to realize the
causes of failure: the complicated problems o f the settlers, inadequate financing,
insufficient supplies o f food and clothing, the small scale of the enterprise, and the
reaction of Indians to the encroachment and sometimes treachery of the white
man. Perhaps the many emigrants had not heard that at Jamestown in 1607 epi­
demic, starvation and dissension finished off 73 of 105 settlers. But in the end
Jamestown was a success with new leadership, more supplies and better skilled
colonists.
Several forces were at work between the sailing of the M ayflow er and the out­
break o f the civil war in 1642 to cause England to lose many thousands of its
people to the American colonies. W hen Charles the First was executed in 1649
there were about 50,000 settlers on the American seaboard and in the Caribbean
from a country with a population o f about four million. Some historians give
weight to economic and political factors. They point to the low standard o f living
o f the peasantry, the crowded hovels, the deplorable sanitation, the monotonous

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diet and the life expectancy o f thirty-five years. The Thirty Years’ W ar closed
European markets for English goods and brought on a severe economic depres­
sion in England, especially in the cloth industry, between 1620 and 1635, falling
to its worst slump in 1629. Bad crops between that year and 1633 added to the
misery, during which multitudes were out o f work, food prices soared and riots
broke out. In the small towns and villages o f East Anglia and the W est Country,
where the cottage industry of spinning and weaving had supplemented farm wages,
the jobless and the younger sons o f the gentry drifted into the growing towns, in
which the number of indigents was mounting. The holdings of five acres or less
were disappearing as owners of estates and wealthy farmers raised the rents and
prospered by the cheap labour o f landless farm workers. One strong motive, then,
for emigrating was the desire to make a living and to get twenty or forty acres or
more o f freehold land, which for almost all were beyond realization in their own
country.
The aristocracy and gentry suffered when Charles transformed ship money
from a tax on seaports to a general land tax, declared most o f Essex a Royal Forest
and fined families for encroachments retroactive to 1309. In protest o f taxation
and forced loans without the consent o f Parliament three o f the principal gentry
in Essex went to prison and the Earl o f W arw ick lost the lord lieutenancy. There
was a general fear that the king would use the money for a m ilitary force to stamp
out dissent.
Added to all this was the use of the joint-stock company for the planting of
colonies, a means o f financing privateering, foreign trade and exploration that had
become popular after 1550 because it shared the risk among many investors and
often returned large profits. The technical knowledge gained by navigators and
first settlers could not be brought into play without the investment of substantial
capital by the great merchants and then only after grandees like the Earl of W ar­
wick were able to obtain a charter and monopoly from the Crown, which itself
was interested in sovereignty over those foreign shores and their fish, timber, min­
erals and produce for the enrichment of England. M uch as a charter would pro­
nounce the aims o f converting the heathen and propagating the gospel, the ad­

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

venturers were naturally interested in profit. At the same time, some o f diem deeply
desired to create a religious haven overseas.
Religious dissent played a part in the exodus o f so many English people in
those times. After the Reformation the ruler o f each nation state believed a single
religion was necessary to unify the country and maintain his authority. W hen
Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558 she tried to settle the divisive religious
disputes by passing acts that required people to accept the uniform faith o f the
Church o f England, to attend church on Sundays and holy days and to take
communion at least three times a year. The extreme Protestants wanted a simpler
form o f worship untainted by reminders o f the Church o f Rome such as the sign
o f the cross and the surplice and vestments. The puritan movement arose during
Elizabeths reign as an attempt to reform the Church o f England from within and
to make it more Protestant. T h ey objected to those ministers who were poorly
educated or held several livings and only came by to pick up their stipends. They
objected to the bishops, some o f whom were worldly and avaricious, and to their
sumptuous living and gay apparel. They objected to the sporting observance of
the Lord’s Day. There were quite a number o f puritan Church o f Englanders,
both ministers and laity, particularly in East A nglia and the W est Country.
The more radical o f the Puritans came to adopt the proposition o f W illiam
Fulke (1584) that congregations had the right to select their own pastor and
other officers, to approve or reject the decisions o f those officers and to discipline
their members. W hen King James applied his logic he saw that if ordinary people
could make their own judgments about their faith they might also feel free to do
so about the government of their earthly kingdom. Here was a radical and dan­
gerous philosophy. Two years earlier, Robert Browne, a graduate o f Cambridge,
wrote two works stating that the worthiest in a parish should secede or separate
and organize an independent congregation under a free covenant that gave each
communicant a role. A communicant, however, had to be a “sainct” or firm be­
liever whose acts and words the limited membership o f his or her congregation
would continuously review. Browne wrote that neither the church nor the magis­
trates had the right “to compell Religion, to plant churches by Power, and to
enforce submission to ecclesiastical Government by laws and penalties.” He was

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

twice jailed by the bishop but as a distant relative o f Lord Burghley he was able to
get out and flee to Holland, a tolerant land. Returning to England after a time, he
recanted and became the vicar o f an Anglican parish in Northamptonshire. By
that time, however, his ideas o f a separate church and its close circle o f saints
were w ell implanted.
The story o f W illiam Brewster w ill be told here because he was active in the
separatist movement and exemplified the finest qualities o f the Pilgrim band. He
had much to do with forming the refugee group o f Pilgrim s in the Netherlands
and with shaping the New W orld colony to which they came with their courage
and their aspirations.
Beside the slow Ryton River near a hamlet called Scrooby in the northern tip
o f Nottinghamshire stood a centuries-old palace o f forty rooms and apartments,
with a moat around it, belonging to the archbishopric o f York. Here sovereigns
and the great had broken their long journeys: H enry VU’s daughter M ary on her
way to marry James IV o f Scotland; Cardinal W olsey for a month ruefully look­
ing back on “the blushing honours thick upon him”, nipped by “a frost, a killing
frost”; and King Hal him self on his northern progress. Here when he was about
nine years old came W illiam Brewster to live with his mother, M ary (Smythe)
and W illiam , his father, whose family was o f the landed gentry and whom Arch­
bishop Grindal of York had appointed as bailiff and receiver o f the domain con­
sisting o f seventeen towns and many farms. Soon afterwards Grindal was suc­
ceeded as Archbishop o f York by Edwin Sandys, who leased it for small rent to
his eldest son, Sir Samuel, whose son Sir Edwin of the Council o f Virginia later
facilitated, at Elder Brewster’s request, the Pilgrim’s emigration to America. A l­
though the manor house was somewhat decayed and some secondary buildings
were gone, it was still phalanxed by several smaller houses, stables and kennels
and a blacksmith’s forge, a granary, a bakehouse and a brewery. W ith these serv­
ices at his disposal, W illiam Senior also became the master of that station o f the
royal post to serve paying travellers and to forward government documents.
W hen in December of 1580 the lad of about age fourteen had learned to write
and speak enough English and Latin, his father was able to pay the £50 a year for
W illiam to enter 300-year-old Peterhouse College, Cambridge University, as a

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

pensioner rather than as a sizar who worked his way by doing menial tasks. A l­
ready the master for twenty-six years, Dr. Andrew Peme, was known by students
as “Dr. Turncoats” although he, unlike the V icar of Bray, sir, changed from Prot­
estant to Catholic and back again according to the regime for the avowed reason
o f protecting his college and the university fellows. A classmate and the closest
friend ofW illiam Brewster, George Johnson was to suffer excommunication, ban­
ishment, shipwreck and finally death in the prison at Durham after w riting a book
on the English church in Amsterdam. Another classmate, John Penry, was to be
hanged for his beliefs.
A strange happening led W illiam Brewster away from Cambridge at the end
o f his third year without taking his degree. H e was invited, as a young man w ith
a knowledge o f Latin and some Greek, to join the staff o f Sir W illiam Davison, a
scholarly diplomat. Archbishop Sandys m ay have recommended him or Davison
may have stayed at Scrooby M anor on his w ay to Scotland. In August o f 1585
Elizabeth sent Davison to Holland, which had appealed to her for help against
the powerful Catholic Spain. A t besieged Leyden young Brewster saw the suffer­
ing o f its citizens and at The Hague the strutting and wastefulness o f the Earl of
Leicester, whom the Dutch had made their governor-general. At his departure
Davison was presented by the Dutch with a great gold chain, which he asked
Brewster to wear in the cavalcade down to London. Pleased with the mission,
Elizabeth made Davison second secretary o f state under Sir Francis W alsingham.
For eighteen years Elizabeth had kept in protective custody her first cousin
once removed, Mary, once Queen o f France and now deposed Queen o f Scot­
land, for whom not a few English Catholic nobles and aristocrats had conspired
or risen against the “Protestant bastard” Elizabeth and for whom in 1586 the
wealthy and quixotic Sir Anthony Babington and his accomplices hatched a plot,
approved in French by M ary in a letter that the agents o f Walsingham inter­
cepted, to assassinate Elizabeth and w ith foreign help to place M ary on the Eng­
lish throne, and for whom Philip o f Spain might strike at any time. A delegation
from both houses o f parliament prayed the Queen to sign a warrant for the ex­
ecution o f Queen M ary for the safety o f England’s queen, realm and religion.
Elizabeth did not want to suffer the opprobrium o f Europe for doing so. M ary of

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Scots was tried and found guilty. W alsingham being ill, perhaps conveniently, Sir
W illiam Davison on 1 February 1587 brought the warrant to the queen buried
among other documents, as she requested. By her conversation with him she
showed herself quite aware o f what she was signing. Indeed, to save herself con­
tumely, she ordered Walsingham to write to S ir Amyas Paulet, the Puritan keeper
at Fotheringhay Castle, to express regret that the custodians had not “found out
some way to shorten the life o f that Queen, . . but Paulet refused “to make so foul
a shipwreck o f his conscience.” In the early morning o f 8 February the Queen o f
Scots laid her head on the block in the great hall o f the castle. Elizabeth declared
that Davison had disobeyed her order to keep the signed warrant in his hands and
not to show it to the other Councillors, that Burghley should not have proceeded.
The queen’s wrath fell upon the lesser man o f state, Davison, and she would have
hanged him but for the intercession o f Burghley. Found guilty o f negligence by
the Star Chamber Court, Davison was fined 10,000 marks and committed to the
Tower. W illiam Brewster as a confidential assistant performed for Davison, in
Bradford’s words, “manie faithfull offices o f service in the time o f his troubles.”
Once the Spanish Arm ada had been routed by storm and by the fast English ships
and the fireships, Elizabeth was happier. She ended Davisons twenty-month stay
in the Tower, remitted his fine and the costs o f his confinement but refused to
employ him further. Bradford wrote after Brewsters death about Davisons atti­
tude to his assistant (p. 325):

Whofo u n d him so discreet andfaithful as he trusted him more than a ll others

that w ere about him, and only em ployed him in a ll m atters o f greatest trust
and secrecy; he esteemed him rather as a son than a servant , an d fo r his w is­
dom and godliness he w ould converse w ith him in p riva te more like a fr ie n d
andfam iliar than a master.

About the beginning o f 1589 Brewster returned to Scrooby to do the work of

his ailing father, who died the next summer. W hen the postmaster-general gave
the post to another, Davison and Lord Burghley intervened to have the decision
changed and Brewster made the postmaster. In that office and as the bailiff o f

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

Scrooby Manor, Brewster had a substantial living for the next thirteen years. In
1591-2 he married M ary (maiden name unproved), and on 12 August 1593 she
gave birth to Jonathan.
In 1603 James I received a petition from a thousand reformist ministers, asking
for the choice o f wearing a surplice or not, for omission of priest , absolution and the
sign o f the Cross from the Anglican Prayer Book, for weekly sermons by compe­
tent ministers, for proper observance o f Sunday, for a conference and for a better
translation of the Bible. The Commons favoured the petition but the bishops
were inalterably opposed. Next year at the Hampton Court Conference, King
James sided with the bishops and told the Puritans to conform or he would "harry
them out o f the land”. He decreed the use of the Book o f Common Prayer and
forbade private religious meetings. Each clergyman must declare that nothing in
the Prayer Book was contrary to the word of God. Among the 300 ministers who
lost their right to preach by refusing to make that declaration was the young Rev.
John Robinson, former dean of Corpus Christi College, who was forced out of
his first pastorate at Norwich.
In 1606 the Separatist theorist and preacher John Smyth came to Gainsborough
and attracted a congregation from a large area. For convenience a part met at
Scrooby, with Richard Clyfton as their pastor, often in the manor house o f the
archdiocese. Brewster the postmaster entertained them, as Bradford later wrote,
“w ith great love,. . .making provision for them to his great charge” (p. 326) One
o f those attending, despite “the wrath o f his uncles” and “the scoff o f his neighbors”,
was the lad W illiam Bradford, who as a baby had lost his yeoman father to death
and who from age twelve had studied the Geneva Bible. After two years o f care­
ful thought the thirty-year-old John Robinson, influenced by John Smyth and
W illiam Brewster, joined the Separation. The following year, 1607, the authori­
ties struck. Some were jailed and others were watched day and night. A grandson
of the high sheriff o f Nottingham was clapped in prison for religious speeches
and frequenting secret illegal meetings. Warrants were issued for three others
including a brother-in-law o f the Robinsons. On 30 September W illiam Brewster
resigned as postmaster and a few months later appeared on a charge of religious

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

disobedience before the Court of H igh Commissioners, and with others got off
with a £20 fine.
John Smyth and his congregation took refuge in Amsterdam. The Scrooby group
quietly sold their property and made their way to Boston on the Wash. They were
breaking the law in that they did not get a governmental permit to leave the coun­
try. The skipper o f the vessel took their money and then turned them over to the
customs officers. Brewster, Robinson, Clyfton and four others were confined for
this secular offence but after a time were released without going to trial. After
lying low for a time they engaged to meet with a Dutch captain on a lonely part of
the coast but after one boatful got aboard, a large number of country folk sur­
prised those left on shore. The Privy Council, the ecclesiastical authorities, and
the local magistrates took no action against them. The Scrooby group decided to
make their clandestine departure a few at a time. Brewster, Clyfton and Robinson
helped them in their flights and left last.
Religious turmoil in the Ancient Brethren in Amsterdam led the small Scrooby
group to depart for Leyden in 1609. Those known to us are W illiam and M ary
Brewster and their children, Jonathan, Patience, Fear, and W restling; John and
Bridget Robinson and their small children; Richard Clyfton and Ann and their
three sons; and W illiam Bradford, twenty years old. They were without a pastor,
for John Sm yth had founded the English Baptist movement,rejecting infant bap­
tism and Calvinistic predestination and holding to the Arminian doctrine that
the individual was responsible for die salvation o f his or her souk Jonathan Brewster
learned ribbon-making. H is father had a hard time at first, having used his ample
means to help others, but solved the problem by teaching English to university
students. By 1611 the group bought an old house for a parsonage and meeting
house and the Robinsons moved in. John Robinson as pastor is described as wise,
gende and resourceful. W illiam Brewster became the firm, prayerful ruling elder.
There came George and Thomas Morton, the Carpenters, Edward Southworth,
Isaac Allerton, Francis Cooke, Robert Cushman, and others. Some o f the men,
like W illiam Bradford and Jonathan Brewster, became citizens o f Leyden so as to
belong to the guilds and get employment.

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

In 1616-7 W illiam Brewster set up the Pilgrim Press and soon published a
book by John Robinson and a book entitled Perth Assembly, which attacked the
attempts o f King James to impose bishops on the Scots, who had enjoyed then-
own Presbyterian church since 1560. Copies o f this book were smuggled into
Scotland in empty wine vats. The English ambassador at The Hague reported to
the king that a Brownist by the name o f W illiam Brewster had published the
book. Brewster went into hiding and in the confusion that his supportive group
stirred up, he was reported now in London, now in Leyden. The ambassador
seized press and type in the shop in Choir Alley but eventually gave up. W illiam
Brewster would likely have been hanged if he had been caught. H e hid almost a
year and a half, probably in England. H e was living in London, in mid-1619,
probably at D ukes Place (in Aldgate), a safe place for Separatists and Puritans
because they could not be charged with absence from the parish church where no
such structure existed.
After ten years the Pilgrims became restless because they were bowed w ith
heavy work and their children were being influenced by the more worldly town
life o f the Dutch city. Even there the Pilgrims were within the reach o f King
James because Holland did not want to lose England’s financial aid and the P il­
grims feared that Catholic Spain would renew the war against the Low Coun­
tries when the twelve-year truce would end in 1621. T hey began to dream o f a
place where they might have religious freedom and live comfortably. They turned
down an offer to become the first colonists o f New Netherland because, unlike the
Puritans who came afterwards to Am erica, they acknowledged the kings sover­
eignty and wished to live in his dominions. T hey also wanted their children to live
in the English language and in the Separatist beliefs and practice. In 1617 they
decided to emigrate to some part o f the large territory known as Virginia. They
drew up “Seven Articles” to placate King James and to play down the difference
between them and the Church o f England. The king refused them liberty o f con­
science but promised not to molest them.
In 1619 the Virginia Company granted them a charter to settle near die mouth
o f the Hudson River. In M ay o f that year Samuel A rgali brought to England
news that o f 180 members o f the English congregation o f Amsterdam who had

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

set out for V irginia, 130 along with the captain and six sailors had perished during
a horrendous voyage. Nevertheless, the separatist congregation o f 300 in Leyden
decided to send an advance party, which consisted o f twenty-three men, thirteen
women and seventeen children under the leadership o f John Carver, a wealthy
merchant, assisted by W illiam Brewster and W illiam Bradford. Because most o f
the congregation voted not to go, it was decided that Rev. John Robinson would
stay with them and W illiam Brewster would be the spiritual leader o f those de­
parting. M erchant adventurers headed by John Peirce and Thomas Weston, after
long negotiations, agreed to allow a self-governing plantation, to finance the voy­
age and to recruit other emigrants in return at the end o f seven years for h alf of
the assets and h alf o f the profits from the proposed cod fishery. On 22 Ju ly 1620
the group boarded their purchased sixty-ton Speedw ell at Delftshaven for the
voyage to Southampton, saying goodbye to family and friends and bowing their
heads to the tearful prayer o f Pastor Robinson.

FOUNDING A COLONY

Two ships set out on the fifth o f August with about 120 passengers. The leaking
Speedwell-put into Dartmouth and then Plymouth for repairs and finally had to be
dismissed after costing a delay of seven weeks. Eighteen or twenty o f the company
were left behind because the M ayflow er had not enough room for all. (Some o f
them went back to Leyden and came later in the Fortune in 1621, the Anne in
1623 and the second M ayflow er in 1629). A fairly large ship for the time, the
M ayflow erw zs crammed with supplies and 102 passengers, about a third o f these
from Leyden and the rest “strangers”, most o f them members o f the Church of
England, recruited by the merchants. They sailed on 6 September. In m id-Atlan­
tic the pounding o f gale-driven seas opened up seams in the deck so that icy water
spilled down on the frightened passengers in their narrow bunks. The M ayflow er
was blown off course to Cape Cod, which was 250 miles from their destination
north of the Hudson River but, meeting contrary winds, shoals and breakers, they
rounded the cape and on 19 November 1620 sighted land and were relieved to end
a voyage of sixty-six days in what is now the spacious harbour of Provincetown.

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

The company spent a month looking for a good place to settle before they
crossed to Plymouth Harbour. Finding many deserted com fields and the skel­
etons o f Indians, an exploring party realized that they had been killed by pesti­
lence. W illiam Bradford s young wife, Dorothy, drowned. Did she or did she not
jump overboard under the stress o f having left her crying little boy John in Leyden
and fearing the w ild land? One o f the exploring parties crossed Cape Cod Bay on
11 December and found a good harbour and a place that had been inhabited by a
tribe wiped out by plague. The M ayflow er crossed on 20 December. A covenant to
combine the group into a civil body politic was signed by twelve masters, h alf o f
them saints and half strangers, among the latter of whom was Stephen Hopkins,
our ancestor, and by twenty-seven “goodmen”. By this Mayflower Compact the
smaller body o f Separatists sought to retain power and to allay the discontent of
the larger body o f non-separatists. The women as legal chattels did not sign.
The planters went ashore on 26 December and started work on a communal
house, for they considered Christmas, and Easter too, as a human invention. They
made a road they called Leyden Street leading from the shore and on each side
built houses w ith garden plots. M ost stayed a month in the ship till shelters could
be built. After months of poor diet, unwholesome quarters and overexertion, many
died o f scurvy and ship fever that first winter, including h alf o f the crew o f the
M ayflower , which stayed on till early spring to support the colony. The people
burned juniper to cover the smell o f death, for they were losing as many as three
in a single day. Only five of the eighteen wives and h alf o f the heads o f household
survived. Death and privation m ight have been worse but for an unusually mild
winter and the vital help o f the Indians.
Some time after they had crossed to Plymouth the Pilgrims had a visit from an
English-speaking Indian called Samoset, a tall Abenaki chief from up the M aine
coast, whom they entertained w ith liquor and food and who befriended them. He
told them that the Patuxet, a formidable tribe, had lived in this land until a plague
wiped them out in 1617 (probably smallpox spreading from English trading posts
in M aine). Samoset brought to the settlement Squanto, a native American who
became the Pilgrims’ guide and interpreter. Taken as a specimen to England, he
remained there for nine years until Captain John Smith brought him back in

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

1614 but soon one o f Sm iths captains took Squanto and some o f his tribesmen as
slaves to Spain. Squanto escaped to England and came back via Newfoundland
to New England in 1619 and found his entire tribe had died. These two men
arranged a visit o f the overlord chief M assasoit and with their help the Pilgrims
made w ith him, and thus w ith all the tribes under the dominion o f the Wampanoag,
a m utual-aid pact which lasted till his death forty years later. So their fears and
difficulties were eased somewhat. W ithout the help o f Squanto, their friend and
interpreter, it is doubtful whether the Pilgrim s would have survived. H e is cred­
ited with teaching them how to hunt in this new environment, to fish w ith traps,
to choose berries safe for eating and to plant corn w ith a fish underneath for
fertilizer.
W hen John Carver, the first governor, died suddenly in A pril o f 1621, a younger
group o f leaders took over, W illiam Bradford as longtime governor, short, irasci­
ble M yles Standish, the professional soldier hired as captain o f m ilitia, and suave,
plausible Edward W inslow, the diplomatic envoy. Not one o f this group was an
officer o f the church and thus, unlike the B ay Colony, the Plymouth Plantation
was not heavily influenced by pastors but governed by representatives whom the
freemen elected annually. Even though the predominant control was always with
the separatists, men such as Stephen Hopkins and M yles Standish became assist­
ant governors but their families were assimilated into the Pilgrim culture. Indeed,
to maintain the Pilgrim ethos only forty-eight freemen controlled town affairs in
nearly fifty years.
In November of 1621 after nearly four months at sea came the little ship For­
tune with thirty-five passengers in good health, some from Leyden but most of
them strangers. The Fortune brought no store o f supplies but a patent from the
Council o f New England, at last giving the colony a right to the land according to
English law. On half rations, the Pilgrims spent the winter at heavy labour. As
the result o f an Indian scare, Standish organized the m ilitia into four companies,
one o f which Stephen Hopkins commanded.
In 1623, acting on an unsubstantiated rumour o f a plot against the colony, the
Pilgrim General C ourt sent Standish and his men against the Massachusetts
tribe.They knifed the chief and a number o f braves. Iyanough, a Cape Cod sachem

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

who is described in M ourts Relation (p. 70) as young, personable, gentle and cour­
teous and who had generously traded more hogsheads o f com and beans than he
could spare, along w ith two other chiefs and their people, fearing the English
would attack them, abandoned their villages for the swamps, where Iyanough be­
came ill and died. The starving planters were now afraid to forage in Indian terri­
tory and for a time were entirely dependent on the produce they grew and the fish
and game they caught.
In the summer o f 1623 came the Anne and the L ittle Jam es with 93 passengers
between them. Among them were Edward Bangs and N icholas Snow. The previ­
ous autumn some o f those passengers had set out in the Paragon but after two
weeks had to return to port to repair the leaks caused by heavy seas. Once again
they sailed but in the middle o f the ocean in mid-February their ship lost its
mainmast and upper works and nearly sank in a terrifying storm. The ship with
109 people aboard limped back to Plymouth, Devon. And so they came again in
the calm summer and got their plots o f land. In 1624 this first permanent settle­
ment in New England had a population o f 124, three years later 156, and by 1630
about 300.
Besides the rigours of the new land and encroachment on Indian territory and
culture, there were structural reasons w hy the Plymouth Colony became a loss to
its investors in England and a hard experience for its settlers. Not only did the
investors not come to live in the colony but they tried to govern it from London.
They sent colonists and supplies on the basis of unreliable and contradictory in­
formation because they did not realize that for the best of motives W illiam Brad­
ford, the governor, Edward W inslow, the emissary, and W illiam Brewster, the
influential ruling elder, were hiding from them the death of over half the M ayflower s
passengers in the first winter and the reluctance of the surviving settlers to grow
corn under a system in which the settlers were really servants o f the company of
English investors and in which the land and houses, produce and profits from
trade belonged to the company. If the settlers could not provide enough to main­
tain them the company was to send them supplies. The adventurers in London
sent out more colonists, expecting them to find a plenteous welcome and not to be
regarded as extra mouths to be fed from a scant store.

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

To make matters worse, the worried stockholders differed among themselves

about the direction of the colony. In 1623 one faction sent an independent, John
Oldham, in the Anne to report the real situation to the governors of the Ply­
mouth Company. Accompanied by his wife and indentured servants, he was to
make his own living. A t first as a man of some standing and means he was ac­
cepted into the small ruling circle. He pleased them when he concluded that fishing,
cattle-raising and trade with the Indians were good ways to make money. But he
displeased them when he reported the many deaths, the famishing and the ill
success o f the communal ownership of land and produce. He enraged the Pilgrim
leaders by holding religious and political ideas similar to those of the Reverend
John Lyford, whom the Company sent over in 1624.
The “particulars” who paid their way in the Anne and other discontented set­
tlers gathered around Lyford and Oldham. The puritan Episcopal minister ar­
ranged a public meeting on the Lord’s Day, even baptized the infant o f an A ngli­
can family with the hated Sign o f the Cross, and was seen to be writing and
discussing letters. Governor Bradford went out to the ship Charity, W illiam Peirce
master, as he recounts in O f Plymouth Plantation (p. 150):

The G overnor and some other o f his frien ds, knowing how things
stood in E ngland and w hat hurt these things m ight d o , took a shallop and
w en t out w ith the ship a league or tw o to sea, and called f o r a ll LyfbreTs and
Oldham’s letters. ...H efou n d about tw enty ofL yford’s letters, m any ofthem
large an d f u l l o f slanders and fa lse accusations, tending not only to their
prejudice, but to their ruin and utter subversion. M ost o f the letters they let
pass, only took copies o f them; but some o f the most m aterial they sent true
copies o f them and kept the originals lest he should deny them, and that they
m ight produce his ow n hand against him.

Now he had proof of “treason”. Lyford proposed that the particulars or inde­
pendents should have a vote and the right to hold office and that each future
settler should be a shareholder who, if he lacked cash, could work out his ten-
pound share. Some of these ideas were based on Oldham’s experience. W hen the

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hot-tempered Oldham learned o f Bradfords reading o f private mail he was furi­

ous. He and Lyford were tried for plotting against the Saints and disturbing the
peace, charges that the governor supported by reading aloud the letters he had
taken from the ship. T hey were found guilty and expelled. Oldham led a number
o f discontented to Nantasket and Roger Conant followed soon.
W illiam Hubbard, an early historian, tells the story o f a sharp contest over a
fishing stage at Cape Ann between Plymouth men, led by M yles Standish, and
Mr. Hewes, employed by W est Country merchants. It might have ended in slaugh­
ter “had not the prudence and consideration o f Roger Conant” and Captain Peirce
“tim ely prevented.” Hubbard, who is generally serious and unjudgmental, de­
scribes Standish: “A little chimney is soon fired; so was the Plymouth captain, a
man o f very little stature, yet of a very hot and angry temper.” (p. I l l )

N EW TO W N S

The Lyons Whelp came with passengers in 1629 but by the end o f the decade,
poverty ended organized efforts to add to the settlement o f Plymouth ju st as the
large well-financed migrations o f Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony be­
gan. During the 1630s thousands o f English settlers poured into the New World.
Those fast growing Bay settlements bought all the corn, hay and livestock that
Plymouth could produce. In 1632 the authorities divided thousands o f acres among
the fifty-eight Purchasers according to each one’s number o f shares in the Ply­
mouth Colony. The colony really belonged to the Purchasers, who had long been
struggling to pay off the exorbitant monetary demands o f the adventurers in Eng­
land and who kept a tight control of the electoral machinery and the governing
process. Bradford was not a strong believer in democracy.
The population was growing beyond the ability of Plymouth Town to provide
sustenance. Despite a terrible rate of infant and maternal mortality, seven or eight
offspring reached maturity in the average family. Its leaders knew that they re­
quired more immigrants to make the Colony a going concern but they were tom
between keeping a tight control of their land and letting in more strangers. Ply­
mouth gradually and unwillingly developed a policy o f allowing some o f its fami­
lies to start new towns within its territory and letting in outsiders “fitt for church

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

societie” to settle areas to the west and north and across the Bay to Cape Cod. The
General Court made the original grants o f land to local proprietors and closely
supervised their selling and granting of lots o f land to settlers “o f good note”, their
marking off of common fields and pastures and their building o f roads and bridges.
Larger and more fertile fields across the harbour were the attraction for the
settlement in 1628 at Ducksburrow, a name perhaps derived from the many wa­
terfowl in the salt marshes. Assistant governors Thomas Prence and Myles Standish
moved there, as well as John Alden, Jonathan Brewster and W illiam Brewster,
the ruling elder. To go to the meeting in Plymouth Town on a sabbath, the resi­
dents crossed the harbour in a shallop in good weather or trudged on foot or rode
on the back of oxen over ten miles of rough or muddy trails and across hazardous
log bridges. Plymouth did not want to encourage the loss o f its able brethren and
sisters, especially as smallpox had carried off twenty o f its leading men and women
in 1634. To check the loss of such citizens, the General Court decided to give
tracts of meadow to special persons likely to be o f help to the church and the
commonwealth if they would agree to live in Plymouth Town and let their serv­
ants look after the cultivation and the livestock. That, however, did not last long
because those special persons wanted to live on their new lands. Finally in 1637
Duxburrow was given a town charter. There lived for a time the Reverend John
M iller and his wife, Lydia, who gave birth to M ehitable M iller 13 July 1638, the
future wife of John Crow. Fifty years after its founding the town adopted the
name of Duxbury.
Two more towns fanned northward up the coast. A few o f the pillars o f the
Old Colony, like Edward Winslow, received large tracts at Green’s Harbour, later
called Marshfield* just beyond Duxburrow. W inslow had an almost feudal estate,
which he called “Careswell” after his home in England. The other town, Scituate
(the c is silent, after the Indian name satuit or “cold brook”) was settled first by a
merchant adventurer in 1633. Two years later there were nine families at Scituate
when an English Congregational minister, Rev. John Lothrop, and his large group
arrived. Over the next four years dissensions built up, over shades o f religious
belief, in spite o f Days o f Humiliation called by the minister in order that the
people “by the mercye of God" m ight be “reconciled Joyntly”. As we shall see,

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

many moved to Cape Cod w ith Lothrop. Others who lived at Scituate for a time
were George Bower and Lydia Bower, H enry Cobb and Patience Hurst, Thomas
Deane and Lydia Cole, George Russell and Jane Jam es, George W illard and
Dorothy Dunster, and Thomas W illiam s and Elizabeth Tarte.
Attleboro, near the northwest border o f present Rhode Island, was settled in
1634 and Rehoboth, a few miles east of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1643. Abigail
Perry, who married “Dr.”Jonathan Locke, was born at Attleboro 16 M arch 1726.
Her father, Jacob Perry, was born at Rehoboth in 1691 and his father, Nathaniel,
in 1660. Nathaniel Perry married Sarah Carpenter in Rehoboth in 1683. Sarah’s
grandfathers, W illiam Carpenter and James Readaway, moved there in 1643.Jacob
Perry’s wife was A bigail Smith, whose great grandparents H enry Smith and Judith
Cooper also moved to Rehoboth in 1643. In King Philips W ar all the garrison
houses there were destroyed.
Attention turned also to Cape Cod. See chapter three for the settlement of
Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth and Eastham.
Swansea was settled in 1638. Not far from what is now Providence, Rhode
Island, Swansea was part of Old Rehoboth until the Baptists created a new town
in 1667. There in 1675 the first blood in King Philips W ar was shed. Ship build­
ing and farming were important in colonial times. Lydia Cole was born here to
John Cole and M ary Lewis 23 October 1694 and she was to become the grand­
mother o f Captain Joseph Barss. Dartmouth, east o f Newport, was another set­
tlement o f about the same time. John Dunham was one o f its First Purchasers. It
was destroyed during King P hilips W ar and rebuilt.

RELIG IO U S, SO C IA L AND PO LIT IC A L

M any men who would have led obscure lives if they had stayed in England found
unknown strength, energy and imagination in order to shelter and feed them­
selves and their families in a new environment and to create religious, political
and economic institutions. Although may were not admitted as freemen and,
therefore, could not take part in government at the colonial level except as tax­
payers to vote for the deputies to the General Court and later for selectmen, they
were encouraged and sometimes pressed to do their share in town governance.

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

They were fined for absence from town meetings and also for refusing to serve in
certain elected offices. A ll men, freemen or not, were eligible to serve in the un­
wanted elected positions o f constable and surveyor of highways. The constable
acted as the colonial government’s chief local agent. He had the job of convening
town meetings, collecting taxes and fines, confiscating property with unpaid taxes,
keeping the peace, investigating suspects and punishing guilty neighbours with
whip or stocks. If he refused the post when his turn came he was fined the large
sum of £4 but he could be sure that he would not have to do that undesirable duty
until at least another seven years. Few men sought to be elected supervisor for
keeping up the town’s roads, deciding the work to be done and ordering fellow
citizens to do it. Under threat of fine, a man might be supervisor of highways once
but at most two or three times. Certainly a man combining enough education or
means w ith religious conformity and zeal had a good chance o f being admitted a
freeman and thus becoming a selectman on the local scene, an officer o f the militia
or a deputy to the General Court. For example, in each o f the four Cape Cod
towns, only twelve or thirteen freemen filled the position o f selectman over twenty-
five years.
The rest o f the story about W illiam Brewster gives an insight into that time
and place. W illiam Bradfords history is almost the sole source about him in
Plymouth Colony. He was the ruling elder, the counsellor, nearing fifty-six years
o f age when he landed there. He left the task o f governance to younger men: it
was the nature o f the man, fond of reading and teaching and working in the fields,
ready to be a balance wheel rather than the main spring. Bradford describes him as
“o f an humble and modest mind, o f a peacable disposition, undervaluing himself
and his own abilities and sometimes overvaluing others.” (p. 327) On important
matters Brewster as ruling elder was invited to sit with Council: for example, he
advised against keeping Roger W illiam s as church teacher, “fearing that his con­
tinuance amongst them might cause divisions.” He is thought to have been the
drafter o f the Mayflower Compact, which aimed to bring peace between saints
and strangers. On the third Sabbath ofjanuary, 1620-1 the whole company had
come ashore for the first time from th e M ayflow er to attend religious service in the
Common House under the ruling elder, W illiam Brewster. In that terrible winter

18
 PLYMOUTH COLONY

of scurvy and pulmonary disease only six or seven individuals, including W illiam
Brewster and M yles Standish, were strong enough to tend the rest in their “low Sc
sicke condition”, for, in Bradford’s words, they:

fetch ed them woode, made them fires, drest them meat, made their beds, washed
their lothsome cloaths, cloathed and uncloathed them; in a word, did a ll the
homly and necessarie officesf o r them which dainty & quesie stomachs cannot
endure to hear named; and all this w illingly &cheerfully, w ithout any gru d g­
in g in the least. ” (p. 77).

In his older years W illiam Brewster knew times o f sadness. News came from
Leyden that the gentle, tolerant John Robinson had died 1 M arch 1625 and
would never come to minister to his flock in Plymouth Colony, as had long been
hoped. In 1627 W illiam ’s brave and patient wife, Mary, died. H e was shocked
that his son-in-law Isaac Allerton, assistant governor and business agent o f P ly­
mouth, who had married Fear Brewster, had added to the colony’s debt by fraudu­
lently enriching himself. He lost his daughters Fear and Patience in a smallpox
epidemic in 1634 and his son W restling a year later at the age o f twenty-one. He,
however, retained his “cheerful spirite”, in Bradford s words. He bore the “burthen
with the rest, living many times without bread, or come, many months together,
having many times nothing but fish, and often wanting that also; and drunk noth­
ing but water for many yeares togeather, yea, within 5 or 6 years o f his death.” (p.
327) So often without a pastor, the colony relied on the elderly ruling elder for its
religious teaching, twice every Sabbath. Living now in nearby Duxbury, he spent
more time with his library o f400 books (fifty o f them in Latin), larger by a hun­
dred than the one that John Harvard had bequeathed to the new college in New
Towne. And yet we have nothing o f his individual writing, no private letters and
no w ill. On the day he died, 16 A pril 1643, he was up and about till afternoon,
when he took to his bed. In the evening “some few minutes before his last, he drew
his breath long, as a man fallen into a sound sleep, without any pangs or gaspings,
and so sweetly departed this life unto a better.” (p. 327)

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

He w as tenderhearted an d compassionate o f such as w ere in misery , but espe­

cially ofsuch as had been o f good estate and rank and w ere fa llen into w ant
and p overty either f o r goodness and religion's sake or by the injury and op­
p ressio n o f o th ers; h e w o u ld sa y o f a ll m en th ese d e s e r v e d to be
p i t ie d m ost . A nd n on e d id m ore o ffe n d a n d d isp lea se him than
such as w o u ld h a u gh tily a n d p rou d ly ca rry a n d lift up th em selv es ,
b ein g risen fr o m n o th in g a n d h a v in g little else in them to co m ­
m end them but a fe w fin e clothes or a little riches more than others.

(References: James Truslow Adams, The Founding o f N ew England, pp 86-117;

Anderson, The Great M igration Begins , 1,227-230; W illiam Bradford, O f Plymouth
Plantation ; Leon C lark H ills, History and Genealogy o f the M ayflow er Planters , II:
25-47; John G. H unt, “New Light on the Brewsters o f Scrooby and New Eng­
land”, TAG, 4 1 :1 -4 ; H . Roger King, Cape Cod an d Plymouth Colony in the S even­
teenth Century ,pp. 161-176; Rev. H. Kirk-Smith, William Brewster: "The Father o f
N ew E ngland ")
Plymouth found it hard to get and keep ministers. Children could not be bap­
tized and members could not take communion without a pastor. Just as Commu­
nist thinkers at one time looked upon crime as a capitalist disease that would
disappear in their new utopian state, so in the New Canaan o f the Pilgrim Fa­
thers, drunkenness, promiscuity and other sins would become rare. After twenty-
five years Governor Bradford concluded that moral practice had grown worse.
There was that terrible case in Duxbury in 1642 when Thomas Graunger was
hanged for bestiality. Bradford unjustly blamed the moral decline on the mixed
multitude o f Strangers in their midst and on Satan’s special attack on the churches
o f Christ as “they endeavour to preserve holiness and purity amongst them.”
Scituate split into two churches when Rev. Charles Chauncey, assistant to Rev.
John Reyner and later president of Harvard, insisted on baptism by total immer­
sion and allowing communion only to covenanted members and Rev. W illiam
Vassall more liberally admitted godly persons to communion who were not in
covenant. The colony government did not interfere but it did expel Samuel Gorton,
about whom we shall hear more in Rhode Island, who set up a church based on

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

mystical communion with the Holy Spirit, equality o f men and women, and an
unpaid m inistry disdaining all theological systems, with no ceremony, no sacra­
ments, no compulsory attendance.
In 1645 some of the inhabitants petitioned the General Court for “full and free
tolerance o f religion to all men that would preserve the Civil peace.” By delay and
manoeuvring Edward Winslow, Governor Bradford and Thomas Prence, who
was to succeed him as governor after his death in 1657, prevented the change.
The governor used his authority believing that with such toleration the church
would no longer be able to direct and guide the individual and society. The P il­
grims had always been more humane and tolerant than the Puritans o f the M as­
sachusetts Bay Colony and were, as Busfield says, “among the most tolerant C hris­
tians o f their times” (p. 81), but now they began to force rather than to persuade.
The General Court ordered Obadiah Holmes to desist from setting up a Baptist
church. W ith growing sectarianism in Cape Cod and dissension in some o f the
churches, the governor used his prestige and a threat of his resignation to move
the General Court to take action to preserve unity and maintain order. New laws
imposed a fine for not going to church or for speaking ill o f a magistrate or for
needless travel or work on the Lord’s Day, and a whipping for denying the Scrip­
tures to be the rule o f life, a five-pound weekly fine or the lash or the stocks for any
Quaker or Baptist “stranger” who stayed in the colony. In 1656 w ith so many
pulpits empty in the Old Colony, the Saints did what they had criticized the
Church of England for: they instituted a pulpit tax on all households for support
of the one true church. Worse still, the pastor had to collect it.
Finally in 1667 Mother Plymouth got a minister, Rev. John Cotton, the son
and namesake of the great Boston spokesman for orthodox Puritanism. John the
son ran a tight ship. The tithingman went about with a bone-headed rod to rap
on the head o f any adult dozing during the short service and the long sermon or
of any child, in his or her assigned seat in the gallery, who giggled, laughed out
loud, stamped feet, fidgeted, pinched, pulled hair, made eyes or committed any
such “indecency”. Pastor Cotton often summoned women to the parsonage to
dress them down about “pride, increase o f sensuality, too much neglect in the
education o f children, not duly catechising them, ...suffering them to play on

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

Sabbath evenings.” And so he led his flock for thirty years when suddenly he had
to be dismissed for having been overly fond o f the females of his church.
The sexual drive disturbed the Pilgrim society. A young couple could establish
a “pre-contract” before two witnesses that they intended to wed and then they
might indulge in all the intimacies o f marriage but the final one. If they got car­
ried away, the uncleanness was not as serious as ordinary “fornycation”, which
called for the stocks, the lash, a fine of ten pounds and three days in jail. The Old
Colony, unlike Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut, never carried out the
death penalty for adultery. In July o f 1670 Abishai Marchant, of Yarmouth, was
fined £2 for carnal knowledge with Mrs. Morgan Jones. Thomas Burgess, Jr., of
Sandwich, was whipped at Plymouth and his home town for adultery with Lydia
Gaunt and his wife was granted a divorce. For seducing an Indian, Goodwife
Mendame was to be whipped and to wear a patch with AD; if she failed to wear
it, her face was to be branded with a hot iron. But these were rare cases. Believing
that a birth before nine months after marriage indicated pre-marital coition, the
Pilgrims, sometimes allowing at the very most a two-week leeway, exposed hun­
dreds of innocent couples to public shame and disgrace, the young husband to die
lash and the young wife and mother to the stocks. Ignorance, prejudice and su­
perstition influenced societal attitudes and actions just as they do today in differ­
ent ways but now w ith greater violence. Later on, seven months became the more
liberal rule as the idea o f the natural causes o f premature birth dawned upon
religious and legal authorities. The early colonists, however, apparently enjoyed
marriage. A bereaved spouse usually remarried w ith amazing speed.
Life in the Old Colony improved. The first houses had walls o f upright saplings
with rubble in between, a roof o f marsh grass, a floor o f bare earth and windows of
oiled paper. Later came the clapboard.house o f two storeys with a shingled roof
and a large central fireplace and glazed windows. Inside were pine-paneled walls,
uncovered ceiling rafters, hand-hewn board floors with the odd hooked mg.
Homemade beds o f thin straw ticks over ropes or slats; homemade stools, benches,
chairs and tables, large wooden chests and a heavy rocking cradle - these were the
usual furniture. T he more prosperous would have better pieces made by the two
local master carpenters. The stone fireplace with its brick oven did die cooking.

22
 PLYMOUTH COLONY

For breakfast: rye pudding and bread, soup o f peas or beans w ith bits o f ham or
salt fish. For midday dinner: bean soup or pork and beans w ith a stew of turnips,
squash, onions, peas or other vegetables. For supper the breakfast menu along
w ith pie, gingercake or cheese. Fresh fish was served often. A t meals even the
young children drank beer: m ilk was for babies.
Thomas Prence was a member to the General Court o f Plymouth Colony for
forty years, beginning in 1633. H e was elected governor in 1634, assistant gover­
nor 1635-1637, governor again in 1638, assistant governor 1639-1657 and then
governor 1657-1673. In 1635 Thomas Prence and M yles Standish, assistant gov­
ernors, went to Boston to seek help from Governor John W inthrop in recovering
Plymouth’s trading post on the Penobscot from the French. Taking advantage as
usual o f its smaller and poorer neighbour, the Bay Colony offered to help recruit
an expedition i f the Pilgrim Colony would pay the whole cost. Some o f the Puri­
tan merchants of the Bay then began to trade profitably w ith the French at that
post. Thomas Prence was a member o f die committee that studied the possibility
o f moving the whole town and church of Plymouth to Nauset in Cape Cod.
W hen the area was found to be too small for that purpose, he headed a group of
seven families that founded Nauset, later named Eastham. W hen he became
governor, Eastham virtually became the capital o f the colony, for he had more
than 200 fertile acres there. The General Court waived the legal requirement o f
residence in Plymouth Town and provided his conveyance for the 100-mile round
trips. In 1665 the Court decided that for the governor to live in Plymouth Town
was indispensable for the administration of public affairs and it enticed him to
move back to Plymouth by giving him the use of a home and large farm at Plain
Dealing, now Seaside.
W ith much knowledge of administration and policy, Thomas Prence received
the helm from Bradford’s dying hand and became captain o f a ship w ith a crew at
variance amid turbulent seas. In 1657 the Council o f the United Colonies, o f
which Plymouth was a member, urged that all Quakers be driven into the wilder­
ness. One o f Plymouth’s delegates, James Cudworth, an assistant governor, disa­
greed. The next year, chaired by Governor John Endecott, it urged their banish­
ment under pain o f death. Plymouth’s representatives this tim e, Thomas Prence

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 PLYMOUTH COLONY

and Josiah Winslow, signed the recommendation. In 1657 Plymouth decreed a

fine o f £5 or the lash or both and commitment to the workhouse for Quakers and
Baptists and made a crime for any, such as Anglicans, to celebrate Christmas.
Assistant governors James Cudworth and Jam es H atherly and Isaac Robinson,
the Leyden pastor’s son, who had become a Quaker, were stripped o f office and
disfranchised. In 1659 Governor Prence expressed the opinion that Quaker men,
women and children should be destroyed without mercy. The Pilgrims opposed,
however, the Puritans’ measures o f torture, confiscation o f property, and death.
On the positive side, Governor Prence and Assistant John Howland put a firm
stop to trials for witchcraft. Prence was humane in dealing with the Indians,
according to Thomas Mayhew, missionary, and sentenced three white men to be
hanged for robbing and beating an Indian to death. A t his urging, the General
Court recommended a schoolmaster in each town and in 1670 leased the Cape
Cod fishery and common lands and used the funds for establishing free schools.
Governor Prence died 29 March 1673. His report card is mixed. Bradford had
written that as a private person he was “very amiable 6c pleasante”. H e is said to
have been a harsh and overbearing magistrate, a strict and sometimes cruel disci­
plinarian.. According to the Plymouth Colony Record (8:34), “H e was a worthy
gentleman, very pious, and very able for his office, and faithful in the discharge
thereof, studious o f peace, a wellwiller to all that feared God, and a terror to the
wicked.” The Plymouth Church records bear this comment at his passing, “He
was excellently qualified for the office o f governor. H e had a countenance full of
majesty.” His severities and narrowness were to some extent the faults o f his time:
religious tolerance was an idea of a minority.
On 20 December 1686, the year in which Massachusetts had been stripped of
its charter, Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Boston w ith two companies o f royal
infantry to assume his authority as the governor o f New England. Five men,
including Thomas Hinckley, were appointed the governors council. Andros im ­
posed a tax without the consent o f representatives, took from Cape Cod towns
the use o f small whales washed up on their beaches, prohibited town meetings
except once a year for choosing selectmen, made Crown lands o f all tracts already
granted to towns but as yet undistributed to inhabitants, and moved all colony

24
 PLYMOUTH COLONY

records to Boston. In 1688 Prince W illiam of Orange, whose wife was M ary Stuart,
sister o f James II, issued a Declaration before landing in England. After arming
and assembling the m ilitia, a committee of leaders and clergy arrested and impris­
oned Governor Andros. Several weeks later the news arrived in Boston that James
II had been ousted. King W illiam restored “corporations to their ancient charters,
liberties rights and franchises” and the New England colonies resumed their own
governments. The Plymouth towns voted too little money to support an effort to
get a charter for the colony. Its governor, Thomas Hinckley, seems to have delayed
and to have given weak leadership. Sooner or later he and some of his assistants
rightly concluded that annexation to Massachusetts was the only way to save reli­
gion and education in a poor colony, some of whose towns engaged in civil disobe­
dience by refusing to pay their share of the cost o f King Philip’s War. In October
of 1691 Massachusetts obtained a charter to include within its boundaries New
Plimouth with its towns and a territory larger than Rhode Island. O f the Mayflower
planters only John Cooke and the widow o f Thomas Cushman (M ary Allerton)
were living to see the demise of the Old Colony in its 79thyear. John Pomfret sums
up the purpose and influence o f the Pilgrims:

The m otivation f o r the p la n tin g o f Plymouth differed entirely fro m that o f

earlier colonial efforts. Pilgrim s w ere not hardened adventurers but w ere
simply a sm all band o f inexperienced men and w om en anxious to eschew a ll
worldliness. The m otivation f o r the p lan tin g o f Plymouth differed entirely
fro m that o f earlier colonial efforts. They w ere not seeking riches, an d they
h op ed for nothing m ore than a means o f livelihood. Their main purpose in
life vms to attain to the Kingdom o f H eaven, an d w hile working to attain
this reward, they endeavored to lead exemplary Christian lives. Their re­
sponsibility as they saw it w as to God. They believed that God w as directing
their course and that, in consequence, they could disregard a ll ecclesiastical
traditions and practices. Art, music and literature had nothing to do w ith the
w orld to come, and they likewise fo u n d no profit in the doctrines c f election,
predestination, or freed om o fth e w ill. E xceptfor their religious sincerity, the
Pilgrims n ever rose above the lev el o f daily toil.

25
 PLYMOUTH COLONY

Actually, the Pilgrim ’s outlook w as more liberal than that o f the Massa­
chusetts Puritan, w ho d id not look charitably on human fra ilties and who
often ascribed to the work o f a Satan-infested m ind acts that w ere either
pathological or harmless. The Pilgrim an d the Puritan nevertheless had much
in common, both regarding ease andpleasure as obstacles on the path to heaven
a n d both exhibiting a compulsion to m aster the sinful temptations o fa w orld
doom ed to destruction. Backward as the Pilgrim may have been w ith respect
to cultural achievem ent , he has exercised a considerable influence on subse­
quent generations, by the unusual example he set o f m oral righteousness, (pp.
129-130)

(References: Jam es Truslow Adams, The Founding o f N ew England', Charles M .

Andrews, The Colonial P eriod o f American History, 1:249—299; W illiam Bradford,
O f Plymouth Plantation,Theodore E. Busfield, “Plymouth Plantation (1617-1660)”;
John Fiske, The B eginnings o f N ew England', Antonia Fraser, M ary Queen o f Scots;
W illiam Hubbard (1621—1704), General History o f N ew E ngland fro m the D iscov­
ery to 1680, H. Roger King, Cape Cod and Plymouth Colony in the Seventeenth Cen­
tury; George D. Langdon Jr., Pilgrim Colony, John E. Pomfret, Founding o f the
American Colonies; Curtis P. Nettels, The Roots o f American Civilization: A History
ofA merican Colonial Life, Jasper Ridley, Elizabeth: The Shrewdness o f Virtue, J.R .
Smith, Pilgrim s and Adventurers; George F. W illi son, Saints and Strangers).

26
 . 1 1
Our Pilgrim Ancestors

A M AYFLO W ER FAM ILY

Hopkins, Stephen1, c 1580-1648 (# 954L, 1284a, 1290a, 1356a, 1506h, 1850L):

The Hopkins family, including two servants, was the largest one on board the
M ayflower. It consisted o f the hither, Stephen, the only person aboard who had
experience o f the New W orld, his second wife, Elizabeth Fisher, two children by
his first wife—Constance Hopkins, 15, and Giles Hopkins, 13—as well as two
children of the second marriage, D am ans, 3, and Oceanus, who was bom during
the voyage. Stephen and Elizabeth had five more children in New Plym outh.This
large family intermarried with other Pilgrim families, and their descendants run
into the tens o f thousands. Constance is our ancestor through her sons, Mark,
Joseph and Stephen Snow and Giles is our ancestor through his daughters M ary
Hopkins, who married Samuel Smith, and Deborah Hopkins, who married Josiah
Cooke. Incidentally, the two servants, Edward Dotey and Edward Leister, fought
the only duel in the colony. W hen they were at liberty, Dotey became successful
and had a large family and Leister moved to V irginia and died not long after.
Stephen Hopkins has been called “a man o f strength,” “a man of w eight” in the
Plymouth Colony. Hills quotes Nobles’ The Pilgrim s (1907, p. 181): “he was intel­
ligent, robust, enterprising, practical, quick to see the point, and fertile in expedi­
ents, but he was a bit touchy and not at all averse to a setto with anybody who
crossed his path.” He was a friend o f Captain M yles Standish, both having led an
adventurous life before sailing in the Mayflower.

27
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Stephen was born in England about 1580. His father m ay have been Stephen
Hopkins, a clothier, o f W ortley, parish o f W otten in Gloucestershire but that
remains unproved. He must have married his first wife— the claim that she was
Constance D udley is also unproved—when he was in his early twenties, for
Constance was born about 1605 and Giles two years later. They were little chil­
dren when he was shipwrecked on the coast of Bermuda—he was probably the
Stephen Hopkins o f this adventure. W hat other voyages he made before 1620 we
do not know nor when his wife died. He married Elizabeth Fisher 19 February
1617-8 in the Church of St. M ary Matfellon, W hitechapel, London, the same
parish in which John Locke, the New Hampshire pioneer, was to be baptized ten
years later. T hey were living outside the London w all at Aldgate when they de­
cided to settle in the New World. He was a tanner or leathermaker.
A famous officer of the V irginia Company, the Earl of Southampton, is be­
lieved to have passed along to his friend W illiam Shakespeare the book A D iscov­
ery o f the Bermudas, Otherwise called the He ofD ivels by Silvester Jourdain (1610)
and a fuller account by W illiam Strachy (1612): these two narratives inspired The
Tempest, which alludes most probably to the wreck o f Sir George Somers’ flagship
23 July 1609. W h at part did Stephen Hopkins play in the real historical event? In
that year a company o f800 Virginia colonists under Sir W illiam Gates, the newly
appointed deputy-governor, set sail in nine ships under the command o f Sir George
Somers in the Sea Adventurer. A ‘most terrible and vehement storme’ scattered
the fleet and opened a large leak in the hull o f the flagship. The crew, the passen­
gers, the adm iral and the governor pumped and bailed. At last after five tempestu­
ous days the admiral spied land but his ship and ran the settling and another were
wrecked on the reefs. A ll the one hundred and fifty aboard were able to reach a
sheltered cove of Bermuda. S ir W illiam had the longboat fitted with deck, sails
and oars and sent Thomas W hittingham out with letters appointing a lieutenant-
governor to manage the colony there, about 140 leagues away. The governor or­
dered the building of two pinnaces to take the company to Virginia. The first of
September a conspiracy was discovered involving six principals, the chief o f whom
was John W ant, a suspected religious Brownist or Independentist. They agreed
not to work at the boat-building, for they preferred to stay in Bermuda, where

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

they could find abundance o f good food and an easy life in a settlement o f their
own. T he governor took them at their word and marooned them on a distant
island. After receiving many penitential and sorrowful pleas, Sir W illiam permit­
ted their return.

Yet could not this be any w a rn in g to others, w ho more subtilly began to shake
the foundation o f our quiet safety, and therein d id one Stephen Hopkins com­
m ence the first act or overture: a fello w w ho had much knowledge in the Scrip­
tures, and could reason w ell therein, whom our m inister [Rev. Mr. Bucke]
therefore chose to be bis Clarke, to read the Psalmes, and Chapters upon
Sondayes, at the Assembly o f the Congregation under him: w ho in January
the tw en ty foure, brake w ith one Samuel Sharpe an d Humphrey Reade (who
presently discovered it to the G ovem our) and alledged substantiall argu­
ments, both civill an d divine (the Scripture fa lsely quoted) that it w as no
breach o f honesty, conscience nor Religion, to decline from the obedience o f the
Govemour, or refuse to go e any further, led by his authority (except it so
pleased them selves) since the authority ceased when the wracke w as commit­
ted, an d w ith it, they w ere a ll then fr e e d fro m the gou vern m en t o f any
m an,...they m ight fe a r to be detained in that Countrie [Virginia] by the
authority o f the Commander thereof, and their whole life to serve the tum es
o f the A dventurers w ith their travailes and labours. [Lefroy, p.42]

At the tolling o f a bell the prisoner, Stephen Hopkins, was brought in mana­
cles before the governor and the assembled company to answer the charges of
mutiny and rebellion, as attested by Sharpe and Reade. He was found guilty and
sentenced to be hanged.

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

But so pen itent hee was, and made so much moane, alledging the ruin o f his
Wife and Children in this his trespasse, as it w rought in the hearts o f all the
better sort o f the Company, who therefore w ith humble intreaties, and ear­
nest supplications, w en t unto our governour, whom they besought (as like­
w ise did Captain N ewport and my selfe) and n ever left him untill w e had
g o t his pardon. [.Lefroy,p . 43]

Henry Paine, the leader of a third mutiny, in which the governor’s life was
threatened, was sentenced to be hanged but when, being a gentleman, he asked to
be shot he got his wish as the sun was setting.
The pinnaces, D elivery and Patience, were finished, having been built from the
wreckage of the flagship, and after nearly ten months on the island the ship­
wrecked company sailed safely to Jamestown, which the passengers o f the six other
ships had reached safely but then had died o f fever or deserted to live w ith the
Indians or ate rats, mice and carrion in their starvation.
Stephen Hopkins’ later display o f knowledge about the wilderness and the
Indians indicates that he spent some time in the colonies before returning to
London. For instance, tram ping through the New Plymouth woods one day, a
party came upon a contrivance that puzzled them, especially when W illiam Brad­
ford stepped into the noose and got hoisted, whereupon Hopkins explained that
the Indians snared deer w ith it. H e evidently had transactions with the Merchant
Adventurers of that city and their chief partner, Thomas Weston, who were seek­
ing substantial planters to go with the Leyden Pilgrim s to America.
On 13 November 1620 Elizabeth Hopkins, who had given birth to a son,
Oceanus, during the voyage, and the other women o f the M a yfiow erw tn t ashore
under armed guard to wash the clothes while their children ran on the beach and
the men set about to repair the long boat. A band o f sixteen volunteers, including
Stephen Hopkins, set off to explore the country in the northern hook of Cape
Cod. In the morning they found cornfield clearings and a burrow containing bushels
of seed corn, some of which they took and without which, cropless, the colony
would have starved to death. W hen the boat was repaired they went on two over­
night expeditions in the snow and the cold.

30
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Stephen Hopkins often acted as the Pilgrims’ deputy and interpreter to the
Indians and in 1621 he was their envoy to the chief Massasoit. Plymouth records
attach “merchant”, “master” and “gentleman” to Stephen’s name. He was among
the five assistants to the governor from 1633 to 1636 at least. He and his sons
Giles and Caleb served in the Pequot W ar o f 1637. Some o f the leaders became
fairly prosperous. The first assistant governor, Isaac Allerton, became the richest
man but he left for Connecticut when he was found to have cheated the colony.
W inslow and Bradford came next in wealth, followed by a group o f men includ­
ing Hopkins. He built and owned the first recorded w harf there and he seems to
have owned the first horse in the colony, a mare that he bequeathed to his daugh­
ter Constance.
The Pilgrim community seems to have administered an even-handed justice.
In 1636, while Stephen Hopkins was an assistant governor he was sued by John
Tisdale, yeoman, for battery and had to pay forty shillings compensation and a
fine of five pounds. The next year he was fined forty shillings for allowing servants
and others to sit drinking and playing shovelboard in his house, worse still, on the
Lord’s Day during church hours. In 1638 he was levied a total o f £5 on five charges
of selling alcoholic drinks above established prices and then £3 for remonstrating
with his colleagues and four days in ja il for protesting that decision. He was cited
with contempt o f court when he failed to redress unfairness to an apprentice,
Dorothy Temple. A year later he was accused o f selling a looking glass for sixteen
pence when he had paid only nine pence for it. Stephen was not the only one. John
Jenney, assistant governor, was charged with “not grinding w ell and seasonable” at
his licensed grist mill and Deacon John Doane, a former assistant governor, was
fined for selling liquor without a licence.
Stephen’s bold, enterprising spirit was tempered at times by a concern for oth­
ers. His two indentured servants, Edward Doty and Edward Leister, fought a
duel with sword and dagger, the first and only one in Plymouth Colony, on 18
June 1621 and, one wounded in the hand and the other in the thigh, were imme­
diately sentenced to lie twenty-four hours with their heads and feet tied together
and without food or drink. Stephen Hopkins begged compassion o f the governor,

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

who released them on promise o f better behaviour. W hen their indenture was
completed, Leister went to Virginia and died there soon and D oty became a free­
man, a proprietor, and despite his contentious ways and lawsuits, married twice,
had nine children and founded a Mayflower family.
There remains but to record the final days o f Elizabeth and Stephen Hopkins.
The mother o f seven children, two o f whom lived but a short time, died at least
four years before her husband. Stephen moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod, and had
lands there where Giles Hopkins was living but he soon returned to the town that
he had helped to build. H e wrote his last w ill and testament 6 June 1644 and he
died about a month later. H e made Caleb, the only son o f his second family, his
heir and executor and, along w ith M yles Standish, supervisor of the estate. To son
Giles a great bull: Giles was probably well set up by then. To his daughters he left
all the movable goods and four silver spoons each. To Deborah the broad-homed
black cow and her calf and h alf the cow called Mottley. To Damaris a cow and a
white-faced heifer and h alf the cow called Mottley. To Ruth the cow called Red
Cole and her calf and a bull and h alf the curled cow. A cow had great use and value
in Plymouth in 1644. In all he had thirteen head o f cattle, a yoke o f oxen, pigs and
poultry. Among the household articles named were a green mg, a yellow mg,
bolsters,blankets, tablecloths, petticoats,caps, hogshead, porringers, warming pans,
candlesticks, skillets, bellows, trenchers. In his w ill he wished “to be buryed as
neare as convenyently may be to my wyfe, Deceased”.
Hopkins, Constance2, M rs Nicholas Snow cl605-77 (#753h, 925L) (Stephen1),
daughter o f Stephen Hopkins and his first wife, was born about 1605 in England
and came in the Mayflower at the age o f thirteen. Before she was twenty-one
Constance Hopkins married Nicholas Snow and had twelve children. She died at
Eastham, October 1677.
Hopkins, Giles2, 1607-1690 (#642a, 694a) (Stephen1), son o f Stephen Hopkins
and Stephen’s first wife, name unknown, was bom in England about 1607 and
came with his father, stepmother, sister Constance and half-sister Damaris in the
M ayflow er to Plymouth. Little is known o f his early life in the colony. In 1637 he,
his father, and brother Caleb volunteered to join a company against the Pequot
Indians but Connecticut sent word that their service was not needed. The next

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year Giles Hopkins went to Mattacheese in Yarmouth to take charge o f the win­
tering o f his father’s cattle and there he met Catherine W helden, whom he mar­
ried 9 October 1639. T hey settled in Yarmouth and had seven o f their nine chil­
dren there. In 1642 he successfully sued W alter Devell for payment for nine bushels
o f corn and he traded pieces o f land with Andrew H allett Jr. Shortly after, he was
surveyor o f highways. In the fall o f 1644 after inheriting the bulk o f his fathers
estate, Caleb gave Giles 100 acres. Caleb, a seaman, died o f a sickness in the
Barbadoes before 1651.
By 1650 the family had moved to Eastham, for Giles was highway surveyor
there. H e became a freeman and one o f twenty-seven voters. Four years later
Giles sued W illiam Leverich for defamation and was awarded £20 and costs. In
1662 he was again a highw ay surveyor and received a grant o f one-third o f
Sampson’s Neck. H e and Catherine had nine children, who were bom between
1640 and 1664: Mary, Stephen, John (d.y.), Abigail, Caleb, Ruth, Joshua, W illiam ,
and Elizabeth, who died after one month. Because in his latteryears Giles Hopkins
was weak and unwell he agreed w ith his eldest son, Stephen, and his wife for the
care and support of Giles and Catherine in exchange for die use o f the stock and
movables of the homestead. Giles died in late M arch or early April o f 1690. He
bequeathed to Stephen all his upland and meadow at Harwich and h alf his catde
on condition that he would look after W illiam during his life “in a comfortable
and decent manner”. He gave his wife, whom he called Catorne in his will, the
other half o f his stock and movables and he gave lands to his sons Caleb and
Joshua. The will did not mention Giles’s daughters. M ary and Deborah Hopkins
are ancestors on our Sm ith-Fiske side.
(References: John D. Austin, M ayflow er Families Through F ive Generations:
Stephen Hopkins\ C . E. Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes o f the Pilgrim Fa­
thers , 61-64; De Costa, NEHGR, 33: 303-305; Hawes, Cape Cod Library, No.
37: 612-629; Tim othy Hopkins, NEHGR, 102:46-60; Paine, Cape Cod Library,
No. 63: 1030-1035; “W . Strachy’s Narrative, 1610”, in Lefroy; will o f Stephen
Hopkins in M . D., 2 :1 2 -1 7 ; W illison,^>ajj^)

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

A N CE STO RS IN TH E FORTUNE AND T H E ANNE

The Fortune , 55 tons, Thomas Barton, master, out o f London in early July, 1621,
arrived in Plymouth on the eleventh o f November with “35 persons to remain and
live in the plantation”. Langdon in his Yale publication Pilgrim Colony states that
the community, although welcoming the added strength, had to go on h alf rations
in order to feed the utterly destitute new arrivals. Having kept from the London
stockholders the death of h alf the colonists and the poor production o f food, Gov­
ernor Bradford warned them that sending passengers without provisions would
bring famine to the colony. Two o f our ancestors came in this ship, Stephen Deane
and Thomas Prence, both unmarried, non-separatist or “stranger”.
The Anne, of London, 140 tons, W illiam Peirce master, and the Little Jam es, 44
tons, John Bridges master, arrived in July and August o f 1623. O f them Bradford
wrote: “about 60 persons for the general!, some o f them being very useful per­
sons,... and some were so bad as they were faine to be at charge to send them
home againe the next year.” Some o f the passengers were called “particulars”
because they had paid their own passage, for the stock company usually paid the
transportation costs, which the colony must repay. Governor Bradford was faced
with the problem o f integrating men into the colony who did not share its eco­
nomic burden. In order to receive home lots and be free to work for themselves,
they undertook to accept the laws o f the colony and to pay an annual tax. They
were not admitted as freemen (voting citizens) and were barred from the Indian
trade, because that was being used to pay off the colony’s debt to the London
company o f merchant adventurers. Our ancestors seem not to have been o f the
particulars; if any were, they appear to have overcome that handicap and to have
integrated into the settlement.
The Anne brought two non-separatist ancestors, Edward Bangs, an innkeeper,
and Nicholas Snow, o f Hoxton, Middlesex, who would become the husband o f
Constance Hopkins in three years’ time.
Bangs, Edward1, ca 1592-1677 (#382a, 654a, 702a, 766h), born about 1592,
came in the Anne in 1623. Ferris (2:61) argues that he was the Edward Bangs who
was baptized at Panfield, Essex, 28 October 1591. That may well be but she does

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

not provide enough proof o f the connection, as Anderson points out. Some gene­
alogists have argued that he must have had a wife and a child or two in order to
qualify as a man with three others in the household for a garden plot o f four acres
but that they must have died because they were not shown in the cattle division of
1627. Anderson (I: 90) retorts that the record may have been wrong or the three
may have been servants. Edward Bangs became a purchaser or shareholder in
Plymouth in 1626.The next year, being in the twelfth group with ten others for a
division o f goats and cows, he drew by lot the ‘big line-back cow’ that had come
over in the same ship, and in the division o f land he got twenty acres more. Be­
tween 1630 and 1633 he married Lydia Hicks. She must have died soon after
John was born because Edward Bangs married his second wife, Rebecca, about
1636.
W ho was Rebecca? D udley (1896) does not speculate about her maiden name
but Pope (1900) writes, “Rebecca Hobart entered into a deed with Edward Bangs
in 1650 [1651] and we can therefore take it that they were married by then.”
Ferris, whose carefully researched Dawes-Ga/es Ancestry (1931) has been praised,
writes (2:66): “she may have been the daughter o f Edmund Hobart o f Hingham
and the sister of Rev. Peter Hobart o f that place. The assertion has been made
that a diary kept by the Reverend Peter referred to a trip o f his to Eastham to
attend the funeral o f ‘sister Bangs’ and since he had a sister Rebecca, not known
to have married otherwise, it is sometimes assumed that this may have been she.”
The editor o f NEHGR (121:56) notes that the “original” diary in the keeping of
the Massachusetts Historical Society is largely in the handwriting o f Deacon
David Hobart, Peter’s son, and must have been a copy made by David, who may
have left out items that did not pertain to the Hingham parish. I have decided to
show Rebecca Hobart as possibly the second wife o f Edward Bangs and the mother
o f ten Bangs children, all born at Eastham: Rebecca, about 1636 (m. Jonathan
Sparrow); Sarah, about 1638 (m. Thomas Howes); Jonathan, about 1640 (m.
Sarah____ , then Ruth, widow o f John Young); Lydia, about 1642 (m. Benjamin
H iggins); Hannah, about 1644 (m .John Doane); Joshua, about 1646 (m. Hannah
Scudder); Bethia, 28 M ay 1650 (m. Gershom H all) ; and the twins M ercy (m.
Stephen M errick) and Apphia (m .John Knowles, then Stephen Wood), born 15

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October 1651. H e died at Eastham in 1678 at the age o f eighty-six. Abigail Smith
and possibly M ary Smith, die wives o f the brothers Amasa and Alfred Fisk, are
descended from Hannah Bangs. Edward Bangs was made a freeman in 1633 and
from then on he became a member o f committees to apportion meadows, assess
taxes and lay out boundaries and he served on m any trial juries and four grand
juries.. In 1642 he received a grant o f eighty acres from the Colony Court and he
contributed the sum o f £12 10s, that is, one-sixteenth o f the cost o f a bark o f forty
or fifty tons burden. H e, John Doane, Thomas Prence and other appointed per­
sons found that Nauset was not large enough for the population o f Plymouth
town but recommended the purchase o f the territory from the Indians. He and
Rebecca were one o f die seven families who settled Nauset, later called Eastham,
in 1644. Evidendy he was an innkeeper: he got a licence on 6 October 1657 “to
draw and sell wine and strong waters at Eastham.”

19 cfO ctoberT his 1677.1, E dward Banges, aged 86 years, being w ell stricken
in years and not know ing the day an d houre w hen God may call m ee hence,
y ett being in health a n d p erfect m em ory doe lea ve this as m y last Will and
Testament.

Having made Jonathan his executor, he divided his lands among his three sons,
including 28 acres “that he hath built upon” to John and the family residence and
47 acres to Joshua. He gave half an acre and four pounds to each o f his six surviv­
ing daughters, the same amount to be divided among the children o f his dead
daughter Rebecca. He also gave various pieces o f land to his grandson Edward,
son of Jonathan. The w ill was proved the following M arch (PC Probate Records
3:2:106).
(Reference: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins , 2: 86-91; Dean Dudley, 9-
17; Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 2: 60-68; H ills, v 2 :, 55-56; Pope, Pioneers
o f Massachusetts; Pratt, History o f Eastham)
Deane, Stephen1, died 1634 (#646a) was a miller who came from Southwark, at
the south end of London Bridge. He is important to us because he and his wife,
Elizabeth Ring, are ancestors of A bigail Smith, the wife of Amasa Fiske. Eliza­

36
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

beth came to Plymouth in 1629 w ith her widowed mother Mary. W hether Eliza­
beth was a daughter of Mr. R ing is not known for sure but it is highly probable.
M ary Ring was in Leyden in 1614. The Plymouth records often mention her and
she was held in high esteem. She died in 1631 and in her w ill made her son-in-
law Stephen the guardian o f her son Andrew, who was then fifteen. Stephen set
up the first corn m ill in Plymouth Colony. In 1633 he was permitted to erect a
water-driven m ill for grinding corn with the assurance that no other man would
be allowed to set up a commercial m ill as long as Stephen could meet the needs of
the colony. H e died in September o f 1634 and his estate was appraised at £87 19s
6d by Stephen Hopkins and Robert Hicks. His widow Elizabeth married Josiah
Cooke and they later settled at Eastham, where she died about 1687. Stephen
and Elizabeths daughter, Susanna Deane2,married Stephen Snow, a son o f Nicholas
Snow and Constance Hopkins.
(Reference: “The Deane Fam ily”, NEHGR, 3:375-387)
Prence, Thom as1, ca. 1600-1673 (#752h) was a Puritan rather than a Pilgrim.
Born at Lechlade, Gloucestershire about 1600 to Thomas Prence, Sr, a carriage
maker, the young Thomas learned his father’s trade at his father s works in Lon­
don. He sailed from that port in the Fortune early in July o f 1621. Like two-thirds
of the passengers he was a “stranger” recruited by the merchant adventurers. He
settled in the pioneer ham let o f New Plymouth. On 5 August 1624 he married
Patience Brewster. Energetic, ambitious and well-connected by marriage, Tho­
mas soon made his way. In 1627 he and Patience and their daughter Rebecca had
a share in the division o f cattle. The same year when the trade monopoly was
turned over to three undertakers, Allerton, Bradford and Standish, in order to
pay off the colony’s debt, they chose five partners, one of whom was Thomas
Prence. In 1630 he was a legatee in his father’s will for a gold signet ring and a
silver beer-bowl. He and Patience had four children: Rebecca, born about 1625,
married Edmund Freeman; Thomas, Jr., about 1627; Hannah, about 1629, mar­
ried Nathaniel M ayo, then Jonathan Sparrow; and finally Mercy, about 1631,
married John Freeman. Patience was one of more than twenty who died in the
smallpox epidemic o f 1634.

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Thomas Prence (sometimes spelled Prince) married his second wife, Mary,
daughter o f W illiam Collier, at Plymouth on 1 A pril 1635. T hey had two chil­
dren, Jane, born 1 November 1637, married M ark Snow; and M aiy, born about
1639, married John Tracy. M ary Collier Prence died on or before 1644 perhaps.
W e do not know when Thomas Prence married his third wife, Apphia (Quick)
Freeman, the divorced wife o f Samuel Freeman. She was “perhaps”, according to
Anderson, the mother of his last three children, although Ferris and others have
M ary Collier as their mother: Judith, bom about 1645, married Isaac Barker and
then W illiam Tubbs; Elizabeth, born about 1647, married Arthur Howland; and
Sarah, born about 1648, married Jeremiah Howes, her stepbrother. Some time
after 26 February 1665-6 Thomas Prence married M ary Howes, the widow o f
Thomas Howes.
Prence was a member to the General Court o f Plymouth Colony for forty
years, beginning in 1633. H e was elected governor in 1634, assistant governor
1635-1637, governor again in 1638, assistant governor 1639-1657 and then gov­
ernor 1657-1673.
Love conquers all, as Thomas Prence found out. It was against the law for any
man to try to obtain the affections o f a female youth without her parents’ consent.
Arthur Howland Jr. had done just that in courting Elizabeth Prence. Worse still,
the young fellow’s father resisted Prence s policy against Quakers and Baptists. In
fact, Arthur was fined £5. Elizabeth remained devoted to him and he to her. Seven
years later he was fined and placed under a bond o f £50 to cease and desist. The
next year on 9 December 1667 Elizabeth at the age of thirty married him and not
long afterward they called their second son Prence Howland. That young Arthur
Howland was a Quaker had made that marriage difficult for Thomas Prence to
accept. The governor’s prestige and his love for his daughter, who became a Quaker,
smoothed the road for Arthur, who served as constable and frequent juror, but in
the years from 1679 to 1684 her father was no longer alive to protect the couple
from persecution by the authorities.
About a year before he died Thomas Prence made his will, which was probated
5 June 1673 and contained the following bequests: to his wife and sole executor,
Mary, his best bed and its furniture, the court cupboard in the parlour, a horse and

38
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three cows o f her choice, four o f his best silver spoons, the household goods she
brought to the marriage, the rents and profits o f his part o f the mill and adjoining
lands at Satuckett during her natural life and a third of the remaining personal
estate; to his daughter Jane a bed and a silver tankard; to daughter M ary a silver
wine cup and a dram cup; to Sarah his biggest beer bowl; to Lydia a little yellow
heifer and to Elizabeth his silver salt, a bed and a black heifer; to grandchildren
Theophilus Mayo and Susanna Prence (dead Thomas Jr.’s daughter) half each of
his lands at Middleberry and to Theophilus the testators part of the m ill and
adjoining lands at Satuckett and “all my books fit for him in learning”. The inven­
tory was assessed at some £423 but it did not include his large real estate, which
was unvalued. Thomas Prence had received at least a dozen grants, had bought
and sold land and had deeded property to his son-in-law John Freeman and his
stepson Samuel Freeman. An inventory sub-total o f £14 related to many books,
among which were two great Bibles, 100 psalm books, Simpson’s History o f the
Church and Newman’s Concordance.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins , 3:1518-1524; Ferris, D awes-
Gates Ancestral Lines, II: 682-694)
Prence, Jane2, M rs M ark2 Snow, 1637-1712 (#377h) (Thomas1) was born at
Duxbury, Pilgrim Colony, on the first o f November 1637, the first child ofT ho-
mas Prence and his second wife, M ary Collier. A t Eastham on 9 January 1660-1,
Jane Prence became the second wife o f M ark Snow, son o f Nicholas Snow and
Constance Hopkins. The couple had eight children, among whom was Prence
Snow, Sr., a grandfather o f M ary Snow, who emigrated to Liverpool, Nova Scotia,
with her husband, Benjamin Parker. Jane was named sole executor in her hus­
band’s w ill o f 23 November 1694, proved 16 January 1694-5. The widow Jane
Snow became a member o f the church at Brewster in April, 1701. She was living
in Harwich on 21 December 1703 when she made her w ill. She died in M ay or
June o f 1712 and her will was proved on 2 July. It named her brother-in-law
Jonathan Sparrow executor, mentioned her sons Nicholas, Thomas and Prence,
her daughters M ary and Sarah, her step-daughter Anna Atwood and her grand­
children Jane Snow and Jane Nickerson.

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Snow, N icholas1, 1600-1676 (#476L, 644a, 752h, 924L), was perhaps baptized at
St. Leonards Shoreditch, London, on 25 January 1599-1600, son o f Nicholas
Snow, o f Hoxton, Middlesex. A carpenter, he came young to Plymouth in the
Anne in July o f 1623 and soon helped with the poor, ragged colony. T hat year in
the drawing of lots for land he got an acreage on the highway to the Eel River
between the properties o f Edward Bangs and Stephen Hopkins. H e married
Constance Hopkins, who had come over in the M ayflow er w ith her father, Stephen,
and her stepmother, Elizabeth. W e know that they were married by 1627 because
on 23 M ay of that year they were part o f a company headed by her father that
drew by lot two she-goats and two calves. In 1633 Nicholas Snow was a freeman
of Plymouth and was rated at eighteen shillings. T he next year he was appointed
with six other men to lay out highways and he assigned his indentured servant to
John Cooper. Governor Edward W inslow assigned to Nicholas Snow his servant
Twiford W est, who after a time said he did not like working for Snow and offered
to serve an extra year with W inslow if he would take him back. A ll parties agreed.
In 1636 he was one of the three arbitrators appointed to settle the contention
between Edward Doty and Joseph Biddle, who were engaged in legal cross ac­
tions. H e served on grand, trial and inquest juries, including the one inquiring
into the death o f John England that found he had been drowned by a canoe and
recommended the offending canoe to be forfeited to the king.
By act of the General Court, in 1640 Nicholas Snow and the other purchasers
or first comers were able to choose three plantations for themselves and their
heirs, one on Cape Cod and the other two on the mainland. All the rest of the
available land in the colony was to go to “the body o f freemen”. That same year he
was a surveyor o f highways and he and two others were charged with not mending
the roads at specified places but were let off on condition that they do so. In 1644
the Snows and six other families settled Nauset, later called Eastham, in Cape
Cod, of which he was town clerk for sixteen years, a deputy for three years and a
selectman for seven. He owned much land in Harwich, Eastham and Truro, which
he passed on to his sons.

40
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins had twelve children, the last three of
whom, born about 1646 to 1650, were living in 1651 but are not found in the
records. W ith birthdates, most o f them approximate, the nine others were: M ark,
9 M ay 1628, married Anna Cooke and then Jane Prence; Mary, 1630, m. Thomas
Paine; Sarah, 1632, m. W illiam W alker; Joseph, 1634, m. M a ry ------- ; Stephen,
1636, m. Susanna (Deane) Rogers and then M ary Bigford; John, 1638, m. M ary
Sm alley; Elizabeth, 1640, m. Thomas Rogers; Jabez, 1642, m. E lizabeth------- ;
and Ruth, 1644, m Jo h n Cole. Nicholas Snow died 15 November 1676 at Eastham.
Perhaps because Nicholas had given dowries to his daughters he did not mention
them in his w ill. He divided his real estate among five sons, M ark, Joseph, John,
Stephen and Jabez. H e gave to his “loving wife Constant” the house and the
animal stock and movable goods and 30 acres o f upland. She died eleven months
later. W e shall resume the sketch o f his family in Chapter Three.
(Reference: Austin, M ayflow er Families: Hopkins, 9-10; Anderson, The Great
M igration Begins, 3: 1701-1704; “The Snow Genealogy” by M rs. Charles Alden,
NEHGR, vols. 48 ,49 and 51; Hawes, Cape Cod Library No. 34: 524-527)

PILG R IM A N CE STO RS A F T E R 1623

Bower, George1, d. 1656 (#758a, 1302a-h, 1398a, 1526h) was an early settler,
freeman and town officer o f Scituate. George Bower moved to Plymouth Town by
the spring o f 1639 and was elected constable. Following a complaint that he was
not allowing cattle to pass, a committee helped him to name the least prejudicial
ways through his land. George Bower and another man were put in charge of
obtaining lumber for the new ja il o f Plymouth Colony. In January o f 1641-2 he
was among a dozen or so prominent men who, on shares, contracted to have a
barque built. Soon, however, he moved to Cambridge for his sons’ education. His
wife was Barbarie Smyth, whom he had married 9 February 1614 at Braithwell.
Yorkshire. W e shall pick up his story in Cambridge, a town o f the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. H is daughter Ruth Bower(s) married Richard Knowles and their
daughter Ruth Knowles and her husband, Joseph Collins, were progenitors o f the
Collins ancestors o f our Fiske family.

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

(Reference: C harles T. Libby, The Knowles Fam ily o f Eastham , M ass.”,

N EH G R, 79:288-289)
B riant, A bigail, M rs W m 2Carpenter, 1604-1687 (#789L) a daughter o f John
and Alice Briant, was baptized on 27 M ay 1604 at Shalboume parish in Berk­
shire. She married W illiam - Carpenter in that parish on 28 April 1625 and they
made a home there. She gave birth to five children: John, Abigail, W illiam , Joseph,
and Samuel who died in early infancy. She had three more children in the new
world: Samuel, Hannah and Abiah. A widow eighteen years, she was buried at
Rehoboth on 22 February 1686-7.
(Reference: Libby, NEHGR, 79: 288-289; Zubrinsky, TAG, 70: 193-194)
Carpenter, W illiam 1, d. ca 1638 (#1576L) came in the B evis out o f Southamp­
ton in 1638, a carpenter o f age 62 according to the custom house records, along
w ith his son W illiam , 33, also a carpenter, and W illiam Jr.’s wife Abigail and four
grandchildren “o f ten years or less” but not named in that clearance. Father and
son have been confused in the family history. Savage has him remaining in New
England, becoming a freeman and dying in 1659-60. Amos B. Carpenter in his
book on the family asserts that the older W illiam 1 Carpenter, a resident o f Lon­
don born in 1576, returned to England in the B evis and that it was the son W illiam
who appears in the local records after that. The intense public activity o fW illiam
Carpenter would seem to indicate the younger man. Zubrinsky, who has brought
new information and analysis to this family, states that it seems “likely that 62-
year-old W illiam 1died during the voyage to New England or shortly after arriv­
ing.” An Alice Carpenter had been buried at the Berkshire part o f Shalboume
parish 25 January 1637-8, three months before W illiam Sr. emigrated: she may
well have been his wife but not necessarily the mother o f W illiam , Jr., his only
known child.
Carpenter, W illiam 2Jr., ca 1605-1659 (#788L) (W illiam 1) was born about 1605
and married A bigail Briant on 28 April 1625 at Shalboume, England. T hey had
five children baptized at Shalboume: John on 8 October 1626; A bigail on 31 May
1629; W illiam on 22 November 1631; Joseph on 6 April 1634; and Samuel on 1

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March 1636-7, but lived only fifty days. W illiam and Abigail and their four sur­
viving children came out in 1638 in the B evis , as noted above. They had three
more children: Samuel, whose birth record has not been found, born aboutl638;
Hannah, bom 3 A pril 1640; and Abiah on 9 A pril 1643, both at Weymouth.
W illiam was made a freeman ofW eymouth in 1641 and was a representative to
the General Court in 1641 and 1643. A t Hingham in 1641 he seems to have set
forth in elegant handwriting the deed transferring a tract from the Indians to John
Tower the elder and he witnessed it. Amos Carpenter says that W illiam was a
cousin o f Alice (Carpenter) Southworth who married Governor W illiam Brad­
ford and that he and the governor were friends. The ancestry and relatives o f
W illiam are in dispute. He became interested in the land chosen by Rev. Roger
W illiam s after being driven from the Bay Colony but given up by W illiam s on
learning it to be part of Plymouth Colony. As a member o f the General Court,
W illiam Carpenter worked for the purchase o f this territory on behalf o f a group
interested in forming a settlement. The Plymouth Court granted permission to
the inhabitants o f Seekonk, later called Rehoboth, to take up a tract eight miles
square and appointed John Brown and Edward W inslow to buy it, a territory
including what are now Attleboro, Swansea, East Providence and other places.
Before the emigration to Rehoboth a meeting o f proprietors chose W illiam C ar­
penter as their clerk. A second meeting chose nine men to order the affairs o f the
plantation and to dispose o f the land in houselots o f six, eight or twelve acres,
according to the person and estate o f the resident. In 1645 W illiam Carpenter
represented the new town at the General Court in Plymouth and he served as
town clerk from 1643 until mid-1649.
W illiam Carpenter died at Rehoboth on 7 February 1658-9. His will, dated 10
December with no year inscribed, was proved 21 A pril 1659. It names his wife, his
son John and John’s son W illiam , his son W illiam and W illiam ’s son John, his son
Joseph and Joseph’s sons Abijah and Samuel, his daughters Abigail and Hannah
and also John T itus’s son. The extensive inventory added up to £254 10 shillings.
(References: Amos B. Carpenter, 38-39; NEHGR, 1: 137, “First Settlers of
New England”” ; w ill, N EH G R, 5: 385; Savage, 1: 336-337; Eugene Cole
Zubrinsky, “The Family o f W illiam 2Carpenter of Rehoboth, Massachusetts,”

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TAG, 70: 193-204 —Oct, 1995)

Carpenter, Sam uel3, 1638-1683 (#394L) (W illiam 2'1) was born about 1638,
according to Zubrinsky’s analysis. He married on 25 M ay 1660 Sarah Redway,
who was about eighteen. They had ten children: Samuel, Sarah, Abiah, James,
Jacob, Jonathan, David, Solomon, Zachariah and Abraham. Samuel Carpenter
died 20 February 1682-3 at the age o f forty-four, leaving ten children, seven of
whom ranged in age from fourteen years to a few months.
Carpenter, Sarah4, M rs N athaniel Perry, b.1663 (#197L) (Samuel3W illiam 1"2)
was born at Rehoboth in Plymouth Colony on 11 January 1663, the only daugh­
ter o f Samuel Carpenter and Sarah Redway. Sarah Carpenter married Nathaniel
Perry, son o f Anthony and Elizabeth Perry, there on 17 M ay 1683. They had
seven children. Nathaniel and Sarah are grandparents o f the A bigail Perry who
came w ith her husband, Jonathan Locke, to Nova Scotia.
(Reference: James Arnold, Vital Record ofRehobothn, Bowen, NEHGR, 98:176)
Cole, Jam es1, ca 1600-1671 (#728a) m ay have been bom about 1600 because
he was married 1 M ay 1625.The wedding to M ary Tibbes took place in Barnstaple,
where Jam es Jr. was baptized 11 February 1626-7, and H ugh, 29 June 1628.
Anderson (pp. 422-423), who derived these facts from the parish register^ states
that “James Cole o f Saco was not part o f this family”—thus correcting Savage and
Ernest B. Cole. James and M ary Cole and probably four children, including John,
born about 1630, and M ary about 1632, migrated to Plymouth in 1633. W ithin
the year he was made a freeman. A t the first o f 1626-7 he was granted a house lot
o f seven acres and fifteen years later fifty acres of upland, some meadow, and en­
largement o f his lot. He was the first to live on Cole’s H ill or Burial Hill, the site
o f the graveyard of the Pilgrims. He volunteered for service against the Pequot
Indians but the levy was not called. On 20 June 1654 his boat and seamen were
impressed to transport soldiers.
He was recorded once as a sailor but mostly as an innkeeper, for on a ten-acre
grant of land he opened the first ordinary or public house in Plymouth and prob­
ably in New England. Between him and then his son James, this inn was in the
family till the end of the century. James Cole was fined ten shillings 7 June 1637
for selling less than a quart for threepence, and seven months later the Plymouth

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court took note that he had been drinking excessively at Mr. Hopkins’ house. In
September of 1640 the General Court prohibited him from selling any wine or
strong water until the next term and then he would require a special licence. That
licence was five years coming. On 7 January 1644-5 he got it on condition that he
would buy the remaining stock of wines from the outgoing licencee, John Doane.
During his innkeep days, which lasted till James Jr. took over in 1668, he was fined
for serving liquor to the Indians, for allowing Richard Dwelley to get drunk in the
inn, for permitting three others to drink on the Lords Day, and for entertaining
townsmen in his inn. A t the age of about seventy on 5 June 1671 he was fined for
being drunk a second time but five months later “he pleaded infirmity o f body,
which make some think that sometimes he is drunk.” (P C R 5: 81, quoted by
Anderson)
Cole, John2 Sr., 1637-77 (#364a) (James :) was born 21 Nov. 1637 in Ply­
mouth, the third child of James and M ary Cole. On his thirtieth birthday John
Cole Sr. married Elizabeth Ryder, daughter of Samuel Ryder o f Yarmouth. That
same year he and his older brother Hugh, w ith sixteen others, including our
ancestor John Coggeshall, bought about 500 acres of meadow and marshland at a
place now called Swansea from the Indian chief, King Philip, and started a new
town. One o f the original proprietors o f Swansea, John was a signer o f the con­
vention when the town was organized. He was constable o f Swansea in 1673. Two
years later the Indians burned the houses and killed many o f die settlers. John
Cole and Elizabeth Ryder, according to the records, had three children: John,
Nathaniel and Elizabeth, who was bom in the year o f the massacre. John died
intestate early in 1677 at the age of thirty nine, so that the court made this order
about his estate:

Thatf o r as much as the estate is small, a n d fou r sm all children to bring up,
that the w hole personal estate be settled on his w id ow f o r the b ringing up o f
his children and in case there shall be necessity . .., that then some o fth e

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

land shall be sold by the advise an d lea ve o f the court, and in case any lands
shall be left, then it be disposed o f to the tw o sons according to law, they pay­
in g some sm all legacies to the daughters as the Crown shall order. (Plymouth
Records, V: 234)

Cole, John 3Jr., born 1672 (#182a) (John 2Jam es 1) was bom in 1672 to John
Cole and Elizabeth Ryder, the first white child to be bom in Swansea. On 10 June
1693 he married M ary L e w s, daughter o f Nathaniel Lewis and M ary (surname
unknown) ofRehoboth. They had seven children, beginning with the twins Lewis
and Lydia on 23 October 1694; then Joanna 20 February 1697; Nathan 29 March
1701; Hezekiah 27 February 1706; Seth 17 November 1708; M ary 1 November
1711, the mother M ary dying nine days after the infant M ary was born. John Cole
Jr. married a year later, 6 November 1712, his first cousin once removed, Deborah
Cole—her grandfather and his father were the brothers Hugh and John Cole.
Cole, Lydia4, M rsT h o s D eane, b 1694 (#91a) (John 3_2James 1) was bom at
Swansea 23 October 1694 to John Cole Jr. and his wife Mary. Lydia Cole married
the peripatetic Thomas Deane.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 2:420-426; Ernest B. Cole,
21-22; Frank T. Cole, 53-59; Otis O. W right, H istory o f Swansea-, H . L. Peter
Rounds, Vital Records o f Swansea)
Cooper, Judith 1, M rs H enry1 Sm ith, d. aft. Oct. 1650 (#793L), sailed in the
D iligent from Ipswich with her husband, H enry Sm ith, her three daughters and
two sons along with five servants and settled first in Charlestown and then in
Hingham. Her brother Thomas, who was to become freeman, deputy and deacon,
came in the same ship with his wife, children and two servants and in 1643 that
family moved to Rehoboth when in 1643 H enry and Judith Smith did. Henry
died 3 November 1647 and bequeathed the house to her, his executor. Judith Cooper
Smith signed her will on 24 October 1650 and made bequests to her sons Henry
and Daniel, her daughter Judith, her daughter married to a H unt and their three
children, and her son John’s three children.
(References: “Abstracts of Early W ills”, NEHGR, 4: 140; Pope, 420; Savage,
1:455 and 4: 116)

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Deane, Jonas1, died 1697 (#180a) : The Reverend Samuel Deane, author of a
history o f that town, thought Jonas Deane had come from Taunton, England, for
he was called Taunton Deane. H e and Eunice Deane (nee ?) had at least two
children, Thomas and Ephraim. Jonas died in 1697. His widow married Deacon
James Torrey, of Scituate, and they had a daughter. Eunice died at Dorchester in
1732 at the age of seventy-one.
D eane,Thom as2, born 1691 (#90a)2 (Jonas1) was born at Scituate on 29 Octo­
ber 1691. Thomas Deane and Lydia Cole, settled as early as 1728 at Barnstable,
where three years later he was admitted to the church. They had eight children,
the first six born at Barnstable, and the last two at Scarborough, M aine, whence
the parents had moved between 1737 and 1740. Afterwards they moved to New
Meadows, now Bath, where he died
Deane, Lydia3, M rsJoseph4Bearse,b 1728 (#45a)3(Thomas2Jonas1) was bom
at Barnstable on 7 July 1728 to Thomas and Lydia Cole. A t the age o f twenty-one
on 12 October 1749 Lydia Deane married forty-one-year-old Joseph Bearse, son
o f Benjamin Bearse and Sarah Cobb, and had one child, Joseph, by him before he
died after a year or so of marriage (see chapter three). Five years later, in 1756, she
married Thomas Annis and moved to Nova Scotia w ith him and the boy Joseph
Bearse and the Annis children.
(Reference: W illiam R. Deane and John W . Dean, N E H G R ,25:358-359; Amos
Otis Papers, 327)
D o an e jo h n 1 Sr., ca 1590-1685 (#356h, 380a, 382h, 652a&h, 700a) the father
of the John2 Doanewho married Hannah Bangs, came to Plymouth in 1630.
Born in England about 1590, he was married twice, first to A n n ------ , who died
by 1659, second to L yd ia----- . O f the five children Lydia was born in England
about 1625 and Abigail, John, Daniel and Ephraim in Plymouth in about 1631,
1635,1637 and 1642. John Doane, Sr. was one o f the few who was called “M r.”
(pronounced master). In 1633 he, Stephen Hopkins, W illiam Bradford, Myles
Standish, John Alden, John Howland, W illiam Gilson and Edward W inslow
were the freemen, the only freemen, o f Plymouth. On 7 June 1636 his suit against
the widow Helen Billington for slander brought her a fine o f £5, the stocks and a
whipping. He was then an assistant governor, as of 1633, but when he was chosen

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

deacon o f the Plymouth church he resigned the assistant governorship and con­
tinued in that religious office till 1644. A yeoman and innkeeper, he was licensed
to serve wine and in January 1644-5 he turned over his remaining wines to James
Cole. H e received frequent grants o f land for his many public services. Perhaps
owing to his unsuccessful ventures he was ready at fifty-five to sell his house for
£10 and become a purchaser at Nauset. His was one of the seven families that in
1645 moved to Eastham in Cape Cod, where he became fairly prosperous. He
and his wife Ann had a very large farm in Eastham north o f the harbour, with the
house near the water. H e and Ann both signed a conveyance in 1648 but in 1659
he and his second wife, Lydia, both conveyed a parcel of land in Eastham. Dea­
con John Doane died at Eastham 21 February 1685 at the age o f ninety-five years.
In his w ill, which was dated 16 M ay 1678, he bequeathed his house and a specified
upland and meadow to his loving wife but a deed o f some three years later dated 2
December 1681 conveyed that same house and upland and meadow to his daugh­
ter Abigail. It is evident, therefore that his second wife, Lydia, had died before
him.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 1:558-563; Alfred A. Doane;
Gilbert H. Doane 6c James B. Bell, 58-61; H ills, 2: 50-51)
Dunham Jo h n 1, 1589-1669 (#584,922L, 934L) was bom in 1588-9 at Scrooby
in Nottinghamshire, a hamlet from which came several o f the Pilgrims who fled
to the Netherlands. About 1614 at the age o f about twenty-five he married Susanna
Keno and they had three children whose names and approximate birthyears were:
John, 1615; Humility, 1618; Thomas, 1619. Susanna must have died soon after,
for at Leyden on 22 October 1622John Dunham married Abigail Barlow, daughter
ofThomas Barlow. Their first four children were probably born in Leyden: Samuel,
about 1623; Jonathan, about 1625; Abigail, about 1627; and Joseph, about 1631.
John Dunham and A bigail Barlow and their children arrived in New England in
1632, where his name is first recorded in a Plymouth tax list o f 2 January 1633. He
was a deacon o f the church for many years. A weaver by trade, he became one of
the first purchasers o f Dartmouth. H e was also a dealer in cattle and received
grants o f pasture land. They had four more children in Plymouth between 1634
and 1639: daughters H annah and Persis and sons Benajah and Daniel. John

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 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Dunham died 2 M arch 1668-9 at about eighty years o f age.. He had given pieces
o f land to his sons John and Jonathan so that his w ill o f 25 January 1668, proved
4 June 1669, bequeathed land to his sons Benajah and Daniel and his son-in-law
Stephen Wood. H e gave his son Thomas £5 and die rest o f his children 12 pence
each “if they demand it.” To his wife Abigail, executor: “m y now dwelling house,
m y orchards, w ith all my land not elsewhere given” and the residue o f the estate,
all o f which would go to Daniel at her death.
Both the father and mother o f Ann Crowell, who was the mother o f Ellen
Locke, were descended from him and A bigail Barlow through their daughter
Abigail2, who married Stephen Atwood. Amasa Homer Fiske also traced back
through the Coveils to John and A bigails son Jonathan Dunham, who married
M ary Cobb.
D unham , A bigail2, M rs Stephen Atwood, b. ca. 1626 (#461L, 467L) (John1)
was born about 1626 at Plymouth to John Dunham and A bigail Barlow. On 6
November 1644 A bigail Dunham married Stephen Atwood. They moved to
Eastham in 1650. T hey had five children, all sons.
Dunham, Jonathan2, 1632-1717 (#292) (John1) Because he spent the best part
o f his career at M artha’s Vineyard and died there in his old age, we shall pass more
time with the memory o f Jonathan Dunham in chapter seven.
(Reference: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, I: 599-603; M rs. John E.
Barclay, TAG, 30:143-155; Isaac Dunham; H ills, 2:130)
Howland, H enry1, c l 603-70 (#942L) was one of three brothers who came early
to Plymouth Colony. John came in the M ayflower in 1620 and Arthur is recorded
in Duxbury in 1640. H enry was bom by about 1603, probably at Fenstanton,
Huntingdon County, England. He married M ary ------- , who may have been M ary
Newland as some suggest but Wakefield and Sherman could find no contempo­
rary evidence to that effect. The earliest traces o f Henry Howland in the Colony
are the tax list o f 25 M arch 1633 and the list o f freemen o f that year. On 5 January
1635-6 he was named as a constable o f Duxbury. Records o f the town o f P ly­
mouth show that by providing a cow and a calf he took part in the arrangements
for giving the poor a share in the cattle. In 1640 he bought land in Duxbury from
W illiam Renolds. H e served as a surveyor o f highways and often as a juror. In the

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mid 1650 s Henry, like his brother Arthur, became a Quaker. For several years he
was fined for having Quaker meetings in his house and even for entertaining a
foreign Quaker and in 1659 he and W illiam Newland were disfranchised. By
1668 the town evidently overlooked his Quaker attachment by m aking him a
surveyor o f highways once again. Henry Howland died between 28 November
1670, when he made his w ill, and 14 January 1670-1, when the inventory was
taken. A fter reserving the “new room” and the residue o f the estate for his widow,
M ary, he gave his son Joseph all his land and housing in Duxbury, a bed, a fowling
piece, a horse, two heifers and four oxen on condition that Joseph would pay his
brother Zoeth £20 and pay his other siblings and their surviving children 12 pence
each. H enry left a bed and bedding, a mare, two steers and two heifers to Sarah, a
cow to Elizabeth and 10 shillings each to A bigail and M ary, to John a musket and
a barrel o f cider and to Samuel a barrel o f the same. H aving made her w ill on 8
M ay 1674, the widow M ary Howland died 16 June. She made bequests to daugh­
ters A bigail Young, M ary Cudworth, Sarah Dennis and Elizabeth Allen and to
sons John, Joseph and Zoeth Howland. She gave a horse to John and the rest o f
the estate to Joseph, who was to give 12 pence to each o f his siblings.
Howland, A bigail2, M rs John1Young, cl629-92 (#471L) (Henry1) was born in
England about 1629 and came with her parents, H enry and M ary Howland, in
1632 to Plymouth. She married John Young Sr. there on 13 December 1648.
Between November 1649 and M arch 1672 she gave birth to twelve children. H er
estate was divided according to a nuncupative w ill, not a w ritten one but her
spoken wishes expressed in M arch of 1692 singly to three sons Joseph, Nathaniel
and John and a daughter-in-law, Sarah, Joseph’s wife, all o f whom made sworn
declarations in court at Barnstable on 19 April. In Nathaniel’s words:" .m y mother
young told me that if Robirt had that gierl which there was a talke about she
would not give him a peny: but if he had her not shee Intended that he should
have half the Estate if henry was willing.” Sarah said that her mother-in-law had
mentioned the same thing to her and that when daughter A bigail requested “a
platter or som thing else to Remember her when shee was dead and gon” for each
o f the daughters, the old mother said “no shee would not give them anything
unless Lydia an earthen Cupp and platter.” The court allowed and approved o f

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the disposition A bigail Young had made o f her estate. A ll o f this appears on page
63 o f the original Barnstable County probate records but page 64 is blank and we
do not know whether “Robirt had that gierl” or whether he gave her up and got
h alf his mothers estate. Through her daughter M ary Young, who married Daniel
Smith, A bigail Howland is an ancestor o f Ann Crowell, wife o f Hon. Samuel
Locke.
(References: “Barnstable County, M ass., Probate Records”, M ayflow er Descend­
ant, 15: 79-80 (1913); M rs. George W ilson Sm ith, “John Ifoung o f Eastham,
Mass., and Some o f H is Descendants”, N ew York Genealogical £sfBiographical Record,
35:257- (1904); R. S. Wakefield & R .M . Sherman, “H enry Howland ofD uxbuiy
. . , His Children and Grandchildren”, National G enealogical Society Quarterly, vol.
75:105-116 and 216-225 (June 1987)
Lewis, N athaniel2, bom 1629 (#366a) (Edmund 1) was bom on 25 August
1639 at W atertown to Edmund Lewis and his wife M ary (see chapter five).
Nathaniel Lewis and his brother Joseph moved to Swansea and settled there.
The town meeting of 1 December 1669 admitted him as a townsman and gave
him a twelve-acre lot. The maiden name o f his wife is not recorded. They had
two children, Nathaniel and Mary.
Lewis, M ary3, M rs John2Cole, b. 1629 (#183a)(Nathaniel2Edmund1) was bom
4 December 1677 at Lynn. M ary Lewis married John Cole Jr. at Swansea on 10
June 1693 . They had seven children, of whom Lydia Cole is our ancestor.
(Reference: George Harlan Lewis, “Edmund Lewis o f Lynn and Some of His
Descendants”, pp. 4-14)
Perry, Anthony1, 1615-83 (#392L) was born in England in 1615.He and Eliza­
beth ----------were married about 1647 at Rehoboth. Elizabeth, Mrs. Anthony
Perry gave birth there to Samuel, 10 December 1648. In fact, all their four other
children were born there, Elizabeth 1650, Jehaziel 1652, Mehitable, 1657 and
Nathaniel 1660. Anthony Perry was made a freeman in 1670 and he contributed
£14 toward the cost o f King Philips War. H e died at Rehoboth 12 M arch 1683.
Perry, N athaniel2,1 660-cl7 15 (#196L) (Anthony1) was born 8 October 1660.
A t the age of twenty-two Nathaniel Perry married twenty-year-old Sarah Car­
penter in their home town on 17 M ay 1683. T hey had seven children: Anthony,

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born 7 M arch 1683-4 (died in infancy); Anthony second, 11 April 1686, died at
age 17; Sarah, 6 October 1688; Nathaniel, 2 April 1691; Patience, 21 January
1695-6; Jacob, 21 August 1698; John, 11 M arch 1700-1. The probate record o f
Bristol C ounty for 16 February 1715 shows that the estate o f Nathaniel Perry,
deceased, was divided among his widow Sarah; Nathaniel, the eldest son; Jacob,
and John; Jacob Ide in right o f his wife Sarah (an indirect bequest to a living
daughter!); and lastly Patience Perry, the younger daughter.
Perry, Jacob3, 1698-1774 (#98L) (Nathaniel2Anthony1) was born at Rehoboth
21 August 1698 to Nathaniel Perry and Sarah Carpenter. A t Rehoboth on 20
April 1723 Jacob Perry married Abigail Sm ith, who had been born there on 19
April 1700, a daughter o f Daniel Smith and A bigail Preston. In Attleboro, where
they settled, Jacob and A bigail had seven children: Abigail, bom 16 March 1726-
7; Beber, 27 September 1729; Esther, 7 September 1732; Freelove, 5 November
1724, Jacob, 18 September 1734; John, 8 February 1736-7; and M argret, October
1739. Jacob died 4 March 1774 and A bigail a year or so later, both at the age o f
seventy-five. Jacobs w ill o f 10 November 1769 made bequests to his “true and
well-beloved wife”, to all the above children except John, who may have died
before the date o f the w ill, and also to “daughter Patien”, who does not appear in
the record o f births.
(References: Arnold, Vital Record o f Rehoboth-, Bowen, NEHGR, 98:172; Bos­
ton Transcript items 2460 and 9332; Bristol County Probate Records, vol. 3, part
1, p. 69; Vital Records o f Attleborough to End o f 1849)
Perry, A b ig ail4, M rs Jon ath an 4 Locke, b. 1726 (#49L) (Jacob3 N athaniel2
Anthony1) was bom to Jacob Perry and Abigail Smith at Attleboro 16 March
1726. A bigail Perry married “Dr.”Jonathan Locke and they moved to Nova Scotia
about 1761 w ith their three young sons, Jacob, Samuel and Jonathan3, Jr..
Redway, Jam es1, died 1684 (#790L) (the surname was spelled in a dozen ways),
who was perhaps bom in Dublin, was on 18 April 1637 an apprentice o f W illiam
Bladen, stationer and alderman for that city. On that day Bladen, John Fisher and
Ralph W oodward set up a joint stock company whereby Woodward was empow­
ered to go w ith his wife, daughter and servants and erect houses for himself and
his partners, evenly dividing any profits, and to have charge of young James Redway.

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The young fellow came to Hingham in the summer of that year and probably
completed his apprenticeship three years later. He married in 1641: the name of
his wife is unknown. In the spring of 1643, he, his wife and baby Sarah moved to
Seekonk (Rehoboth) in Plymouth Colony, where he was soon granted a home lot
o f eight acres. Over the years he drew lots for various pieces of land. He was made
a freeman in 1658. He did work for the town as, for example, in 1670 the town
owed him 14s. 6d. for work on the minister’s house. There is no mention in the
Rehoboth Records of Mrs. James Redway as the mother o f seven children nor of
the date o f her death. She must have been dead by 26 July 1677, for her husband’s
w ill o f that date, proved 4 June 1684, does not mention her. James Redway left the
homestead, lands, barn, orchard and livestock to his son John, five pounds to Martha,
ten pounds to Sarah, ten acres to Rebecca and if she have a son, fifty acres to him
and five acres to her eldest daughter. H e gave his grandson David Carpenter, son
o f Samuel, 100 acres.
Redway, Sarah2, M rs Samuel2 C arpenter,cl642-1718 (#395L) 2(Jam es1) was
born at H ingham about 1642. Sarah Redway married Samuel C arpenter at
Rehoboth on 25 M ay 1660. After her husband died, leaving her at nearly forty
years of age with ten children, she contracted w ith the town to provide room and
board to an aged pauper named Edward Leach. Sarah had inherited a third part
o f a piece of land from her brother John five years before in 1677. Five years after
Samuel’s death she married a widower, Gilbert Brooks, whose wife had died six
months before. She died at Rehoboth 8 January 1717-8 at the age o f seventy-five.
(Reference: Richard LeBaron Bowen, “Early Rehoboth Families and Events:
Redway”, NEHGR, 98:163-177; Arnold, ed., Vital Records o f R ehoboth )
Ring, M ary1, d. 1631 (#1295a&h, 1355a, 1387a&h,1854L) was known as the
“the widow Ring” in the early history of Plymouth Town, her husband, W illiam
having died at Leyden, it is thought, between 1620 and 1629. The name o f M ary
Ring, along with that o f Samuel Fuller, appears as a witness o f the betrothal in
Leyden of Samuel Terrier and M ildred Charles in 1614 and five years later there
is a record of a say-weaver by the name o f W illiam Ring as a burgher o f Leyden
with W illiam Bradford as one o f his guarantors. Because there is no record of the
fairly prominent W illiam Ring in the early records o f Plymouth Colony, it is

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inferred that he died before his wife and three children came to Plymouth Planta­
tion. Unfortunately the Pilgrim registers o f baptism and burial in Leyden have
not survived. It is likely that the family came in the second M ayflower in 1629.
The widow Ring is mentioned many times in the Plymouth records at the turn of
the decade.
A strong probability exists that their marriage was found by the English gene­
alogist, M iss Lillian J. Redstone, in the parish register o f Ufford, Suffolk, Eng­
land: “1601 W ylliam Ringe o f Petistrey singlman 6c M arie Durrante o f Ufford
single woman were married together the xxj day o f M ay”. The register of Pettisfree
does not record the baptism o f W illiam Ring and, therefore, he must have been
baptized in some other parish. The baptism o f M ary Durrant is not recorded in
Ufford but a daughter, Elizabeth, was baptized there 23 February 1602-3. After
that this family does not appear in the records o f those two parishes. Anderson
posits that this Elizabeth might have died in infancy and that the second Eliza­
beth m ight have been born about 1609, a date that would result in a younger age
than 26 years at her marriage and would obviate her being “nearly a decade older
than her second husband.” It may be that in the little English colony at Leyden
no worthy suitor had come forward. Susanna, born about 1611, married Thomas
Clark. Andrew, born about 1618, married Deborah Hopkins and then Lettice,
the widow of John Morton.
M ary Ring died at Plymouth on 15 or 19 Ju ly 1631 according to the court’s
preamble during probate on 28 October. The signed w ill, witnessed by “her loving
ffriends” Samuel ffuller and Thomas Blossom, makes them overseers, to whom
Andrew, about thirteen years old, is to have recourse for counsel and advice and
by whom he is to be ruled “in anything they shall see good 6c convenient for him.”
The will also asks her son-in-law Stephen Deane to take Andrew into his home
and “to help him forward in the knowledge 6c feare o f God.” Because her daugh­
ters are married and comfortably situated, M ary leaves almost everything to her
young son: lands, cattle, tools, money owed her, brass and pewter, a silver whistle,
best bed, bolster and bedding, a piece of new linen, trunk, chest, cupboard, all her
books, mostly religious, and “halfe the Com e wch groweth in the yard where I
dwell”. The other half of the com she gives to Stephen Deane as well as cloth to

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make him a cloak. The things not mentioned she gives to her two daughters,
Elizabeth Deane and Susan Clarke, Elizabeth to have also “one ruff I had of
Goodman Gyles” and Susan to have also “my bed I lay upon w ith my gray cover­
let 6 c the ticks o f two pillows, but the feathers I give unto m y son Andrew.” “I
give unto Andrew a linen cap which was his fathers”. M ary R ing was not to
know that Samuel Fuller and Thomas Blossom would be dead “o f an infectious
fever” two years later and Stephen Deane would be dead a year after that. Before
Samuel Fuller died he arranged with Thomas Prence to be responsible for Andrew.
Ring, Elizabeth2, M rs Josiah1 Cooke, 1603-87 (#647a&h, 677a&h, 693a&h,
927L) was probably the daughter o f W illiam Ring and M ary Durrant and she
may have been the Elizabeth Ring baptized 22 Februaiy 1602-3 at Ufford in the
English county o f Suffolk or a subsequent Elizabeth. Probably late in 1629, the
year Elizabeth R ing arrived in Plymouth, she married Stephen Deane, by whom
she had three daughters, Elizabeth, M iriam and Susanna. W h en Stephen died in
September o f 1634 she was granted administration o f his estate. On 16 Septem­
ber o f the following year Elizabeth married Josiah Cooke at Plymouth. They
moved to Nauset, Cape Cod, about 1645. Records exist for three o f their chil­
dren: our ancestor Anna Cooke, who married M ark Snow, and Bethia and Josiah
Jr. Elizabeth died before M ay of 1687 when her estate was settled.
(References: Robert C. Anderson, The Great M igration Begins , 3: 1586-1589;
John I. Coddington, “The W idow M ary Ring, of Plymouth, M ass., and Her C hil­
dren,"TAG, 42: 193-205; Leon Clark H ills, History and Genealogy o f the M ayflower
Planters-, 2: 143-144,147-149; “W ill of M ary Ring”, M D , 1: 39-44)
Sm ith, H enry1, died 1647 (#792L): H enry Smith and his wife, Judith Cooper,
and three daughters, two sons, two maid servants and three men servants came
from Hatten H all, Norfolk, and sailed from Ipswich in the D iligent. They settled
first at Dorchester, where H enry and Judith were admitted to the church 10 July
1637, and then at Hingham, where H enry was made a freeman 13 M arch 1638-
9 and became a deacon and a deputy to the General Court. H enry Smith moved
with his family to Seekonk, later called Rehoboth. A proprietor, he became a
freeman of Plymouth Colony 4 June 1645. He died 3 November 1647, having
that very day made his w ill, which was witnessed by Stephen Paine, Thomas

55
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

Cooper, Judith’s brother, and Joseph Peck. The inventory, taken by Cooper and
Peck two years later, amounted to £ 1 4 9 ,16s. The w ill, which was proved 4 June
1651, left the house to the widow Judith, executor, and made other bequests to
sons H enry and Daniel, daughter Judith, and brother-in-law Thomas Cooper.
(References: “Abstract o f Earliest W ills”, NEHGR, 4: 139; Pope, 420; Savage,
4:116)
Sm ith, D aniel,2Sr., died 1692 (#396L) (H enry1) was bom in Norfolk County,
England, to H enry Smith and Judith Cooperand in 1638 came with them first to
Hingham, Bay Colony, and then to Rehoboth, where he married Esther Chickering
on 20 October 1659. They had twelve children between November 1660 and
February 1678: Sarah, dy; Hester; Paul, dy; Phebe, dy; Elizabeth; M ary; Solo­
mon; Sarah; Daniel Jr.; Nathaniel; Ebenezer and Judith. Daniel Smith, Sr. served
the town of Rehoboth once as a constable and as a receiver o f excise, twice as a
grand juror, a coroner’s juror, and a selectman, then a member o f special commit­
tees such as administration o f W illiam Blackstones estate and Rehoboths coun­
cil o f war, and several years as deputy to the Court. The Plymouth Court licensed
him to keep a public house “in case Goodwife Abell lay it down”, and appointed
him to various committees: to audit the Treasurers accounts, to determine the
Colony’s debts to individuals, to deal w ith complaints about war debts, and to
settle the border dispute with Swansea. H e was made magistrate at Rehoboth
with power to marry, grant summons, issue warrants, and so on. H e served as an
assistant governor from 1679 to 1686 and from 1689 to 1691, was named Com­
missioner o f the United Colonies four years and in 1687 was a member o f Gov­
ernor Andros’s Council. Daniel Smith, Sr. died at Rehoboth 28 A pril 1692 and
was buried there the first o f May.
Sm ith, Daniel3, Jr., 1672-1724 (#198L) (Daniel2Henry1) was bom at Rehoboth
28 August 1672 to Daniel Smith, Sr. and Esther Chickering. On 23 June 1696 he
and A bigail Preston, o f Dorchester, were married at Rehoboth, having registered
intention to do so on 9 May, according to the Vital Records o f Rehoboth, which
also register the birth o f their eight children between 4 A pril 1698 and 28 Janu­
ary 1718-19: Freelove, Abigail, Daniel, Solomon, Nathaniel, Esther, Elizabeth
and John. Evidently in the winter before his marriage Daniel Sm ith, Jr. had got

56
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

with child his first cousin M ary Newman, 25, daughter o f Deacon Samuel Newman
and Bathsheba Chickering, as the Vital Records show: “Newman [Sm ith], re­
puted son o f Daniell Smith and M ary Newman Nov. 2 ,1 6 9 6 ”. In A pril o f 1697,
ten months after his marriage, the Court o f Quarterly Sessions considered a peti­
tion o f Daniel Smith, Jr. so as to save him “Charges”, for removal of M ary Newman’s
baby to the home o f his sister Hester, the wife o f Joseph Bosworth. The Court
sent for M arys father, Deacon Samuel, who objected. Daniel asked the Court to
lower the weekly child support he was paying M ary Newman from three shillings
to two and sixpence. On 12 October, having heard a complaint from Samuel
Newman that Daniel Sm ith had not complied w ith its maintenance order, the
Court sent for him by warrant but granted a continuance. On 11 January 1697-98
the Court asked Daniel the reason for the delay in paying M ary Newman and he
replied that M arys changing the child’s name from Newman Sm ith to Daniel
Smith “was very Grevious to him”. Urged by the Court, Daniel Smith and Dea­
con Newman submitted the amount o f settlement to arbitration, to which each
was bound under penalty o f £40. Three months later, D aniel’s wife gave birth to
her first child, Freelove, and less than two years after that, on 2 January 1699-
1700, M ary Newman died.
A licensed innkeeper, Daniel Smith, Jr. was active in town administration. In­
deed, Bowen in his history o f early Rehoboth (2:11 6) states, “During the period
from 1719 to 1723 he was the most important and influential town officer in
Rehoboth.” Moderator o f town meetings, chairman o f the selectmen, o f commit­
tees to arrange for a minister, to divide the town into school districts, and to audit
the town treasurer’s accounts, and town clerk for three years, as well as a justice o f
the Quarterly Court at Bristol. A peculiar mystery in 1722-1723 unfolded, but
for us only so far: The Superior Court at Bristol issued a warrant for the search o f
the house o f Daniel Sm ith, Esq. for counterfeit plates but, reports Bowen, “Nothing
more is known about this charge.” (2:116). Quoting from documents o f the Su­
perior Court o f Newport, Bowen reports the examination o f Nicholas Campe 14
August 1723. From M ary (Peck) Butterworth he had received two bills of Rhode
Island, one for £5 and the other for 20 shillings. Not knowing they were counter­
feit, he passed the £5 one to John Stevens, who did not know it was counterfeit

57
 OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS

and who, as Campe requested, paid a small debt Campe owed to W illiam Turpin
o f Providence and received two 20-shilling and small bills as change. The other
counterfeit bill Campe passed “to John French’s wife and her husband sent it to
Boston, but it was returned and is nowin the hands ofjustice Smith o f Rehoboth...”
(quoted by Bowen, 2:116-117)
Daniel Smith, Jr. died without a w ill at Rehoboth 31 March 1724 at the age of
fifty-two. His wife, A bigail Preston, died there 9 November 1732.
(References: Richard LeB. Bowen, “E arly Rehoboth Families and Events”,
NEHGR, 97:114-117; Jevons, Descendants o f Richard Fiske ofL axfeld, pp. 34-37)
Smith, A bigail4, M rs Jacob3Perry, 1700-75 (#99L) (Daniel32 H enry1) was born
at Rehoboth 19 A pril 1700 to Daniel Smith, Jr. and Abigail Preston. A bigail Smith
married Jacob Perry 20 A pril 1723. T hey made their home in Attleborough, where
the births o f their seven children between M arch 1726-7 and October 1739 are
recorded. Abigail died there at the age o f 75.
(References: Richard LeBaron Bowen, “E arly Rehoboth Families and Events”,
NEHGR, 97:256; Bowen, Early Rehoboth: D ocum ented Historical Studies., 2: 114-
117; Jack Owen Jevons, Descendants o f Richard Fiske ofLakefeld, pp. 26 and 34-38;
Vital Records o f Rehoboth .; Vital Records o f Attleboro)
W illiam s, Thom as1, died 1696 (#458L) settled first in Plymouth and then in
Scituate. On 30 November 1638 he married Elizabeth Tarte. T hey moved to
Eastham (chap. 3).

58
 Ill
Pilgrim Cape Cod

EXPLORATION AND SETTLEM EN T

ttention turned in the late 1630s to Cape Cod as a place of settlement.

A 'orming the south and southeastern bounds of Massachusetts Bay, Cape
Cod is a peninsula between sixty-five and seventy-five miles long and between
five and twenty miles wide, comprising the whole county o f Barnstable. The first
European to visit was Bartholomew Gosnold in a small barque w ith thirty-two
men out o f Falmouth, Cornwall, arriving 14 M ay 1602 and calling the land Cape
Cod for an obvious reason. The next year DeMonts w ith Champlain as pilot
skirted the coast. Three years later Champlain piloted Poutrincourt, who erected
a cross on Cape Cod for the King o f France. Believing that the Indians had stolen
an axe, the French fired guns at them and in return got two men killed and two
injured by Indian arrows. W hen in 1609 Henry Hudson visited for the Dutch he
graphically described in his journal a mermaid that two o f his sailors, Thomas
Hilles and Robert Rayner, claimed to have seen. Five years later Captain John
Smith visited and made a map of the whole country he called New England. The
captain o f his second ship, Thomas H unt, kidnapped twenty Indians from
Cummaquid (now Barnstable), and seven from Nauset (now Eastham) and sold
them in Spain.
W hen the Pilgrims in 1621 were turning to the Cape Indians for corn and
beans to ward off starvation they met a grieving old woman whose three sons
H unt had kidnapped. T hey also came to know the sachem o f Cummaquid,
Iyanough by name, whom M ourt’s Relation (p. 70) describes as “a man not exceed-

59
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

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60
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

ing twenty-six years of age, but very personable, gentle, courteous and fair-condi­
tioned.” Two years o f trading for food ended when Standish’s bloody killing of
the Massachusetts chief and some o f his braves struck such terror and distrust in
the Cape Indians that many abandoned their homes for the swamps and died,
including the generous, helpful Iyanough and the two other tribal chiefs. The
Pilgrims paid little attention to Cape Cod until the late 1630 s except that in 1627
they built a pinnace at Aptuxcet, with access to Buzzard s Bay, where they had
established a trading house.
Sandwich, the first Cape Cod town, was settled in 1637. A few families were
living at Shaume, near die neck joining the peninsula to the mainland mass, when
the General Court granted to Edmund Freeman and his associates o f Saugus
(Lynn), enough lands to settle sixty families there. T h at year nine o f them moved
there. The tenth, Thomas Dexter, came later. W ithin four years fifty other fami­
lies, came from Duxbury, Lynn and Plymouth, including those o f John Miller,
George Cole, James Skiff, Andrew H allett Sr. and W illiam Harlow. Andrew
H allett soon went to Yarmouth. Sandwich called for representation on the Gen­
eral Court and soon the towns were able to elect two deputies apiece.
Although Cape Cod was a part o f Plymouth Colony, settlers from the Massa­
chusetts Bay Colony were really the leaders in its early development, for they
moved there not only for the land, marsh hay and fish but also its somewhat less
rigid political and social order. This was so in the founding o f Sandwich, Barnstable
and Yarmouth. On the other hand, it was prominent residents o f Plymouth town
who established Nauset or Eastham.
The mother colony watched stricdy over its towns. Sandwich divided the com­
mon lands and meadows “according to each m ans estate and condition”, meaning
that the wealthier got more than the rest. A committee o f five elite and five towns­
men made the division so that the elite gave themselves twenty-three acres apiece,
the townsmen awarded themselves eight acres each, and the fifty-six other inhab­
itants got almost four acres each. Soon, however, the Court was complaining that
the committee men o f Sandwich had let into the town “divers p’sons unfitt for
church societie” and had given them the bulk o f the lands. The Court delegated
Thomas Prence and M yles Standish to conduct an inquiry and then appointed

61
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

Prence as monitor to ensure that a man selling his land or his labour would do so
onlv to a person approved by the whole town. Strangers and those considered
unfit were “warned out”. In 1638 the Court ordered Henry Ewer and his wife as
unfit settlers to depart from Sandwich and James Skiff, who had sponsored them,
to send them back. Somehow Ewer contrived to become a resident and a scion of
many respectable descendants. The next year the Court became so concerned that
it forbade the town to dispose o f any more land. Sandwich led the way to local
representative government, for in 1651 it won the right to elect a board o f selectmen
annually. T he General Court required the towns from 1654 to keep record books
o f land deeds and divisions.
In 1652 Sandwich appointed Edward Bangs, Thomas Dexter, James Skiff and
several others to lay out a road from Sandwich to Plymouth but the road was not
completed two years later. The difficulty o f travelling to Plymouth to have grain
ground led Thomas Dexter to negotiate to build a m ill but the project failed,
whereupon James Skiff and three other men agreed to erect a m ill for twenty
pounds. Dexter contracted with the town in 1655 to build a grist mill for a toll of
five pints per bushel but his toll grew so large that the town granted land for a mill
the toll of which would be under its control (Deyo’s history).
Barnstable on the north central coast of Cape Cod was founded in 1637 by
Joseph Hull, preacher, Austin Bearse, surveyor, Thomas Dimmock and others
who were attracted by the great salt-hay marshes. Bringing a company from
Weymouth in that year, Mr. H ull, aside from his ministerial duties, dealt in cattle
and real estate. A few months later Rev. M r. Lothrop and most o f his congrega­
tion left stony Scituate for Barnstable, including the families o f our ancestors
Henry Cobb and Samuel Hinckley. Mr. Lothrop was unusual for his rime in that
he accepted everyone, even Anabaptists, who declared their faith in God and
tried to keep the Commandments. Some people did not like his liberal views but
when it came to a choice between him and M r. H ull, Barnstable encouraged the
latter to move on to Yarmouth. Four years later Barnstable listed sixty men o f age
sixteen to sixty years able to bear arms. In 1644 the town bought Indian lands in
the southwest for four coats and three axes and in 1647 more lands for sixty rods
o f fence, two coats and some ploughing and in 1648 more for two brass kettles

62
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

and some fencing. Like the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Barnstable was to trade
cod for W est Indies rum and molasses and to become famous for sea captains.
Frank Bearse in the clipper Flying Scud set a record for a day’s sail o f 446 miles
and Richard Bearse sailed in his W inged Arrow from Cape Horn to the Golden
Gate in thirty-one days.
On 7 August 1638 “liberty was granted to Stephen Hopkins to erect a house”
at Yarmouth and cut hay there to winter his cattle - “provided, however, that it be
not to withdraw from the town o f Plymouth.” The west side o f the small house
was built into an excavated hill, the chimney of stone and cob outside against the
bank, the other three sides of hewn or sawed planks with clay-daubed seams, the
log sills projecting into three sides of the single room to provide seats, the walls
unplastered on the inside, a ladder leading to the chamber under the thatched
roof. In this house typical of the early period, two of Giles Hopkins' children
were to be born and in such a house Governor Thomas Hinckley was to live many
years.
The following summer, grantees John Crow, Thomas Howe and Anthony
Thacher (“highly respected and energetic men,” says Freeman) began the first
permanent settlement at Mattacheese. The Plymouth Colony Court appointed
John Crow as magistrate. Four years later men liable to bear arms included our
ancestors John and Yelverton Crow, Thomas Folland, Andrew Hallett Sr., Andrew
H allett Jr., W illiam Lumpkin, W illiam Nickerson, Richard Sears and Richard
Taylor. The Court ordered the inhabitants o f Sandwich and Yarmouth to build a
bridge over the Eel River to facilitate travel between Plymouth and the Cape.
The Court also ordered die town to build a pair o f stocks and a pound and to
assess the townspeople for the cost. W ithin a few months both Sandwich and
Yarmouth sent a representative to the General Court in Plymouth.
In the beginning the Plymouth Court had directed the three grantees or origi­
nal proprietors to divide the lands according to “the estate and quality o f each
townsman”. They could measure the value of a man’s worldly goods but not easily
his station. Despite the efforts o f a new committee of townsmen, the discontent
continued. The Court added Myles Standish to the committee but without suc­

63
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

cess. The Court then appointed him a one-man commission to settle the matter.
He ejected some families from lands they claimed and occupied and he abrogated
most o f the former grants. He then regranted those town lands as he thought
right and the discomfited ones had to swallow their anger.
Local administration had its ups and downs. The town passed a regulation that
any townsman absenting himself from a town meeting without acceptable excuse
must pay a fine o f sixpence and another bylaw that every ratepayer must kill or
cause to be killed six crows or blackbirds by the next Ju ly or pay a fine o f 2s. 6d. In
1663 the court was concerned about the excessive importation o f liquors into
Yarmouth and much abuse of strong drinks in that town. Yarmouth had nineteen
freemen in 1670, including John and Thomas Folland. In 1674 the house o f
Edmund Hawes, the town clerk, and all o f the town records were destroyed by
fire. The town administration made no attempt to repair the loss o f much valuable
information.
The civil war in England between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads, 1642-
1649, slowed down immigration and trade in the colonies so that demand and
prices fell and Plymouth was hard hit. By 1644 the economy was so bad in Ply­
mouth that a few families were already moving away. “The position is disadvan­
tageous; the harbour is not favourable; the town is in the neighbourhood o f one o f
the most barren spots in New England; and it is impossible it can ever become a
flourishing and opulent capitol” (M ourt’s Relations). The church began to think
o f moving its whole body to a better place but after much discussion it was d i­
vided. Some could not bear the thought o f leaving the home and the town they
had built with so much toil and where they had brought up their children. T h ty
felt that people would be happy there if they would just reconcile themselves to
reduced circumstances. Finally the decision was made that all would undertake
another pilgrimage, this time to Nauset, at the bottom of the keel-nose. Then
some members talked of the new site being so far off the beaten path and o f being
too small to contain the whole body o f the church and also future additions. A

64
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

committee o f Governor Bradford, Thomas Prence,John Doane, Nicholas Snow,

Josiah Cook, Richard Higgins, John Smalley, Edward Bangs and others thor­
oughly inspected the locality of Nauset and found it was not large enough to
accommodate all the inhabitants. The decision was reversed.
The leaders in this enterprise, who had already begun staking out their fields
and building their houses, finally got a grudging permission to go. Thomas Prence,
an assistant governor, led the party which consisted o f seven families and forty-
nine individuals. Two years later, in 1646, the Council granted Nauset township
status, with Nicholas Snow as town clerk, Edward Bangs as treasurer and Josias
Cook as constable, and the next year the town sent its first deputy to the Ply­
mouth Colony Court. Wrote W illiam Bradford, governor: “A nd thus was this
poore church left like an anciente mother, grown olde, and forsaken o f her chil­
dren” .
In 1646 the town began to record births and marriages and the proceedings of
town meetings. The proprietors kept a record of their lands and divisions and
these the town has preserved. In the final division o f uplands in 1743 there were
137 proprietors. Early records show the earmarks agreed upon for each settler’s
domestic animals and the authority given to constables to collect taxes and to
keep half o f the fines. They also show the first m ilitary enactment in 1659 provid­
ing for a company with M ark Snow as captain. Eastham’s share o f a troop o f horse
was three fully equipped horses, one each supplied by Thomas Prence, Edward
Bangs and die town. Beginning in 1662 the town voted to apply the revenue from
beached whales to the support o f the church and to town expenses. In that same
year the town imposed a fine o f five shillings for selling liquor to an Indian. The
first mention o f a school was in 1666, when Eastham appropriated a small sum
toward the salary o f Jonathan Sparrow to teach reading, spelling, writing and arith­
metic. In 1700 the town agreed to pay ten pence for each child. In 1705 any
freeman living within seven miles o f the polls was fined for being absent from a
town meeting. (Dedo, 727-733)
W hen W illiam Bradford died in 1657, Thomas Prence succeeded as governor
but he preferred to stay at Eastham (Nauset s new name in 1651) so that it be­
came the virtual capital o f the Plymouth Colony until in 1665 he was enticed to

65
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

return to Plymouth and take up the use of a large farm there. Life was good in
Eastham in spite o f some o f its customs. “To give teeth to the rule that every
single man shall kill six blackbirds or three crows each year, it was ordered in
1695 that none such shall be married until they comply with the requisition”
(Freeman, 1: 374). Another more stringent rule is quoted by Freeman (1:167)
from the court records concerning A . F.: “for having a child six weeks before the
ordinary time o f women after marriage, fined for uncleanness, and whipt, and his
wife set in the stocks.”
W hat effect did war and the threat of war have on the people of Cape Cod?
From 1643, by means o f the Confederation o f the United Colonies of New Eng­
land, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Haven and Plymouth acted together when
common dangers threatened from the French, Dutch or Indians and, less effec­
tively, because o f the power o f Massachusetts, when they disputed over colonial
boundaries. In Plymouth Colony each town according to its size furnished a quota
of men: early on Sandwich, Eastham and Yarmouth provided four men each and
Barnstable five. In 1655 each of the four towns yielded three horses for a troop of
horse. Three years later a colonial force consisted o f a small standing army and
the m ilitia of the towns. A council o f war m et at Plymouth in 1667 because
Plymouth was reading signs of an Indian uprising and the Confederation was
apprehending danger from the French and the Dutch. In 1674 although the
Indians of Cape Cod pledged fidelity and Philip entered into a treaty o f peace,
more men from the Cape Cod towns were pressed into service. W ar exploded
when Philip was outraged by the treatment o f his brother and Plymouth Court’s
trial and execution o f two Indians, one of whom was his counsellor, for the alleged
murder o f an Indian. The four towns furnished fifty-five men and within a few
months nearly as many more. The Indians o f Cape Cod remained neutral and
provided a buffer for its towns. In 1675 twenty Cape men and twenty loyal Cape
Indians died in a defeat at Rehoboth. The following year Barnstable provided
thirty men, Sandwich twenty-eight, Yarmouth twenty-six and Eastham eighteen.
Three months later the four towns furnished £56 and fifty-three more men. Boys
under sixteen had to join the town guard. In August o f 1676 King Philip was
killed and his tribe extinguished. The towns o f the Cape became heavily indebted

66
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

to help pay the cost o f the war. In King W illiam ’s W ar against the French and
their Indian allies, the Cape began its quota by furnishing sixty-five men and
twenty-two loyal Indians and paying a tax of £452. Only seven years later by the
Treaty o f Ryswick in 1697 could the people return to their peaceful work. Came
more horrors, fears, alarms and investment of men and money in Queen Anne’s
W ar against the same foes till the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Again in 1745, the
seizure o f Louisbourg from the French and its return to them three years later and
then from 1756 the Seven Years W ar with many Cape men pressed into service,
killed, taken prisoner and w ith its Royal Navy impressments, French privateers
and depression of trade.
The county o f Barnstable was incorporated in 1685, including Sandwich,
Barnstable, Yarmouth and Eastham and soon afterwards Falmouth, Harwich,
Truro and Monomoy. In 1691 W illiam and M ary united the colonies into the
province o f Massachusetts B ay and guaranteed the rights of general suffrage and
more liberal governance o f the towns. Cape Cod deeds were recorded at Ply­
mouth until 5 October 1686. On the night o f 22 October 1827 the court house
burned down and all but one of the ninety-three volumes of deeds were destroyed
as well as volumes 29, 44 and 46 o f probate records and other valuable docu­
ments. The General Court required the selectmen o f each town to record all
deeds as far back as forty years.
The better-off Cape Codders o f early limes built frame houses o f one or one
and a h alf storeys with a great room featuring an eight by four foot chimney, in
the back o f which was the oven, and furnished with flag-bottomed chairs, a low
rocking chair for mother and an armchair for father; table, chest, cradle, and
trencher shelves for pewter, candlestick, hourglass, pen, inkhorn, hymnbook and
Bible. This room contained a bed and a loom in winter. A small workroom or
storeroom in the northwest corner o f the house, and at the northeast a small
pantry with a trap door into the cellar. Between the great room and the pantry a
bedroom with an elevated floor so as to provide a deeper cellar. Access to the
chamber above by ladder in the front entry. No paint, wallpaper, blinds or cur­
tains throughout.

67
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

We in this age o f fossil fuels and electricity cannot truly conceive o f the manual
work that burdened but also satisfied those living on the land in an earlier time.
Up at daylight, kindle the fire, bring water from the spring, water and feed the
livestock, m ilk the cows, and over the seasons cut and chop forty cords o f firewood
including the backlogs for the hearth, plough, plant, cut the corn, reap the grain
with reaping hooks and thresh it w ith flails, hunt and fish, mend shoes and make
winter moccasins, clear the forest, remove stumps and rocks, build and repair fences,
corn cribs and bams, roads and bridges. For the women, prepare the vegetables
and cook the meals, wash the dishes, sweep and newly sand die floors, scrub,
handwring and iron the clothes, preserve food for winter, spin woollen yarn and
flax thread, weave yards and yards o f cloth, cut out and sew the petticoats, loose
gowns, dresses, aprons, bonnets and cloaks and do needlework on the finer gar­
ments, knit the sweaters and stockings for winter, send the cloth for men to the
clothier for fulling and colouring, make breeches, worsted stockings and jackets,
as well do some o f the outdoor work like gardening and raising poultry. W ash on
Monday, iron on Tuesday, bake Wednesday and Saturday, spin and weave Thurs­
day and Friday.
On the religious and social side the Pilgrim Cape Codders had family prayers
morning and evening and invariably went to the meeting house on Sabbath morn­
ing and evening in all weather. For the day o f rest the family had prepared the
meals and brought in the firewood the day before. The children went to school a
few weeks in winter, trudging with moccasins and snowshoes. Neighbours gath­
ered in one of the homes and talked about family, letters and news from England,
crops, Quakers, Baptists, witches, the church, and village doings. The children
assembled in one o f the homes so vacated to pop corn, crack nuts and play games.
(References: W illiam Bradford, O f Plymouth Foundations Frederick Freeman,
The History o f Cape Cod, Dwight B. Heath, ed., M ourts Relation , H. Roger King,
Cape Cod an d the Plymouth Colony in the Seventeenth Century, George F. W illison,
Saints an d S trangers )

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CAPE CO D AN CESTO RS

W e have already dealt in chapter two with the heads o f some o f the families
who moved from Plymouth Town to Cape Cod, those with the surnames o f
Bangs, Deane, Doane, Dunham, Hopkins and Snow. We now look at those of
their children and grandchildren who are our ancestors along with many other
ancestral families. A reminder about the ahnentafel numbers! Those without any
letter attached are for Fisk(e) ancestors and those with L are for Locke ancestors.
Those w ith a denote ancestors o f A bigail Smith, M rs. Amasa Fisk and those with
h remind us that we have a circumstantial but unproved hypothesis o f the ances­
tors o f M ary Emma Smith, M rs. Alfred Fisk.
Atwood, Stephen1, cl620-94 (#460L, 466L) bom about 1620 in Plymouth
Town, was probably the nephew o f John Atwood, o f Sanderstead, Surrey, Eng­
land, who was one o f the assistant governors o f Plymouth Colony. Stephen Atwood
received grants o f land there and in 1643 was in charge o f the herring weir. He
became a freeman in 1647 and was a grand and petty juror and constable three
years later. He married A bigail Dunham, daughter o f Deacon John D unham and
his wife, Abigail, 6 November 1644 and they had Stephen, John, Hannah, Eldad
and M edad. About 1650 he and A bigail moved to Eastham. In 1655 he assessed
himself a voluntary contribution o f sixteen shillings towards Easthams “common
store”. In the same year when the family heads were organized in groups o f five
members for the propagation o f cattle, he was in a group with Thomas Prence,
Nicholas and M ark Snow, and Thomas Atkins. The next year he was appointed
surveyor of highways. In 1673 Eastham undertook in return for his land and his
house with a “new room and chimney” to pay him £30, to grant him a tract of
land, to give him a certain time to haul away the rest of his buildings, and to give
him a day’s work of each inhabitant as long as it was not in a time o f planting or
harvest. In 1680 he and four other men were appointed to terminate Indian
enterprises on the common lands o f Eastham such as gathering pine knots, run­
ning tar and cutting timber. Stephen Atwood died at Eastham in February of
1693-4.

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Atwood, H annah2, M rs Jerem iah3 Sm ith, 1649-1728 (#233L) (Stephen1) was

born at Plymouth 14 October 1649 to Stephen Atwood Sr. and Abigail Dunham.
H annah Atwood married Jerem iah Sm ith, son o f John Sm ith and Bennett
Moorecock, 3 January 1677. She gave birth to four children, Mercy, Hannah,
Abigail and Jeremiah, was a widow twenty-three years and lived unto her eighti­
eth year She is an ancestor o f Lydia Smith, a grandmother of A nn Crowell.
Atwood, Eldad2, born 165? (#230L) (Stephen1) is the second child of Stephen
Atwood Sr. and Abigail Dunham to have the honour of our ancestry. Eldad
Atwood married Anna Snow, daughter o f M ark Snow and Anna Cooke, 14 Feb­
ruary 1683. They had four boys and four girls, including Anna, during a period of
seventeen years:M arie, John, Anna, D eborah, Sarah. Eldad, Ebenezer and
Benjamin.
A tw ood, A n n a3, M rs W m 3 N ickerson, 1688-aft. 1764 (#115L) (E ldad3
Stephen1) was born _ January 1687-8 to Eldad Atwood and Anna Snow. Anna
Atwood married W illiam Nickerson III as his second wife and had three chil­
dren by him: Anna, Deborah and Eldad. H e died in 1742 and five years later she
married Benjamin Bearse Sr. o f Barnstable, who died the next year. She was living
as late as 1764. H er daughter Anna Nickerson and her husband, Jonathan Crowell,
became great grandparents o f Ann Crowell.
(References: Note 2242 in Boston Transcript o f 13 June 1927; Fred E. Crowell,
N ew Englanders in N ova Scotia\ Freeman, H istory o f Cape C od ; Hamblen, “First
Settlers o f Eastham,” N EH G R, 6:41-43 and 167)
Bangs, H annah2, M rs John2Doane, b .1644 (#191a, 327a&h, 351 a&h, 383h)
(Edward1) was bom about 1644 to Edward Bangs and Rebecca Hobart at Eastham
and married John Doane, Jr. there 30 A pril 1662. Her first child, John, died in
infancy and then she had five children who survived.
Bearse, A ugustine1, born 1618 (#352a), often called Austin, came at age twenty
to America in the Confidence o f London from Southampton, John Jobson master,
24 April 1638 and the next year he settled at Barnstable H e interests us because
he is a pioneer ancestor o f the Barss fam ily o f Nova Scotia and thus o f Elizabeth
Barss, the mother of A bigail Smith (M rs. Amasa Fisk) and also because he has
been the subject o f much tradition and conjecture. W ho he was and whom he

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married have been much discussed. In 1996 an Internet correspondence between

Lee M urrah, o f Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and me grew into an informal but lively
electronic-mail group o f about eighteen Bearse descendants seeking an answer to
those questions.
W ho was Augustine Bearse? There appeared in the Utah Genealogical M aga­
zine o f July 1935 an unpublished manuscript by Franklin Bearse (Ele-wath-thum)
which had been accepted by the Connecticut Commissioner in Charge o f Indian
Rights and Claim s “as an authentic and legal declaration o f lineage.” Franklin
Bearse said he derived the data from the diary o f Zerviah Newcomb, wife o f
Josiah Bearse, a grandson o f Austin Bearse. To date this diary has not been found
in the Library o f Congress, the Newberry Library in Chicago nor in the New
York Public Library, where copies o f it were alleged to repose. According to the
manuscript, Austin BeArce was a G ypsy who was deported for a minor infraction
o f English law. Banks’s Topographical D ictionary states that he was from the par­
ish o f Longstock, in present Hampshire, and his father was said to be James
Beers. That parish register starts in 1663, long after Austin s birth; he may have
been baptized in a neighbouring parish. T hat he was a Gypsy or a deported m i­
nor malefactor is extremely unlikely.
Franklin Bearse states that at M attachee Village in 1639 Austin Bearse mar­
ried M ary Hyanno, daughter o f John Hyanno, an Indian sagamore and grand­
daughter of Iyanough, once sachem o f that area. He argues that not being accept­
able to any Puritan girl, the gypsy Austin married an Indian princess. This mar­
riage also appears in Charles Bourne’s N ew England Pioneer Settlers. Jacobus (TAG,
15: 111-118) casts doubt for several reasons. How is it that the children o f a
gypsy convict and an Indian woman married into the best Puritan families? Can
one accept an account based on an unfound diary and oral transmission over three
centuries? Because statements about the supposed Indian spouses of a son and a
grandson of Austin are proved wrong by record sources, could not this marriage
also be untrue? On the other hand, unless an authentic record of Austin’s mar­
riage to someone else is found, that he did not marry M ary Hyanno cannot be
 PILGRIM CAPE COD

A book bv W illiam F. Bearse showed M ary W ilder as the wife of Austin Bearse.
Our e-m ail group spent much time following that trail and found that she had
married Thomas Underwood and had twelve children by him. I believe it is likely
that Austin Bearse married M ary Hyanno and that he did so because he found
her very attractive. Her grandfather, Iyanough, was described in M ourts Relation
(!622J as a gentle and generous chief of about 26 years of age who died after he
and some o f his people took to the swamps in fear and dismay after Standish’s
pre-emptive strike against the leaders of the Massachusetts tribe.
The house lot o f Augustine Bearse was twelve acres o f rocky land but he had
six acres of meadow land, two thatch islands, six very fertile acres in the Calves
Pasture, eight acres of planting land and thirty acres at Indian Pond. H e was
admitted freeman on 3 M ay 1652. He was not as active publicly as some o f his
fellows, for the records show him as a grand juror in 1653 and 1662 and a sur­
veyor o f highways in 1674, but “Austin Bearse, surveyor,” is also named as one of
the founders of Barnstable. He was an early and dutiful member o f Mr. Lothrop s
church, following the teaching o f his pastor that an infant should be presented for
baptism soon after birth lest it be lost in the case of death. Mr. Lothrop wrote a
book at Barnstable on the subject o f baptism which was published in London.
For instance, Austin Bearse carried Joseph two miles for baptism in the depth of
winter on Sunday, 25 January 1651, the very day the child was bom. Evidently
Austin was much more relaxed about it before he came under the influence o f Mr.
Lothrop: his oldest, Mary, was born in 1640 and the next, M artha, was born in
1642 but they were not baptized until 6 M ay 1643, when their father joined the
church. T he next six— Priscilla, Sarah, A bigail, Hannah, Joseph and Hester—
were baptized on the day o f birth or the day after. The last three, Lydia, Rebecca
and Jam es, seem not to have experienced instant christening. Austin was a farmer
against whom there is no record o f complaint. T hat is saying much because in
Pilgrim society it was a religious duty to check the words and acts o f one s neigh­
bour. T he record o f his death has not been found nor that o f his wife, a member
o f the church from 7 August 1750 and the mother o f eleven children.

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Bearse Jo sep h 2, 1652-95 (#176a) (Augustine1), the seventh child o f A ustin and
M ary Bearse, survived the long frosty walk to be baptized within hours o f his
birth on 25 January 1651-2. In his early twenties Joseph Bearse also survived
active service in King Philip’s W ar in 1675. That year on 3 December he married
M artha Taylor, daughter o f Richard Taylor, the tailor o f Yarmouth. T hey had
eight children: Mary, who remained single and lived 84 years; Joseph, who took
up his fathers war-service right to a land grant at Gorham; Benjamin, our ances­
tor; Priscilla, who died at three months; Ebenezer, who married Elizabeth Cobb;
John, who married Elinor Lewis; Josiah, who married Zerviah Newcomb; James,
who married M ary Fuller. Joseph died about 1695 at the age o f forty-three. M artha
survived him thirty-two years, (tying 27 January 1727-8 at the age o f seventy-
seven.
Bearse, Benjamin3, 1682-1748 (#88a) (Joseph2 Austin1), son o f Joseph and
M artha, was born 21 June 1682. A t Barnstable, Benjamin Bearse married on 4
February 1701-2 his first cousin Sarah Cobb - their mothers were sisters. H e and
Sarah were early settlers at Hyannis. They had thirteen children. Sarah died on
14 Jan uary 1742. Benjamin married Anna, nee Atwood, widow o f W illiam
Nickerson III in 1747, shortly before his death at Hyannis on 15 M ay 1748. In
his w ill, which was proved on 7 July, he named his surviving children: his sons
Augustine, Benjamin, Joseph, Samuel, Peter and Stephen and his daughters M artha
Lewis, Priscilla Lewis, Sarah Nickerson and Thankful Nickerson. Other children
were Elizabeth, Jesse and David. His estate was valued at the large sum in those
days o f £1,500.
Bearse, Joseph, Sr.4, 1708-51 (#44a) (Benjamin3Joseph 2 Augustine1), a son o f
Benjamin and Sarah, was bom in Barnstable 30 October 1708. Joseph Bearse Sr.
married on 12 December 1749 Lydia Deane, twenty years younger than he, daugh­
ter o f Thomas Deane and Lydia Cole. H e died in 1751 after a year or so o f
marriage, leaving one child, a baby called Joseph.

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Bearse,Joseph5, Jr., born 1750 (#22a) (Joseph4 Benjamin3Joseph2Augustine1),

son of Joseph Bearse and Lydia Deane, was baptized late in Barnstable 14 April
1754. W hen Joseph Bearse Jr. was about ten years old he came to Liverpool, Nova
Scotia, with his mother and his stepfather, Thomas Annis. Joseph was a grandfa­
ther o f A bigail Smith, wife of Amasa Fiske. W e shall meet again with Joseph in
chapter ten.
(References: “Barnstable Settlers”, NEHGR, 2: 65, 109, 316; “Scituate and
Barnstable Church Records,” N EHGR, 9: 279-287; Fred E. Crowell, No. 81;
Jacobus, “Austin Bearse and His A lleged Indian Connections”,TAG, 15:111-118
(July 1938); John Bearss Newcomb, The Bearse or Bearss Family, 1-5; Otis, 1:52-
56; Savage, 1:149)
Bower, George1, d 1656 (#758a, 1302a&h, 1398a&h, 1526h) married Barbarie
Smyth at Braithwell, Yorkshire, on a Saturday, the ninth ofFebruary, 1614. George
Bower was an early settler, freeman and town officer o f Scituate. The family moved
to Plymouth Town by 1639, as mentioned in chapter two. Soon, however, they
moved to Cambridge for their sons’ education. Barbarie died 25 M arch 1644 and
their son M atthew soon followed her. In 1649John graduated from Harvard Col­
lege and as the Reverend John Bower became a schoolmaster at Plymouth and
then in Connecticut, where his branch o f the family setded. In the spring o f 1649
George Bower married Elizabeth W orthington at Cambridge. Three years later
he appeared before the Court for voting without being a freeman of the Massa­
chusetts Bay Colony. H is w ill, which was dated 4 November 1656 and proved 30
December, mentions three sons and three daughters, but not Ruth, whom he had
probably provided for at the time o f her marriage. [Sm yth, Barbarie , died 1644
(#759a, 1303a-h, 1399a, 1399h, I527h) ]
Bower, Ruth2, M rs Richard Knowles, b 1620 (#379a, 651a5ch, 699a&h, 763h)
(George1) was born to George Bower and Barbarie Smyth in England in 1620.
Ruth Bower married Richard Knowles at Plymouth Town 15 August 1639 and
she had seven children. She came before the Plymouth Court “for retailing of
strong waters at five or six shillings a bottle that cost but 35 shillings the case.” Her
fine o f ten shillings went to the town’s poor. The family moved to Eastham.
(Reference: Libby, “The Knowles Family,” NEHGR, 79:288-289)

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Cobb, Henry1, c l 607-79 (#356a, 586, 738h) was a native o f Kent, England,
according to Deane’s history o f Scituate. H e was bom about 1607. H enry Cobb
was living in Plymouth Town in 1631, when he married Patience Hurst, daughter
of Deacon James Hurst, and they had two children there, John, born 7 June 1632
and James, 14 January 1634. The family moved to Scituate, where he received a
house lot and built a house. In 1634 the Reverend John Lothrop and members of
his congregation arrived in Scituate, after he had spent two years in a London jail
for unlawful religious gathering. In his church records Mr. Lothrop recounts that
after a day of humiliation they joined in covenant together, “so many of us as had
been in Covenant before” and he includes Goodman Cob. It seems clear that
Henry Cobb must have been a member o f Mr. Lothrop’s church in London. On
15 December 1635 Henry Cobb was invested into the office of senior deacon and
thus became the right-hand man o f his pastor. Patience gave birth to two daugh­
ters in Scituate, Mary, our ancestor, and Hannah, who was born 5 October 1639
and lived ninety years. In 1639 many o f this church, Henry Cobb included, fol­
lowed Mr. Lothrop to Mattakeese, later called Barnstable, bringing their harvest
with them. There H enry got a rough and uneven houselot o f seven acres, a neck
of land with meadows adjoining, a great lot o f sixty acres which was good for
raising cattle, and twelve acres o f rich soil in the new Common Field. H is new
residence was built as a strong house for the protection o f neighbours from the
Indians. In Barnstable, Patience bore three more children between 1641-2 and
1648, Patience, Gershom and Eliezer. Goodwife Patience died about a month
after Eliezer’s birth and was “buryed M ay 4,1648, the first that was buryed in our
new burying place by our meeting house”, according to Lothrops church record.
The widower married on 12 December 1649 Sarah Hinckley, daughter o f Samuel
Hinckley and sister of Thomas, the future last governor o f Plymouth Colony. By
Sarah, H enry had eight more children, among whom was Samuel, another o f our
ancestors. Henry was a useful citizen with good values. He was one of two depu­
ties from Barnstable to the General Court for nine years, a town selectman, officer
of excise and a grand juror. As a deputy he was once fined four shillings for “defect
in appearance”. There was one blot on his record: in 1657, unlike nearly all the
first comers still living, he did not object when the General Court o f Plymouth

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Colony enacted laws to persecute Baptists and Quakers. Fortunately after four
years the Court repealed that intolerant law. After serving as deacon for thirty
years H enry Cobb was elevated to the office o f ruling elder 14 April 1670, in
which he continued till his death between his codicil o f 22 February 1678-9 and
probate 3 June 1679. H e gave his great lot in Barnstable to James and h alf his land
at Suconeesett in equal shares to Eliezer, Gershom, James and John, one shilling
each to his daughters M ary, Hannah and Patience and the second best bed and
furniture to his daughter Sarah. H e left to his wife Sarah his new house and the
rest o f his uplands and meadows. A fter her death her portion was to be divided:
two acres of upland to Samuel: the rest o f the lands to Henry, Jonathan and Samuel,
and the house to Henry.
Cobb, M ary2, M rs Jo n .2 D unham , m 1657 (#293) (Henry1) was bom to Dea­
con Henry Cobb and his first wife, Patience Hurst. M ary Cobb became the sec­
ond wife of Jonathan Dunham on 15 October 1657. In his history o f Martha’s
Vineyard, Banks says, “She was the mother o f all his children but nothing is
known o f her life or death.” (3:153) W e know the names o f six children because
they were named in her husband’s w ill: H annah, Jonathan, Eleazer, Samuel,
Gershom and Daniel. M ary was w ith her husband when at Middleboro he was
ministering to the Indians o f the islands, when he was a lay preacher at Falmouth
and when he became the minister at Edgartown, M artha’s Vineyard.
Cobb, Patience2, M rs R o b t1Parker, 1642-1727 (#369h) (H enry1) was bap­
tized 13 M arch 1641-2 at Barnstable, the fifth child o f Henry Cobb and his first
wife, Patience Hurst. She was one o f the heirs o f her grandfather James Hurst by
his w ill o f 1657. A t “beginning August 1667” Patience Cobb married Robert
Parker as his second wife (M D 11:100). She was admitted to the Barnstable
church four summers later. H er father remembered her in a w ill probated in
1679. Patience had five sons and three daughters between 1669 and 1681. Her
husband having died before 2 M arch 1684-5, Patience appeared before the Ply­
mouth Colony Court the first o f June and was awarded a third o f all the personal
estate, the use o f the dwelling and the lands about it, and another part o f the
personal estate for bringing up the small children; in feet, the eldest was not quite
sixteen, and the youngest, Alice, was three. Some time later Patience married

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Deacon W illiam Crocker, the widowed father o f seven children, the oldest of
whom was five years older than she. The deacon died in the autumn of 1692. He
willed her £40 and the best bedstead and the furniture belonging to it. Alice died
at age 44, having always lived w ith her mother, who died two months later on 23
October 1727 at the age of eighty-five. She outlived all o f her Parker step-chil­
dren, all o f her Crocker step-children and four of her own children.
Cobb, Sam uel2,1654-1728 (#178a) (Henry1), the son o f Deacon Henry Cobb
and his second wife, Sarah Hinckley, was bom 12 October 1654. He built his
house on the fertile six acres that his father had given him in the new Common
Field and later built a two-storey residence, which endured to 1805. Samuel Cobb
married Elizabeth Taylor, a daughter of Richard Taylor, the tailor of Yarmouth.
They had ten children in Barnstable over eighteen years from 1681 to 1699:
Sarah, our ancestor; Thomas, Elizabeth, Henry, Samuel and Mehitable (twins),
Experience, Jonathan, Eleazer and Lydia. In his will, which was proved 8 March
1727-8, Samuel Cobb gave Thomas the land on which Thomas’s house was stand­
ing and h alf o f all his other lands and meadow on condition that Thomas pay
certain amounts to brothers and sisters, namely, £12 10s to Henry, 20 shillings to
Jonathan and to Lydia, and £12 to Sarah, to Mehitable and to Experience. Yeo­
man Samuel gave the rest of his housing, sheds and bams, orchards and meadows,
cattle, sheep, horses, swine, tools and his Great Bible to Eleazer on condition that
he pay Henry £47. H e gave his son Samuel £3 and his grandson Samuel Barse
£20. [Note the spelling and im plicit pronunciation o f Barse: one can see why the
family in Nova Scotia adopted the spelling Barss.] He bequeathed to the four
daughters all the movable goods in the houses.
Cobb, Sarah3, M rs Benj.3 Bearse, 1681-1742 (#89a) (Samuel2Henry1) was bom
at Barnstable 20 August 1681 to Samuel Cobb and Elizabeth Taylor. Sarah Cobb
married Benjamin Bearse, her first cousin, 4 February 1701-2 and they moved to
Hyannis, where she gave birth to thirteen children. She died 14 January 1742 and
is buried in the old graveyard in Hyannis.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins , I, 392-395; Philip Cobb,
1-39; “Barnstable V. R .,” M . D., 3: 73 and 11: 100; “Barnstable Settlers and
Barnstable Church Records,” NEHGR, vols. 2 and 9; M cLean, “Robert Parker

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o f Barnstable, M ass.”, NEHGR, 112:190-197; Otis Papers, 1:166-176)

Collier, W illiam 1, ca. 1585-1671 (#1510h), born about 1585, was apprenticed
eight years to W illiam Russell, was sworn in the Grocers’ Company o f London in
1609, entered in a partnership at Southwark three years later and was made a free
brother o f the Grocers’ Company in March o f 1627-8. He married Jane C lark 16
M ay 1611 and they had twelve children over the next fourteen years, which may
partly account for die death o f eight o f them in infancy or early childhood. W illiam
Collier was one o f the merchant adventurers who invested in the Plymouth Colony
and one o f those who on 15 November 1626 subscribed special aid to the colo­
nists. The couple emigrated in 1633 to New Plymouth w ith their four surviving
children, Rebecca, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth and his apprentices in the M ary
an d James. They moved to Duxbury after 1639. W illiam Collier was admitted
freeman 1 January 1633-4 and from then on he served on many successive com­
mittees, to lay out highways, to view farm land, to set bounds for Scituate, to treat
w ith Massachusetts Bay Colony, to act as a Council ofW ar, to draw up the excise,
to let trade, to review the laws. H e helped the colony to arrange a financial settle­
ment in 1641 w ith the merchant adventurers. In 1643 he and Edward W inslow
represented Plymouth at a meeting in Boston with Massachusetts Bay, C on­
necticut and New Haven that established the Confederacy o f New England. In
1645 W illiam Collier absented himself from the General Court when Governor
Bradford, Thomas Prence and Edward W inslow voted against a petition for “full
and free toleration of religion” for all Christians except Roman Catholics. He was
an assistant governor 1635-1637,1639-1651 and 1654-1665. Owing to his “age
and much business” the General Court voted £10 for a special aide for him so
that he could “attend the country’s business at courts”. His wife, Jane Clark, died
some unknown time after she consented to a deed on 28 June 1666. He died after
29 M ay 1670 and before 5 July 1671, at about eighty-five years o f age.
Collier, M ary2, M rs Thom as1 Prence, cl6 1 2 -cl6 4 4 (#755h) (W illiam 1) was
baptized 18 February 1611-2 at Southwark St. Olave, the daughter of W illiam
Collier and Jane Clark. M ary Collier became the second wife o f Thomas Prence
on 1 April 1635 at Plymouth. She may have died in or before 1644. H er daughter
M ary Prence married M ark Snow.

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(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 2:446-450; Hills, M ayflower

Planters, 2 : 46-47; W illison, Saints an d Strangers, passim)
Collins, Joseph1,164?-1724 (#188a, 324a&h, 358a&h) is o f unknown origin,
for he is first o f public record in New England when on 20 M arch 1671-2 at
Eastham he married Ruth Knowles (also known as Duty), daughter o f Captain
Richard Knowles and Ruth Bower, o f that place. A resident o f Eastham, which
gave him his home lot o f twelve acres, he did not seek public office but served
when called upon as juror and inventory-taker o f property several times and as
constable once. Joseph Collins and Ruth Bower had nine children there over
seventeen years: Sarah, John, Lydia, Joseph, Hannah, Jonathan, Jane, Benjamin,
and Jam es, who died at three weeks in the spring o f 1689. Ruth died on 28
August 1714 at Eastham. Before 25 October 1716 Joseph Collins married
Christopher Strout’s widow, Sarah, daughter o f George Pike and Esther Atkins.
Josephs w ill o f 9 August 1723, proved 23 February 1723-4, remembers four sons
and three daughters but names only John, Joseph and Lydia. H e gave his wife
Sarah the furniture o f the master bedroom, one third o f the moveables and o f the
grain, also a fatted pig. The w ill contains special bequests: to Lydia, a bed and
bolster; to Joseph, his best suit and shirt and forty shillings in value; to the North
Church in Eastham, a table cloth with an intricate triangular weave. A ll the rest
o f his real and personal estate for which he had not given deed o f conveyance was
to be divided equally among his four sons and three daughters. The inventory
gives us some clues. There are good clothes, furniture, pewter platters and porrin­
gers, and table cloths and napkins, some homemade and some bought. The scales
and measures suggest some business activity, old books some education, and mus­
ket and cutlass some m ilitary readiness or experience. An unanswered question
lurks. W h at relation was he to an unidentified John Collins who had left him a
yearly bequest o f one fat sheep and also washed wool worth £15 ?
Collins, John2, 1674-1765 (#94a, 162a&h, 174a<5th) (Joseph1), son o f Joseph
Collins and Ruth Knowles, bom at Eastham, 18 December 1674, married Hannah
Doane, daughter o f John Doane and Hannah Bangs, on 12 February 1701-2.
They lived at Eastham until they sold their farm 5 September 1715 to Ichabod
Higgins. The same year John Collins bought land on Toms Neck at Chatham

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and the family settled there. He was one o f the first church members and pew
owners. A man of energy and ability, he accumulated much property and he and
his children became the richest family in Chatham before the W ar o f Independ­
ence. His eldest son, Solomon, became the largest taxpayer in the town. It must
have been in the genes, for as we shall shortly see, Solomon was the great grand­
father o f a Nova Scotian merchant prince, Hon. Enos Collins. Hannah Doane
Collins gave birth to nine children: Solomon, Samuel, M artha, John, Hannah,
Joseph, David, Jane and Anna. Her daughters M artha, Hannah and Anna are
ancestors o f Abigail Smith, M rs Amasa Fisk, and her son Joseph and her daugh­
ter Jane are probably great great grandparents of M ary Emma Sm ith, M rs Alfred
Fisk. John Collins died at the age o f ninety on 24 M arch 1765 and by his will,
proved 28 June 1765, divided among his five sons his large real estate consisting of
houses, bams, corn house, fishhouse, mill, meadows, upland and beach. H e gave
the cranberry swamp to Solomon w ith the proviso that all the sons and daughters
should share equally in the cranberries.. The estate, excluding deeds and gifts for­
merly given, totalled £882.The widow Hannah died ten weeks later.
Collins, H annah3, M rs Stephen4 Sm ith, 1711-c29 (#81a&h) (John3Joseph1)
was born at Chatham on 2 November 1711. About the age o f sixteen Hannah
Collins married Stephen4 Smith, son o f John Sm ith and Bethia Snow. T hey were
received as full members of the Congregational Church there. O nly eighteen
when she died, about 1729, she left one child, Stephen, baptized 18 December
1726, who became a great grandfather of A bigail Sm ith, Mrs. Amasa Fisk, and
probably o f M ary Emma Smith, M rs. Alfred Fisk.
Collins,Jane3,M rs Prence4 Snow, cl717- (#95h) (John3Joseph1) was born about
1717 at Chatham. The marriage intention of Prence Snow, Jr. an djan e Collins is
dated 10 September 1737 in the Harwich Records. She had two children by him,
Prince and Mary, the latter four months after her husband died in M ay o f 1740 at
age thirty-two. About four years later Jane married Benjamin Bearse, o f Chatham,
son o f Benjamin Bearse and Sarah Cobb, but he died in 1755. She married her
third husband, George Godfrey, son o f Moses Godfrey and Deborah Cooke, on 9
November 1758 at Chatham.

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Collins, M artha3, M rs Moses3Godfrey, 1708- (#87) (John2Joseph1) was bom

26 January 1707-8. M artha Collins married Moses Godfrey, Jr., son o f Moses
Godfrey and Deborah Cook, in Chatham about 1726. M artha had nine Godfrey
children between 1727 and 1747, three o f whom emigrated to Nova Scotia. Her
granddaughter Susanna Godfrey became die grandmother o f A bigail Smith, Mrs.
Amasa Fiske. M artha was still living when her fathers will was proved on 10
August 1765.
Collins,Joseph3, 1713-71 (#44h) (JoluPJoseph1) was born at Eastham on 14
August 1713, son o f John Collins and Hannah Doane. H e moved to Chatham
and about 1735 he married A bigail Crowell, daughter o f Paul Crowell and Eliza­
beth H allett, o f that place. Eight children were born there: H allet, December
1736, d.y.; Ruth, 21 October 1739, died at 16; Joseph, 5 November 1741, married
Desire Parker, died o f smallpox 1779 while loading his schooner at New York;
Benajah, 29 October 1743, who became a privateer, shipping merchant and judge,
moved late in life to a mansion in D anvers,M A, and died immensely rich; Stephen,
31 October 1745; H allet, 1749; Enos, 1 June 1750; John, 21 March 1752; Paul,
27 M arch 1754; Peter, 10 August 1756. Joseph Collins, Abigail and nine children
moved in 1760 to Liverpool, where he became an original proprietor. He died
there 12 January 1771 at the age o f fifty-seven H e and A bigail are buried in the
old Congregational cemetery in Liverpool
C ollins, Anna3, M rs Jonathan5 Crowell, c 1719- (#47a) (John2Joseph1) was
born at Chatham about 1719, the youngest o f nine children. About 1740 Anna
Collins married Jonathan Crowell, son o f Paul Crowell and Elizabeth Hallett, of
Chatham. A ll but one o f their nine Crowell children were born in Chatham,
between 1742 and 1756. She and her husband and seven children moved to Liv­
erpool, Nova Scotia about 1760. The youngest, A bigail was born 16 M ay 1762 at
Liverpool.

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(References: Cape Cod Library No. 36, pp. 26-27; Stanley Newcomb Collins,
Jr., “Joseph Collins o f Eastham and Three Generations of H is Descendants”,
NEHGR, 151 (Jan. 1997): 3-30; Fred E. Crowell, No. 23; “First Settlers of
Eastham,” NEHGR, 6: 44; Smith, D ictionary o f Imm igrants to Nova Scotia, 1: 52
and 56-57; W estgate &. Tomlinson, Vital Records o f Chatham ; W hite, National
Genealogical Society Quarterly, 62: 99)
Conant, Joshua3Jr., born 1657 (#166a&h) (Joshua2 Roger1): The earlier his­
tory of this family and of this man in Salem will be told in the following chapter.
Joshua Conant Jr. moved with his family to the northern part of Eastham, now
called Truro, about 1700 with his second wife, Sarah Newcomb, and their four
young children: Kezia, Caleb, Sarah and John. There seems to be no further record
o f him.
Conant, Sarah4, M rs N athaniel3 Eldredge, 1695- (#83a&h) (Joshua3'2Roger1)
was born at what is now Truro on 12 A pril 1695 to Joshua Conant and Sarah
Newcomb. On 4 September 1712 at Eastham Sarah Conant married Nathaniel
Eldredge, son o f Jehosaphat Eldredge and Elizabeth Covell.
Cooke, Josiah1, cl610-73 (#676a&h, 692a&h, 926L)born in England about
1610, first appears in Plymouth records on 16 January 1633-4. H e married Eliza­
beth (Ring) Dean, the widow o f Stephen, 16 September 1635 and they had three
children, Josiah Jr., Anne and Bethia. In Plymouth Josiah Cooke had forty acres
o f land and between 1638 and 1642 was successively a grand juror, surveyor and
constable. In 1645 with six other family heads he moved to Nauset (Eastham),
where he became a freeman and acted as town constable, grand juror, surveyor,
justice o f the peace and selectman as well as a colonial auditor for two years and
a representative o f Eastham to the General Court eleven years in the period
1647-1671. H e was commissioned in 1664 to conduct marriages in Eastham. He
died 17 October 1673 at the age o f about sixty-three. Bearing the date o f 22
September 1673, his w ill was proved at Plymouth on 29 October. C . W . Swift
says that Josiah and Elizabeth had ten children but if so seven infants may have
died because only three are on record: Anna, Bethia and Josiah Jr.

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Cooke, Anna2, M rs M ark2 Snow, d.1656 (#463L) (Josiah1) married M ark Snow,
son o f Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins, on 15 January 1654-5 at Eastham.
Anna Cooke Snow died 25 July 1656, eighteen days after the birth o f Anne, her
only child. She is an ancestor of Ann Crowell.
Cooke, Josiah2Jr., 1645-1732 (#338a&h, 346a&h) (Josiah1) brother o f Anna,
was bom at Eastham in 1645. H e married Deborah Hopkins, daughter o f Giles
Hopkins and Catherine W helden, 27 Ju ly 1668 at Eastham. They had nine chil­
dren: Elizabeth, who died young, Josiah, Richard, Elizabeth, Caleb, Deborah,
Joshua, Benjamin and M artha. Josiah Cooke J r . engaged in a court contest against
his sister Bethia and his half-sister M iriam over his fathers estate but they came
to an agreement in 1687. H e died at Eastham 31 January 1731-2 at the age of
eighty-six.
Cooke, Deborah3, M rs M oses2 Godfrey, 1679-1745 (#169a&h, 173a8ch)
(Josiah2'1) was bom at Eastham 15 February 1678-9 to Josiah Cooke Jr. and
Deborah Hopkins. About 1700 Deborah Cooke married a son o f George Godfrey,
Moses Godfrey, who had moved to Chatham about 1695, and they had four
daughters and eight sons. She and her husband were members o f the Orleans
church and then joined the Chatham church when it was organized in 1720, but
having been excommunicated for their liberal views on religion, they rejoined the
Orleans one. Deborah died 23 A pril 1745, two years after her husband.
(References: Austin, M ayflow er Families, 6: 30, 113-114; Coddington, TAG,
42: 198; DeCosta, 48; Freeman; Hamblin, NEHGR, 41: 167; H ill, 69; C . W .
Swift, Library o f Cape Cod History an d Genealogy, 33; 15-17 and 40: 2-4)
Covell, Nathaniel1, d. bef1687 (#330a&h) as a boy in Chelmsford, Essex County,
England, agreed at the bedside o f his dying father to an indenture to Edward
Winslow, o f Marshfield, Massachusetts, in return for which he would get paid
passage over and maintenance and at the end o f the seven years thirteen bushels of
Indian corn, goods and commodities worth £10 and “a good double apparel”. A
saddler, Nathaniel Covell arrived in Boston in 1653 and began his service with
Mr. Winslow, who, part w ay through, assigned him to Peregrine W hite, a son-in-
law. Once his own master, Nathaniel Covell moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod, where
in 1662 or 1663 he married Sarah Nickerson, eighteen or nineteen, daughter o f

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W illiam 1Nickerson and Anne Busby. They soon moved as part o f the Nickerson
family to Monomoit, later called Chatham. Nathaniel supported his father-in-
law in the struggle with the Plymouth Colony administration over ownership of
lands bought from the Indians. H e signed the family petition and he was fined
£100 for his part in writing a letter criticizing the Plymouth authorities. H e was
chosen constable of Chatham in 1674. H e and Sarah lived on the land her father
gave her near Ryder’s Cove. T hey had four sons, Nathaniel, W illiam , Joseph and
Ephraim, and probably two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth. Nathaniel died rather
young, certainly before Sarahs being recorded as a widow in December o f 1687.
C oveil, E lizabeth2, M rs Jeh o sap h at2 E ldredge, d. aft 1754 (#165a&h)
(Nathaniel1) was a daughter o f Nathaniel Covell and Sarah Nickerson. Elizabeth
Coveil became the second wife o f Jehosaphat Eldredge and they went to live on
the Sarah Covell farm at Chathamport. T hey had six sons and one daughter.
(Reference: H ills, 2 :9 2 -9 3 ; Nickerson Family Assn., The Nickerson F am ily )
Crow,John1, died 1673 (#736a) came over in 1635 and settled in Charlestown,
near Boston. H is birthplace, parentage, former residence, ship and occupation are
unknown. His wife Elishua, M rs John Crow, whose maiden name is unknown,
came over before him in 1634, bought a house from W illiam Jennings and joined
the church at Charlestown the next February. John Crow joined his wife at
Charlestown, where he was granted 75 acres, was elected a town officer, and was
given the title o f Mr., then a mark o f high respect in New England. He sold his
property in 1638 and on 18 December moved to M atakeese, later called Yar­
mouth, where he swore allegiance to the king and fidelity to New Plymouth. In
1640 he was one of three grantees appointed to a land committee. John Crow of
Yarmouth, Thomas Dimmock o f Barnstable and Edmond Freeman o f Sandwich
were authorized by the General Council “to heare and determine all causes 6c
controusies with in the townships not exceeding XXs.” The Crows’ maid was
charged with pilfering goods in the house and received a “just” sentence “accord­
ing to her fault”. John Crow was from 1641 to 1643 a deputy to the General
Court. H e was granted a total of 120 acres. In 1650 eighteen citizens brought a
charge of trespass for damages of £60 against M r. John Crow, W illiam Nickerson

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and Lieut. W illiam Palmer. John Crow built a solid, comfortable palisade house,
which stood two centuries on land extending from the shore to the top of the hills,
north o f the present village centre of Dennis. The sills and plates were of huge
timbers and the walls, inside and out, were plastered with shell mortar.
Elishua gave birth to five children. T he eldest, M oses, was baptized in
Charlestown 24 June 1637 and probably died young. The birthdates of John,
Thomas, Elishua and Samuel are not known because the early records of Yar­
mouth were lost in the fire in 1674. John Crow died at Yarmouth 4 January 1672-
3, and Elishua sixteen years later in 1688.
Crow, Jo h n 2 Jr., ca. 1639-89 (#368a) (Jo h n 1), born about 1639, married
Mehitable M iller, daughter o f Rev. John M iller and Lydia M iller. John Crow Jr.
inherited most o f his fathers estate. He and M ehitable had eight children: John;
Mehitable, Lydia, Susannah, Elizabeth,Jeremiah, Hannah and Samuel. John Crow,
Jr. died 28 January 1688-9. Because there was no w ill the Prerogative Court at
Barnstable on 6 March 1688-9 settled his estate: the widow Mehitable was to
have the third of the estate and o f the personal estate during her natural life; the
remaining two-thirds of the personal estate to be divided among Samuel, Jer­
emiah, Elizabeth, Susanna and H annah; the eldest son John was to have the
house and all the lands after his mother's death and he was to pay his brother 40s.
and his nephew 20s.
Crow, M ehitable3, M rs Thomas2Tobey, d. 1723 (#393h) (John1), bom at Yar­
mouth, Cape Cod, a daughter o f John Crow, II and M ehitable M iller, married
Thomas Tobey, II. She settled with her husband in Yarmouth, her home town.
Her only known child was Thomas Tobey, III, born 2 February 1676. In the
settlement of her father’s estate, the Prerogative Court decided that Mehitable
Crow and her sister Lydia “had already considerable o f theirs.” After a long
widowhood Mehitable died in 1723.
Crowell, John3, 1662-1728 (#184a) (John2"1), son o f John and Mehitable, was
born in 1662 at Yarmouth, Cape Cod. H e married 27 M ay 1684 Bethia Sears,
daughter of Captain Paul Sears and Deborah W illard. T hey had nine children:
Joseph, born 20 March 1685, married Bathsheba H all, then Sarah Howes; Paul,
20 April 1687; Bethia, 13 April 1689, married Joseph Atwood, was the mother of

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Joshua Atwood, Barrington grantee; Mehitable, 3 September 1691, M rs John Rider,

mother o f Esther Rider, M rs. Joshua Nickerson, Barrington grantee; John, Ju ly of
1693, married Keziah Eldridge; Deborah, d.y.; Christopher, 24 July 1698, married
Sarah M atthews; Elizabeth, 30 October 1700, married Benjamin Homer and was
the mother o f John Homer, Barrington; and Mary, 25 December 1704, married
Thomas Bray. Bethia Sears Crowell died at Yarmouth 5 July 1724 and John Crowell
died there 1 October 1728. His w ill naming John and Christopher his executors
was dated 15 November 1725 and was probated 10 October 1728. In his genera­
tion the family name was established as Crowell: it had sometimes been spelled
Croel.
Crowell, Paul4, 1687-1765 (#92a) (John3'1) was the second child, born 20 April
1687, o f John Crowell and Bethia Sears. On 21 October 1714 he married Eliza­
beth H allett, daughter o f Jonathan Hallett, the richest man in Yarmouth. Paul
and Elizabeth moved in 1717 to Chatham and setded on a farm that his father
had bought for him. Elizabeth died 17 November 1723 at the age o f thirty-four,
leaving five children between the ages of eight and two years: Abigail, born 13
September 1715; Paul, Jr., born 4 April 1717; Jonathan, 25 February 1718-9;
Elizabeth, 7 April 1726; and David, 3 August 1730. Fifteen months later, on 15
February 1724-5 he married M argery H all, daughter o f Deacon Joseph H all and
M ary Faunt, o f Yarmouth. Active and highly respected, Paul Crowell was a dea­
con o f the church, town treasurer seven years, a selectman six years and ascended
through the officer ranks from lieutenant o f the local m ilitia to colonel o f the
county regiment. Paul Crowell died 11 October 1765 at the age o f seventy-eight
and bequeathed most o f his large estate to his three sons, David getting the home­
stead. M argery Hall Crowell died 26 M ay 1773 at the age o f 78.
Crowell, A bigail5, M rsJoseph4Collins, 1715-88 (#45h) (PauFJohn31), bom at
Yarmouth 13 September 1715, was the first child o f Paul Crowell and Elizabeth
H allett. She married Joseph Collins, son ofjohn Collins and H annah Doane, and
came w ith him and their six surviving children to Liverpool about 1760. The Vital
Records o f Liverpool, NS (NEIIGR, 127: 54) state that A bigail Collins, wife o f
Joseph Collins died there 11 M ay 1788 in the seventy-third year o f her age. They
were buried in the old Congregational churchyard.

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Crowell, Jonathan5, bom 1718 (#46a) (PauPJohn31), son o f Paul Crowell and
Elizabeth H allett, was born at Chatham 25 February 1718-9. He married Anna
Collins, daughter of John Collins and Hannah Doane. Jonathan Crowell and his
wife and seven children moved about 1760 to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, where he
became a grantee.
(References: Austin, One H undred and Sixty Allied Families, 78; Cape Cod L i­
brary, No. 36; Fred E. Crowell; Tobey and Pope, Tobey Genealogy , pp. 23-24;
W hite, NGSQ* 62: 99)
Crow, Yelverton1, died 1683 (#448L) has been determined by most researchers
on this family as a brother of John Crow Sr. although no proof has been found o f
that relation. Stephen W . Gifford posits a generation gap between the two and
the likelihood that John was Yelverton’s father, based on Yelvertons later date in
having a first child, developing an estate, and being chosen for public office. Cer­
tainly they were in Charlestown by 1634 and they both moved to Yarmouth,
Cape Cod. He lived with his wife Elizabeth, whose maiden name is unknown, on
his farm there about forty-five years, was a selectman and a grand juror and was
designated as “M r.” in the public records A t his death on 24 October 1683 he left
a w ill that had been signed 23 December 1681 by “Yelverton Crowell alias Crow”.
He gave all his “lands houses meadows, marshes cattle horses mares swine 6c
household stuffs” to his son Thomas, who was to maintain “his mother so long as
she livst in health 6c sickness finding allowing her whatever is or may be needful
for comfortable subsistance”. Thomas was also to pay his brothers John, Edward
and Samuel five silver shillings a year and to give Yelvertons grandchild Elizabeth
Gifford, who was probably the daughter o f Thomas’s twin sister Elizabeth, two
cows, two swine and a feather bed and bolster. Elizabeth, M rs. Yelverton Crow,
died in November of 1703. Yelverton and Elizabeth had eight children, the order
of whose birth is uncertain: John, Edward, Samuel, Elishua, Thomas and Eliza­
beth (twins), Yelverton, Jr., Mary.
(Reference: Stephen W . Gifford, Jr., “Yelverton Crowell o f Yarmouth, M ass.”,
N EHGR, 135:231-236)

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Crow, Thom as2, 1649-1728 (#224L) (Yelverton1) , bom 9 M ay 1649. The

maiden name o f his wife, Deborah, is unknown. The w ill o f Thomas Crow, which
was proved 23 December 1728, mentions eight children, the eldest o f whom was
Isaac.
Crowell, Isaac3, bom 1685 (#112L) (Thomas2Yelverton1), bom 19 August 1685
at Yarmouth, Cape Cod. Isaac Crowell had seven children, including Jonathan.
Ruth, M rs. Isaac Crowell, died 16 A pril 1766.
Crowell, Jonathan4, 1714-cl768 (#56L) (Isaac1Thomas7Yelverton1), born at
Yarmouth, Cape C od, 11 Jan uary 1713-4, m arried on 13 Ju ly 1738 A nna
Nickerson, daughter o f W illiam Nickerson and his second wife A nna Atwood.
They had six children: M ary, born at Yarmouth, Cape Cod 14 October 1740,
became the third wife of Prince Nickerson and died at age ninety at Port Clyde,
N .S.; David, 10 M arch 1743-4; Jonathan, Jr., 1 M a y 1746, m arried Rhoda
Nickerson and died at Argyle, N.S. at age eighty-six; Azubah, 17 February 1747-
8; Deborah, 4 June 1751; and Anna, also called Joanna, 15 October 1753, died
young. After his wife Anna died, some time before 17 October 1756, Jonathan
Crowell married Elizabeth Parker. T hey moved with the children to Barrington,
Nova Scotia, where he and his sons David and Jonathan were original proprietors
of the township and shared in the land grant o f 1767.
Crowell, David5, 1743-1824 (#28L) (Jonathan4Isaac^Thomas2Yelverton1), born
10 March 1743 at Yarmouth, Cape Cod, married Lydia Smith, probably the daugh­
ter of Jeremiah4 Smith and Lydia Linkhom ew (Lincoln). David Crowell and Lydia
were grandparents of A nn Crowell, M rs. Samuel Locke (see chapter 11).
(Reference: Fred E. Crowell; The Nickerson Family, Elizabeth Pearson W hite,
“Nova Scotia Settlers from Chatham, Massachusetts, 1759-1760))
Deane, Thomas2, bom 1691 (#90a) (Jonas1), son o f Jonas and Eunice Deane,
was shown in chapter two to have been born at Scituate on 29 October 1691.
Thomas Deane moved with his wife, Lydia Cole, to Barnstable, where they had
six children, and then on to M aine.
Deane, Lydia3, M rs Joseph4Bearse, 1728- (#45a) (Thomas2Jonas1) was born at
Barnstable on 7 July 1728 to Thomas Deane and Lydia Cole and on 12 October
1749 at the age o f twenty-one married Joseph4 Bearse. H e died a year later leaving

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her w ith baby Joseph.

(Reference: Amos Otis Papers, 327)
Derby, John1, c!610-1656 (#1482h) is o f record in New Plymouth on 8 August
1637 when the Court o f Assistants granted him 60 acres at M ounts H ill. His
brother Richard had come over about the same time. John Derby is on the 1643
list ofYarmouth men able to bear arms. H e was a supervisor o f highways in 1647
and received a grant o f six acres o f meadow the following year. H e bought 10
acres o f meadow from Goodman Sears and on 20 September 1655 he bought a
house, furniture and almost 50 acres o f land from W illiam and Elizabeth Pearse
but he did not live to the possession date o f the following M a y first.. H is estate
was inventoried 22 February 1655-6. H is wife Alice m ay or may not have been
his first wife and the mother o f his first two children, John, Jr. and Anne, who
remained in England. Alice may even have married him in New England. About
two years after John Derby’s death she married Abraham Blush and she survived
him after his death fifteen years later. O f the seven additional children o f John
Derby, five were most probably bom in New England and the two youngest were
certainly born in Yarmouth: Abraham, Sarah, M ary, Elizabeth, a son who likely
died in infancy, and Matthew.
John Derby’s father was Christopher1Derby, o f Sterthill in Burton-Bradstock
parish, gentleman, born at Askerswell, about ten miles from Dorchester, in 1571
and died 20 Jan uary 1639-40 and was buried at Shipton-G eorge. In 1597
Christopher Derby was accused of evading m ilitary service by becoming a liver­
ied retainer o f Viscount Bindon.The records do not reveal the outcome. The jury
of the Inquisition Post Mortem o f 19 M ay 1600 found that Nicholas Derby had
died 30 October 1599 and Christopher his son and next heir was 25 years and
more, that Nicholas Derby, gentleman, possessed half the manor o f Brianspuddle
and 6 messuages, 6 gardens, 6 orchards, 50 arable acres, 10 acres meadow, 40
acres pasture, 20 acres woodland, and all that capital messuage called the Free
Chapel of St. Luke’s and Sterthill, late dissolved, and all the tithes belonging thereto.
In 1601 Christopher Derby successfully defended against a suit in Chancery that
tested his title to the manor house and farm o f Upper and Nether Sterthill. Ap­
pearing before the King’s Commissioner at Sherborne, Dorset, on 10 A pril 1632

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for not compounding [arranging] for knighthood on the occasion of Charles the
First’s coronation, he pleaded that he did not have at that time freehold lands
that produced an income of ten pounds a year and, therefore, did not qualify.
King Charles’s father, James the First, had also raised money by selling knight­
hoods, notably 900 o f them in the first year of his reign. Christopher Derby mar­
ried Ann, daughter o f W illiam and Alice Symonds, of Exeter, Devon, and settled
on her a jointure of £70 a year. His will has not survived. The widow Ann lived on
part of the farm at Upper Sterthill till her death. Her will, signed with her mark
and proved 22 February 1649, left her sons W illiam and John 12 pence each, the
poor o f Shipton parish 5 shillings, and her son Richard, her executor, the rest o f all
her “goods, cattles and chatties, household stuff, plough and plough geare”.
The w ill o f her father, W illiam Symonds, gentleman, dated 20 February 1633-
4, expressed his wish to be buried at Exeter Cathedral near his wife A lice, who
had died 28 July 1628. He gave to his daughters Rebecca and Agnes for the term
of their life the house and land at Axminster and to Rebecca a parcel o f land in
W hitechurch parish; to son-in-law Anthony Salter a silver plated cup weighing
20 ounces and more; to son-in-law Christopher Derby a salt weighing 20 ounces
and two silver and gold goblets; to W illiam Derby 15 silver spoons and a silver
cruse cup; and to daughter M arcella Herbert, his executor, a silver and gold basin
and ewer weighing 63 ounces and two silver and gold beer pots.
John Derby’s other grandfather was Nicholas8 Derby of Askerswell, and then o f
Sterthill in Burton-Bradstock parish, Dorsetshire. Nicholas Derby in 1576 paid
Hugh Cheverell £700 for a 99-year lease of farms at Upper and Nether Sterthill at
a rent o f £10. 4s. 3d. yearly. This was to be the subject of a later suit in which a
servant o f one party swore having paid the rent in full and a servant of the second
party swore having not received one or more instalments. Nicholas also bought a
lifehold estate in Bryanspuddle parish and the recently dissolved free chapel of St.
Luke’s and all tithes. He deeded his farms at the Sterthills to his eldest son
Christopher. In 1598-99 he and other men were accused in the Star Chamber

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Court o f driving off several hundred sheep belonging to two neighbours but his
defence was that he owned the sheep. Upon his death the Prerogative Court of
Canterbury granted administration o f his estate on 19 M ay 1600 to his widow,
Catherine and then when she died, to their son Christopher on 11 February 1606-
Derby, Elizabeth3, M rsT h o s2 Lumbert, c l6 4 6 - (#371h) (John1), daughter of
John and Alice Derby, was born about 1646, most likely in Yarmouth, Cape Cod.
Elizabeth Derby married Thomas Lumbart 23 December 1665 at Barnstable.
Between late 1666 and 1686 Elizabeth gave birth to twelve children, one of whom,
Rebecca, is a probable ancestor o f M ary Emma Smith, wife of Alfred Fisk
(References: Barnstable Records, MD, 11: 97; G. Andrews Moriarty, “Genea­
logical Research in England : Derby”, NEHGR, 79: 410-449)
Dexter, Thom as1, died cl6 7 6 (#748a) spent his liveliest years, 1630-1646, in
Lynn and, therefore, although he lived many years in Cape Cod, spiced by his law
suits, the main part o f his story will be told in chapter six. In 1637 Thomas
Dexter was one o f ten men of Lynn named by the General Court as purchasers to
promote the settlement of Sandwich and he received a grant o f twenty-six acres
and six more for a grist mill, which he had offered to build. H e returned to Lynn
after a year and then moved in 1646 to Sandwich and by 1657 to Barnstable,
where he bought two farms. H e had eight law suits at the M arch term in 1648-
9 and won seven o f them, m ainly for the recovery o f debts. Thomas got into a
long controversy w ith his neighbours, including the Hinckleys, because without
his consent they were using a causeway and a bridge that he had built across his
own meadow and creek. As agents o f the Plymouth Colony Court, Thomas Prence
and Captain Cudworth intervened with the parties so that the users agreed to
compensate Thomas Dexter six pence per acre and he agreed to allow the use o f
that convenient w ay and keep it in repairs. He took the oath o f fidelity to Ply­
mouth Colony in 1657, which made him a freeman the next year. Then for some
time he lived a quiet life on his farm at Scorton Hill. He deeded to Thomas Jr. his
large m ill and substantial real estate at Sandwich and to W illiam his W est
Barnstable farm. In the m id-1670’s he sold his Scorton H ill farm and moved to
Boston to live w ith his daughter. H e died before 9 February 1676-7, when his
son-in-law Captain James Oliver and his Grandson Thomas, III were appointed

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to administer his estate, later inventoried at £70. They sued the town o f Lynn and
Thomas Laiton re the ownership o f Nahant and thus appealed the Court of
Assistants’ finding of 1 September 1657 against Thomas Dexter. The judgment of
26 November in favour of Lynn was largely based on Clement Couldam’s deposi­
tion that thirty-four years ago he had heard Thomas Dexter tell Mr. Sharp of
Salem that he had exchanged his right to Nahant for a grant of land from the
town of Lynn.
D exter,Thom as2Jr., died 1686 (#374a) (Thomas1) came to New England with
his father about 1630. W h ile still a minor, he probably looked after his father’s
property in Sandwich. In June o f 1647 he was chosen constable, an office requir­
ing that its holder be at least twenty-four years old . On 8 November 1649 he
married M ary (perhaps Vincent), who over fourteen years gave birth to six chil­
dren: M ary, Elizabeth (died young), Thomas, John, Elizabeth and Abigail. The
young husband operated his father’s grist m ill and became active in public affairs
as jurym an, surveyor o f highways, collector of taxes and ensign of a company of
militia. Thomas Dexter Jr. was known as Ensign Dexter to distinguish him from
his father and his son Thomas. He was also addressed as Mr. and as a large land-
owner he was recorded as “gentleman”. He was one o f ten jurors appointed 24
February 1652 to lay out the most convenient way from Sandwich to Plymouth.
On 11 June 1664-5 the town o f Sandwich ordered him, Jam es Skiff and three
others to see that their horses would do no further damage to the corn o f the
Indian Nauquatnumacke. Ensign Thomas was licensed in 1680 to keep a public
house. H e died 29 December 1686, his son Thomas having preceded him seven
years. Ensign Thomas bequeathed to his widow a third o f the movables and the
westerly end o f the house. H is surviving son, John, was to have the rest o f the
estate but was to provide firewood for his mother, care for her two cows and give
her £9 a year and also to give to his unmarried sister Elizabeth £55 over four
years. The w ill also provided £50 for his son-in-law Jonathan Hallett.

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Dexter, A bigail3, M rs Jon.3 H allett, 1663-1715 (#187a) (Thomas2'1), daughter

of Ensign Thomas and M ary Dexter, was bom at Sandwich 12 June 1663. Abigail
Dexter married Jonathan Hallett, son of Andrew2 Hallett Jr. and Mary, 30 June
1684 and she gave birth to eight children. She died at the age of fifty-two on 2
September 1715 and was buried in the old cemetery in Yarmouth.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, I: 540-545; Freeman, 2:
78-79; Otis Papers, 315-325; W .A . Warden 6c R.L. Dexter)
D oane,John2Jr., bom cl635 (#190a, 326a6ch, 350a&h, 382h) (John1)was bom
at Plymouth Town about 1635 to John Doane, who was then an assistant gover­
nor, and his wife Ann (?)Perkins. On 30 April 1662 John Jr. married Hannah
Bangs, daughter o f Edward Bangs and Rebecca Hobart. They had six chldren:
John, 1664, died in infancy; Anna, 1666; Rebecca, 1668; Hannah, 1669; Isaac,
1670, and Samuel, 1673. John Doane Jr. was a prosperous farmer and was active
in the community. For instance, unpleasant to our eyes, M r. John Doane Jr. was
appointed to see to the building o f stocks and a whipping post.
Doane, H annah3, M rs John3 C ollins,1669- (#95a,163a8dh, 175a&h, 191h)
(John2'1), daughter of John Doane Jr. and Hannah Bangs, was born at Easrham
12 M ay 1669. Hannah Doane married John Collins 12 February 1701-2 and had
eight children. Her three daughters, Hannah, Jane and Anna, were all ancstors of
Abigail Smith, Mrs. Amasa Fiske.
(References: Alfred A dler Doane; Freeman; H ills, 2: 51-52)
Eldred, W illiam 1, married cl6 4 7 (#328a&h) was one o f the early settlers of
Yarmouth, Cape Cod. H e is recorded as a resident in 1645 but had probably been
there several years before. Because the records o f Yarmouth were destroyed by fire
in 1674, there are few details about him and his family. Zoeth Eldredge suggests
that W illiam and Robert, both o f Yarmouth, and Samuel o f Cambridge and
Stonington were brothers who came over about 1635, “men o f standing and sub­
stance” (p. 1). About 1647 W illiam Eldred married Anne Lumpkin, daughter of
W illiam Lumpkin and Elizabeth (surname unknown). W illiam and Ann settled

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down near the Lumpkins beside Eldred s Brook in what is now the town of Dennis.
They had nine children: Ann, Sarah, Elisha, Bethiah, Samuel, Jehosaphat, John,
Thomas and Mary. W illiam was town constable five times and also supervisor of
highways. His wife A nn was buried 11 November 1676.
Eldredge,Jehosaphat2, ca 1658-1732 (#164a8th) (W illiam 1) (the name Eldred
evolved to Eldredge or Eldridge) was born in Yarmouth about 1658 and married
Elizabeth Coveil, probably the daughter of Nathaniel Covell and Sarah Nickerson.
Jehosaphat Eldredge and his wife settled on a part of the old Nickerson farm at
Chathamport on the west side o f Crow’s Pond near the farm of Colonel Paul
Crowell. Their children were Nathaniel, Elnathan, Elizabeth, Edward, Elisha,
Ebenezer and Barnabas. His will, which was dated 9 February 1731-2 and was
proved 23 November 1732, gave the house and lot at Red River Neck to his son
Elisha. He gave his dwelling house and land to Ebenezer and Barnabas. His wife
Elizabeth was still living in 1755.
Eldredge, N athaniel3, born ca 1690 (#82a&h) (Jehosaphat2W illiam 1) was born
about 1690, son of Jehosaphat Eldredge and Elizabeth Covell, at Chathamport.
Nathaniel Eldredge married Sarah Conant, daughter of Joshua Conant and Sarah
Newcomb ofTruro. “Nathaniel Eldred and Sarah Conant were marred by Nathaniel
ffreeman Esquer September ye 4th: 1712” at Eastham (M D , 7:20).
Eldredge, M ehitable4, M rs Stephen5Sm ith, 1729-1815 (#41a&h) (Nathaniel3
Jehosaphat2W illiam 1), daughter o f Nathaniel Eldredge and Sarah Conant, was
born in 1729. W e have not been able to find a record o f her birth in the Vital
Records o f Chatham, Harwich, Barnstable, Eastham, Sandwich, Truro and Yar­
mouth. W hen M ehitable Eldredge was about 17, she married Stephen5 Smith
Jr., son o f Stephen4 Smith Sr. and Anna Collins, in Chatham, Cape Cod. Esther
Clark W right reports the year o f marriage o f Stephen and M ehitable as about
1746 and lists their children as: Jonathan, Stephen, Hannah. Ludovick, Bethia,
Tabitha or Dorcas, Sarah, Betsey, M ehitable and Nathaniel. In 1760 she and her
husband and children moved to Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Stephen, bom 23 M ay
1749, and Hannah, born 8 M arch 1752, are shown on the list o f immigrants. She
died 4 September 1815 at the age o f eighty-five.

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(References: Cape Cod Library, No. 36; Fred E. Crowell, No. 84; Zoeth S.
Eldredge, N EHGR, 54:46-54; Luella Eldridge, 3; “Easrham Records,” M . D., 7:
20; Esther C lark W right, Planters an d Pioneers, p. 256)
Folland, Thom as1, died 1687 (#594), was made a freeman o f Yarmouth, Cape
Cod, 7 September 1641 and was listed in 1643 among the men liable to bear arms.
He was a representative o f Yarmouth to the General Court in 1644 and 1657. In
1676 Thomas Folland or Falland was on the tax list to help pay the cost o f King
Philip’s War. W hen he died in 1687 he left one son, Thomas2, who died without
issue, thus ending the male line. In his w ill, which was proved 31 May, he remem­
bered his son Thomas, his daughter M ary, “wife o f John W hilding,” and daughter
Elizabeth, wife o f John Hall.
Folland, M ary2, M rs John2W helden, cl627-1711 (#297) (Thomas1) was bom
about 1627 and married John W helden, son o f Gabriel W helden, about 1653.
She gave birth to four children: Joseph, Elizabeth, Jonathan and Thomas. M ary
Folland W helden received a bequest from her sister Elizabeth 20 M ay 1711 but
was apparently dead by 18 January 1721-2, when her brother Thomas drew up
his w ill, for he gave all his estate to her children, Thomas, Jonathan and Eliza­
beth W helden.
(References: Freeman, “Annals o f Yarmouth” in his history; M . W . M cLean,
TAG, 48: 4-7; Pope, 160; Savage, II: 138)
Gamlett, Anne, M rs Sam uel1 Rider, d 1695 (#731a), married Samuel Rider in
A ll Saints Parish, Northampton, England, on 16 October 1628. After her first
two babies died, Anne Gamlett Rider had three children, Samuel, Jane and John,
who were baptized there in 1632,1634 and 1636 respectively. The family of five
emigrated to Plymouth Town and then in 1639 moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod.
Anne had three more children, Elizabeth, Zachary and Joseph. H er husband
died toward the end o f 1679, leaving her all his estate. Anne died 14 December
1695.
(References: Cape Cod Library, no. 66, “The Rider-Ryder Family o f Yarmouth”;
M ayflow er D escendant editor, “Rider-Ryder Notes”, M D 11: 49-55)

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Godfrey, George1, d aft 1688 (#336a&h, 344a&h) came to Eastham some time
before 1661. No evidence has been found to support the family tradition that
George Godfrey was the son o f Francis Godfrey o f Plymouth and Duxbury 1637-
38 and o f Bridgewater at his death in 1666. M rs. George Godfrey (her name is
unknown) gave birth to nine children, five sons and four daughters, at Eastham
between 1662 and 1688: George, Samuel, Moses, Hannah, M ary, Ruth, Richard,
Jonathan and Elizabeth (Eastham Records, M D ,4 :30).
Godfrey, M oses2 Sr., 1667-1743 (#168a&h, 172a&h) (George1), born 27 Feb­
ruary 1667 at Eastham, followed his elder brother George, Jr. to Monomoit
(Chatham ) about 1695. About five years later he married Deborah Cooke, daughter
o f Josiah Cooke and Deborah Hopkins and grand-daughter o f Stephen Hopkins.
Moses Godfrey Sr. served as tithingman, surveyor, fence viewer, assessor and
selectman and was active in religious affairs. H e and Deborah belonged many
years to the Orleans church and then became early members o f the Chatham
church, organized in 1720, but they disagreed with Rev. M r. Lord in his critical
attitude towards the more liberal Rev. Samuel Osborne o f their former church in
Orleans. T hey were excommunicated, whereupon they rejoined the Orleans
church. Moses took part in the division o f lands in 1713-4 and enjoyed prestige
and influence in Chatham. He and Deborah had eight boys and four girls be­
tween 1701 and 1724. Jonathan, the eldest, died at the age o f twenty-eight, leav­
ing one son, Jonathan, who moved to Nova Scotia about 1760. Benjamin, a son o f
Moses and Deborah, moved as a Liverpool proprietor with his wife, Elizabeth
Hopkins, about the same time. Moses died 16 April 1743 at die age o f seventy-
five. Deborah, ten years younger than he, died seven days later and was laid beside
her husband in the oldest burying ground o f the town. His estate was appraised at
£1400 old tenor or £350 new tenor. H is w ill, proved 21 M ay, w ith Samuel as
executor, made bequests to his wife, four daughters and the children o f his dead
son Jonathan and then divided his large property among his seven surviving sons
(Barnstable Co. Probate, 6: 306-7,328,334).
Godfrey, M oses3Jr., c l 705- (#86a6ch), (Moses2George1) was born at Chatham
about 1705. There about 1726 he married M artha Collins, daughter o f John
Collins and H annah Doane. Few records concerning him are extant. Moses

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Godfrey, George1, d aft 1688 (#336a&h, 344a&h) came to Eastham some time
before 1661. No evidence has been found to support the family tradition that
George Godfrey was the son o f Francis Godfrey o f Plymouth and Duxbury 1637-
38 and o f Bridgewater at his death in 1666. M rs. George Godfrey (her name is
unknown) gave birth to nine children, five sons and four daughters, at Eastham
between 1662 and 1688: George, Samuel, Moses, Hannah, M ary, Ruth, Richard,
Jonathan and Elizabeth (Eastham Records, M D ,4 :30).
Godfrey, M oses2 Sr., 1667-1743 (#168a&h, 172a&h) (George1), born 27 Feb­
ruary 1667 at Eastham, followed his elder brother George, Jr. to Monomoit
(Chatham ) about 1695. About five years later he married Deborah Cooke, daughter
o f Josiah Cooke and Deborah Hopkins and grand-daughter o f Stephen Hopkins.
Moses Godfrey Sr. served as tithingman, surveyor, fence viewer, assessor and
selectman and was active in religious affairs. H e and Deborah belonged many
years to the Orleans church and then became early members o f the Chatham
church, organized in 1720, but they disagreed with Rev. M r. Lord in his critical
attitude towards the more liberal Rev. Samuel Osborne o f their former church in
Orleans. T hey were excommunicated, whereupon they rejoined the Orleans
church. Moses took part in the division o f lands in 1713-4 and enjoyed prestige
and influence in Chatham. He and Deborah had eight boys and four girls be­
tween 1701 and 1724. Jonathan, the eldest, died at the age o f twenty-eight, leav­
ing one son, Jonathan, who moved to Nova Scotia about 1760. Benjamin, a son o f
Moses and Deborah, moved as a Liverpool proprietor with his wife, Elizabeth
Hopkins, about the same time. Moses died 16 April 1743 at die age o f seventy-
five. Deborah, ten years younger than he, died seven days later and was laid beside
her husband in the oldest burying ground o f the town. His estate was appraised at
£1400 old tenor or £350 new tenor. H is w ill, proved 21 M ay, w ith Samuel as
executor, made bequests to his wife, four daughters and the children o f his dead
son Jonathan and then divided his large property among his seven surviving sons
(Barnstable Co. Probate, 6: 306-7,328,334).
Godfrey, M oses3Jr., c l 705- (#86a6ch), (Moses2George1) was born at Chatham
about 1705. There about 1726 he married M artha Collins, daughter o f John
Collins and H annah Doane. Few records concerning him are extant. Moses

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Godfrey Jr. appears in 1743 in the settlement o f his father’s estate, his childrens
births are in the town records and he is on the rate bill o f 1755. He and M artha
had nine children between 1727 and 1747. Three o f them emigrated to Nova
Scotia: Eunice to Yarmouth with her husband and John and Joseph to Liverpool.
Years later when John was master o f the Olive and was returning from Barcelona,
he and all hands were lost at sea. Elizabeth Pearson W hite states that Moses
Godfrey, Jr. was a resident o f Barrington, Nova Scotia, and cites a mention o f him
by Simeon Perkins in his journal entry o f 16 February 1773. H is brothers, David
o f Yarmouth, M ass., and Samuel o f Chatham, also settled in Nova Scotia, she
says.
Godfrey, Eunice4, M rs Josiah4 Godfrey, 1731- (#43a&h) (Moses3"3 George1),
daughter o f Moses Godfrey Jr. and M artha Collins, was born 24 February 1731
at Chatham. There seventeen years later, 7 July 1748, Eunice Godfrey married
her first cousin Josiah Godfrey. They and probably six of their chldren who were
born in Chatham moved to Nova Scotia 1759-60: Josiah, M artha, Susanna, A l­
exander, Ruth and Elizabeth. Susanna, who married Stephen Smith, was a grand­
mother o f A bigail Smith, Mrs. Amasa Fiske.
Godfrey, Sam uel3, ca 1703- (#84aSdi) (Moses3 George1), bom about 1703 in
Chatham , was the second child o f Moses Godfrey and Deborah Cooke. In 1730
he was one of several plaintiffs who secured a judgment against Robert Nickerson
and he was the executor of his father’s will in 1743. The assesor’s rate bill of 1755
listed his name. Samuel Godfrey was a co-signer o f the inventory o f his brother
Richard’s estate in July o f 1760 and he was listed on the ratable polls of those who
had moved out o f Chatham before 1763. Leonard H. Smith’s D ictionary o f P re-
Confederation Im m igrants to Nova Scotia does not give the date o f Samuel’s com­
ing w ith his wife, Thankful (?) Knowles, and children to Nova Scotia but he was
at the head o f the list o f settlers with families and stock in Yarmouth, Nova
Scotia, in the R eturn of June, 1764. His grant of 789 acres was confirmed on 7
April 1767. H e probably died early in 1768, for his will o f 4 February 1765 was

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probated 30 August 1768. He made his wife Thankful executor and made be­
quests to his children, Susanna,Josiah,Thankful, Mary, Phebe, Bethiah and Prince
and to his daughter Thankful’s son John Reynolds. The widow Thankful Godfrey
was living alone at Barrington in the enumeration o f 1773.
Godfrey, Josiah4, born 1728 (#42a&h) (Samuel3Moses2 George1) was born in
Chatham in 1728 to Samuel and Thankful (who may have been a Knowles)
Godfrey. There on 7 July 1748 he married his cousin Eunice Godfrey. Josiah was
listed on the rate bill o f 1755. Josiah Godfrey served at Annapolis Royal in 1759
during the Seven Years War. He was listed as an original proprietor of Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia, with a grant o f 1275 acres (see chapter ten).
(References: John D. Austin, M ayflow er Families, 6 113-114 and 450-452;
George S. Brown, A Sequel to Campbell's History o f Yarmouth, N.S.; Cape Cod
Library, No. 36; The M ayflow er Descendant, 4 ,5 ,7 ,8 ; W illiam C. Smith, History o f
Chatham ; W illiam C. Smith, Second Book o f Chatham Town Record,f, Elizabeth
Pearson W hite, National Genealogical Society Quarterly , 62:103-104 and NEHGR,
126:235-239)
H allett, Andrew1, died 1648 (#744a), gentleman, and M ary, M rs. Andrew
Hallett (maiden name unknown) and five or six children came to Lynn in 1636, to
Plymouth the next year and to Cape Cod in 1639. H e was styled “gentlem an’,
showing that he possessed a good estate and was a man o f some educaton and
standing in his native land. On 5 M arch 1638-9 the General Court appointed
Joseph Pratt o f Plymouth and John Vincent o f Sandwich to report whether Mr.
Andrew Hallett had taken a greater share o f lands than was his right. Being satisfied,
the Court approved his lot o f 200 acres in Barnstable and Yarmouth and the next
autumn gave him seventeen acres o f meadow in Yarmouth. There he bought for
£10 sterling a house and twenty-nine acres. In 1640 he was rated in Bowood,
Dorset, England for a special king’s subsidy that was levied on land holders above
a certain level of assets. The following year Mr. H allett mortgaged his farm for a
year to secure two debts totalling £6 13s because “hee is now going into England,
and is not able to pay them.” He is said to have been a schoolmaster, that is, a
private instructor, for not until 1663 do the records of Plymouth Colony mention
public schools, which did not become mandatory till 1677. Like not a few others

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of his time, he speculated in wilderness lands and engaged fairly often in law suits.
There is no certainty about the number o f his children. Five are sure: Andrew Jr.,
Samuel, Hannah, Josias and Joseph. Local historians have had difficulty in distin­
guishing between Andrew the father and Andrew the son. Andrew Sr. died, prob­
ably in 1648, and bequeathed a cow to the poor of Yarmouth, a substantial gift
which Otis equates with the cost then of a good-sized farm or the yearly wage of
a labourer. His widow M ary had lands in Barnstable and appears in the records
there as “Mrs. H allett” but not after 1659, when she may have moved to live with
her son Josias in Sandwich..
H allett, Andrew2Jr, ca. 1615-84 (#372a), (Andrew1) was born about 1615 in
England to Andrew H allett Sr. and his wife M ary and he came out with them to
New England on or before 1636. One of the first settlers o f Sandwich, his “good
estate” entitled him to seven and a half acres of common land and meadow. In
1640 he sold his farm and moved to Yarmouth. There Andrew Hallett Jr. may
have married his first wife, name unknown, another example o f records probably
lost. Otis, Preston and others mention only Anne Besse as his wife and the mother
of his children. Anne’s father, Anthony, came out in 1635 and married between
1638 and 1640 and Anne may have been bom about 1641. O f Andrew Jr. s chil­
dren whose birthdates are known, A bigail was bom in 1644, Dorcas was baptized
1 June 1646, Jonathan was born 20 November 1647, John three years later on 11
December 1650, and Ruhamah, thought to be the eldest, who married in 1664,
was probably bom in 1642 or 1643. I f these facts are correct, Anne Besse could
not have been the mother o f any o f these children, even though Otis cites the
family tradition that this strong, healthy girl was married at fourteen and had
twins before her fifteenth year was completed. I can not find the twins unless they
were Ruhamah and Abigail, but at the birth o f Jonathan, A nne Besse would have
had to be bom in 1629 in England and to have come out as a six year old w ith her
twenty-six year old father.
In 1642 Andrew bought Giles Hopkins’s early house and ten acres o f land and
then eighteen acres more two years later. In 1655 he bought the 42-acre farm of
Robert Dennis. H is later purchases made him the town’s largest landowner, with
300 acres. H e started with a bequest o f £20 from his father and by hard work and

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thrift and an industrious family he prospered. He did not seek high honours or
large emoluments in public office but served as a constable, surveyor of highways,
grand jurym an and member of the land committee. His tax in 1676 was one-
twentieth o f the whole tax o f Yarmouth. H e died in the spring o f 1684. He left
Anne one-third of all movables, of cattle and of profits on all his lands during her
natural life. To Jonathan, being the elder son, he left £20 and a calves pasture,
confirmed gifts of property he had already made to Jonathan and to John and then
asked them to divide the rest of the estate equitably between them. To his daugh­
ters and grandchildren he made gifts o f money. Anne died in 1694 and, after
making special gifts to her grandson John Bourne, divided her estate of £180
among her three daughters, Ruhamah Bourne, Abigail Alden and Mehitable Dex­
ter.
H allett, Jonathan3, 1647-1717 (#186a) (Andrew21) led an early life which to us
is largely unknown. He seems not to have been a resident o f Yarmouth in 1676
because he does not appear on the tax roll. On 30 January 1683-4 at the age of
thirty-six Jonathan H allett married twenty-one-year-old A bigail Dexter, daugh­
ter of Thomas Dexter Jr. and M ary or Elizabeth Vincent, o f Lynn. They stayed
briefly in Sandwich until his father’s death in the spring o f 1684, when they moved
to Yarmouth and lived in the west room o f his father s house until Anne Besse
H allett died. Jonathan and John, although the richest and the next richest men in
Yarmouth, spent two and a h alf years trying to divide evenly between them the
naive bequest of their father, so unminding of the acute sibling rivalry that must
have existed. Finally they put themselves under bond to accept the award o f two
appointed mediators. Jonathan got the western part of the farm and John the
eastern, but the feeling between their families was such that the descendants of
Jonathan called those o f John “other side Halletts”. Jonathan gave up no money to
finish and plaster the rooms o f his new house, using cheap caulking for the seams
and a notched log to clamber into the upstairs chamber, according to Amos Otis,
who idealizes early planters somewhat:

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The men o fth e third generation had very slender means ofacquiring an edu­
cation, generally their p iety had degenerated into lifeless, unm eaningform ali-
ties; they w ere church members; but not o f the noble, self-sacrificing race by
w hom the country w as settled. Jonathan Hallett lo ved money better than he
lo v ed the church; he w as industrious, and gathered up riches which his chil­
dren p u t to a better use than he did. (Otis, 1:509)

Monuments are erected in the old cemetery in Yarmouth to the memory of

A bigail Dexter H allett, who died at the age o f fifty-two on 2 September 1715, and
to her husband Jonathan, who died at the age o f sixty-nine on 12 January 1716-7.
T hey had eight children: Mehitable, Ebenezer,Thomas, Jonathan, David, Abigail,
Elizabeth and Timothy.
H allett, Elizabeth4, M rs Paul4 Crowell, c l6 8 9 - (#93a) (Jonathan3Andrew2"1)
was born about 1689 to Jonathan and Abigail. Elizabeth H allett married Paul
Crowell and moved to Chatham, where they became a leading family.
(References: Otis, Genealogical N otes , 473-511; Preston, 121-122)
H in ckley, Sam uel1, 15 89-1662 (#714a) was baptized 25 M ay 1589 at
Harrietsham in Kent, the son o f Robert Hinckley and his second wife, Katherine
Leese. By a w ill o f 1605 Robert left two properties to Stephen, the eldest son of
his second family, and £30 to Samuel. In 1577 Robert had inheritedthe chief mes­
suage from his father, John Hynckleye, who left his other house, barns and lands
to Avysse, his wife and Robert’s mother. Samuel Hinckley married Sarah Soole,
daughter o f Thomas Soole and M arye Iddenden, on 7 M ay 1617 at nearby
Hawkhurst when she was a month short o f seventeen. Samuel and Sarah had
eight children at Tenterden, Kent, four of whom died young. Samuel, Sarah and
their four children took passage at Sandwich for New England in the Hercules,
200 tons, in M arch o f 1634-5. They settled at Scituate, where Sarah was admit­
ted to the church and Samuel was made a freeman. After they moved to Barnstable
in 1638-9 he became a juror, a town officer and the father o f eight more children,
three o f whom survived early childhood. H is wife, Sarah, died 18 August 1656 at
the age o f fifty-six. In December o f1657 Samuel Hinckley married Bridget Bodfish,
perhaps the daughter but probably the widow of Robert Bodfish. Samuel died at

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Barnstable 31 October 1662 at the age o f seventy-three and his will was probated
4 M arch 1662-3. He left his house and garden and some land to Bridget during
her widowhood and “all the household stuff she brought with her” and his two
cows, Prosper andThrivewell.The rest o f his substantial property and livestock he
divided among his sons, Thomas, Samuel and John. H e left to his daughters
Susanna, Sarah, M ary and Elizabeth and their children a shilling apiece. Evi­
dently his daughters, all married, had received their dowries. The name o f Hinckley
is written in history because Samuel’s son Thomas was the last governor o f Ply­
mouth Colony from 1681 to 1692.
Hinckley, Sarah2, M rs H enry1Cobb, 1629-aft 1679 (#357a) (Sam uel1), daugh­
ter o f Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole, was baptized 22 November 1629 at
Tenterden, Kent. Sarah Hinckley became the second wife o f H enry Cobb at
Barnstable 12 December 1649 and they had eight children. She and H enry are
ancestors o f Elizabeth Barss, the mother o f A bigail Sm ith, M rs. Amasa Fiske.
(References: French, NEHGR, 65: 287-290, 314-319; 66:186-187; “Scituate
and Barnstable Church Records,” NEHGR, 279-287)
Hopkins, M ary2, M rs Sam uel2 Sm ith, 1640-97 (#321a&h) (Giles2 Stephen1),
was born in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, in 1640, the eldest child o f Giles Hopkins and
Catherine W helden. M ary Hopkins married at Hingham on 3 January 1664-5
Samuel2 Sm ith, who is said to have been a merchant. She gave birth to five or six
children and died at Eastham 20 M arch 1696-7 at about fifty-six years of age.
Hopkins, Deborah2, M rs Josiah2 Cooke, 1648- (#347a&h) (Giles2 Stephen1)
was born in June of 1648 to Giles Hopkins and Catherine W helden. Deborah
Hopkins married Josiah Cooke, Jr. on 27 July 1668 at Eastham. They had eight
children.
(References: Hawes, Cape Cod Library No. 37: 624-629; Tim othy Hopkins,
NEHGR, 9: 313-318; M ayflower Descendant, 1: 110-113; Paine, Cape Cod L i­
brary No. 63:1033-1035.)
H uckins,Thom as1, died 1679 (#758h) settled first in or near Boston, where he
was a member o f the artillery company in 1637 and was standard bearer in 1639.
Thomas Huckins moved to Barnstable and in 1642 married M ary W ells o f that
place. She died, and was buried 28 July 1648. O f their three hildren, M ary was the

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only one to survive infancy. On 3 November of that year Thomas married Rose,
the widow ofTillye Hillier, at Nocett. Their children were John,Thom as, Hannah
and Joseph. An innkeeper, Thomas Huckins got a licence to sell wines and liquors.
In 1660 he and W illiam Crocker were authorized to prevent anyone from becom­
ing a resident without the town’s consent and he and John Chapman were to draw
the boundary between Barnstable and Sandwich. In King P hilips W ar Thomas
Huckins was the commissary general o f the Plymouth Colony forces. A t the age
o f sixty-two on 9 November 1679 he and his son Joseph were lost at sea. An
inventory was sworn the next February and on 14 M arch the widow Rose and the
Huckins children agreed on the division of the estate.
H uckins, M ary2, M rs Sam uel1 Sto rrs, 1646- (# 379h) (Thomas1) daughter o f
Thomas Huckins and M ary W ells, was baptized at Barnstable 29 M arch 1646.
M ary Huckins married Samuel Storrs on 2 December 1666 and became a mem­
ber o f the Barnstable church. She gave birth to six girls and a boy and died 24
September 1683, a few days after the birth o f Mehitable, who died in infancy.
(References: “First Settlers o f Barnstable”, NEHGR, 2: 94-95; Freeman, 2:
261; Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts, p. 246; Savage, 2: 487; Charles Storrs, The
Storrs Family , pp. 75-76)
H urst, Jam es1, 1582-1657 (#1174) then 26 years old and a mombazine-weaver,
was married in Amsterdam, Holland on 4 October 1608 to Gertrude Bennister,
23 years, and they had a child, Patience, about 1612. T hey came about 1631 to
Plymouth, where James Hurst appeared on the tax list in 1632 and became a
freeman the next year and a listed proprietor in 1638. He erected the first tanning
works about 1640. He became a purchaser and a deacon in Dartmouth. James
Hurst’s will of 10 December 1657 was proved 2 March 1657-8. James Hurst left
to his wife, whom he named executor, the house, sheds and barns and the land
belonging to them as well as all his goods and cattle with the exception of the
following bequests: his lands to his grandsons, John, James and Gershom Hurst
and Eleazer Cobb and twenty shillings apiece to his granddaughters, M ary
Dunham and Hannah and Patience Cobb. The inventory o f the widow Gertrude’s
estate was taken 30 M ay 1670. [Bennister, Gertrude, 1584-1670 (#1175)]

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H urst, Patience2, M rs H enry1Cobb, d. 1648 (#587) (Jam es1) was the daughter
of James Hurst and Gertrude Bennister. Patience Hurst became the second wife
of Henrv Cobb in 1631 in Plymouth Town, where she had two sons before she
moved to Scituate and had two daughters. Their final move was to Barnstable.
There she had three more children and died a month after the birth of Eleazer,
her seventh child. She was buried on 4 M ay 1648.
References: “Abstract o f the Earliest W ills in the Probate Office, Plymouth,”
NEHGR. 7: 180; Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, II: 1046-1048; Philip
Cobb, 1-39; Otis Papers, 1: 166-176; Popes Pioneers o f Massachusetts, 249; Sav­
ages D ictionary , 2: 506; “W ill o f James H urst,” M D, 14: 228)
Jones, Dorothy1, M rs Richard1 Sears, cl603-79 (#741a)was born about 1603
in the hamlet o f Dinder in Somerset. H er father, GeorgeAJones, ca 1572-1626,
was an innkeeper and in 1621 was a churchwarden of the Anglican parish church.
Bishop’s transcripts (which have a gap 1599-1604) give the birth date of his first
born, Richard, on 20 June 1598 and o f his fourth and lastborn child, John, who
was buried two days after his baptism on 18 June 1605. The w ill o f George Jones,
proved 20 November 1626 in the Prerogative Court o f Canterbury (154 Hale),
yields his wife’s name, Agnes, and his daughters’, Elizabeth and Dorothy, whom
he made his executors. H e reminded his wife o f a coverlet which belonged to
Dorothy, a gift from her grandmother, bequeathed all the household stuff and the
lease o f the house at Croscombe to his wife, that lease to pass to Elizabeth after
her mother’s death; all the rest o f the goods to the two daughters; two shillings to
Richard, who had probably got his share, perhaps succession to die inn; and 3s 4d
to the parish poor. Appended to the w ill was a list o f twelve men who owed him
a total o f £12 9s, against which he owed Robert Biown £2 10s. George Jones
named his brother Thomas as one o f the two overseers o f the w ill. Their parents’
names are not known.
For some reason the three surviving children o f George and Agnes Jones emi­
grated to New England in 1635. Richard with his wife, Alice, was in New Eng­
land in 1635 and died there before 1642. Elizabeth married Anthony Thacher in
February of 1635 and they sailed in April, sojourning in Salem and Marblehead
before settling in Yarmouth, Pilgrim Colony. Dorothy Jones sailed w ith them,

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married Richard Sears about 1636, had baby Paul about the next year, and a year
later they, too, moved to Yarmouth. There she gave birth to two more children,
Deborah and Silas. She received from her husband at his death early in 1675-6
all his lands, goods and cattle. Goodwife Sears was buried three years later at
Yarmouth.
(References: Robert Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 2 : 1642-1644; Myrtle
Stevens Hyde, “Jones—Thacher—Sears: England and Massachusetts”, TAG, 58
(1982): 244-246)
Jones,T eague1, born ca. 1620 (#602)) according to M rs. Barclay, is first men­
tioned in Plymouth Colony Records (2: 91) as one o f the men who on 28 October
1645 went against the Narragansetts. She deduces that, a young man born about
1620, he had only recently arrived but from where or on what ship is not known.
The records show that the authorities disciplined him often and mention no
participation by him in public affairs. According to the Plymouth Records, on 29
October 1649 “Richard Berry accused Teague Jones o f sodomy - and other un­
clean practices also with Sara, the wife o f Hugh Norman, both to appear at the
next General Court.” (II: 146) On 6 M arch 1649-50: Berry acknowledged he
had borne false witness and “was sentenced to be whipte at the poste, which
accordingly was performed.”Yarmouth records showed Teague and his sons Samuel
and Jeremiah among those paying taxes towards the cost o f King Philips War. In
Plymouth Colony Records (III: 37): “9 June 1653 A n order was likewise passed
from the Court requiring Teag Jones and Richard Berry, and others with them,
bee caused to part theire uncivell liveing together, as they w ill answer for it.” On
4 October of that year Teague accused Masshantampine o f stealing his gun but
the Court could not find it was Jones’s and ordered the constable to see to its
return to the Indian. On 2 October 1660 Teague was fined £6 for having been
drunk several times. On 3 October 1662 he was fined 50 shillings “for being over­
taken in drink, haveing bine formerly a transgressor in that kind.” In June of 1667
the selectmen reported him for not coming to meeting and on 5 M arch 1677-8 he
was fined 5 shillings for drunkenness. The last mention o f him is in the inventory
of the late James Claghorn, 21 July 1683, in which he is shown as owing one
pound. Teague Jones’ M arsh is mentioned in the inventory o f Benjamin Parker’s

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estate. So few early land records of Yarmouth are extant that one cannot discover
whether he and his sons got grants or bought the land. Because there is no w ill or
administration, he must have deeded his property to his sons. For lack o f birth
records W illiam C. Smith lists Teague Jones’ children as Jeremiah, Josiah, quite
probably Elizabeth, and probably other children. Mrs. Barclay lists Jeremiah, Josiah
and Samuel as probables. Warren Nickerson names Ruhamah as sure. The anony­
mous Mrs.Teague Jones does not appear in the records.
Jones, Ruhamah3, M rs Joseph2Nickerson, cl650-aft 1735 (#301) (Teague1),
according to W arren Nickerson, was very beautiful but so argumentative and
quarrelsome that her neighbours, white and Indian alike, tried not to offend her.
Certainly with Teague as a father the childhood days o f Ruhamah Jones were far
from tranquil. In womanhood her temper would not be improved by the stories
the superstitious villagers circulated about the hex she put on their washing, their
best plants and their harvest. After she had words with Edward Bangs she was
accused of complicity in the burning of his barn. Having reported to the court
that his wife could not attend on account o f illness, Joseph2 Nickerson success­
fully petitioned for an abatement o f the action. Ruhamah lived long. Born about
1650, she died some time after 1735 when the Court ordered the town o f H ar­
wich to pay for her care in John Eldredge’s home. Another witchcraft-like story
is that in her old age she had become so rigid in her permanent sitting position
that she was buried in that position” on Burial H ill, south o f Ryders Cove where
many early Nickersons were buried.” (p. 23)
(References: M rs. John E. Barclay,TAG, 31:123-125; Plymouth Colony Records;
Warren Nickerson)
Knott, George1, died 1648 (#1498h) perhaps moving from Lynn, became one
o f the ten founders o f Sandwich, where he is recorded in 1637. His wife was
M a r th a ____, who was either Quaker or Baptist, for she had to appear on a
charge of not attending the Congregational services. George Knott died the first
o f M ay 1648 and was buried on the third.
His will, which was probated 8 June 1649 with an inventory of £69 1/2 and
bequests to his wife and his son Samuel, has two interesting aspects: it was a
nuncupative, that is, an oral one and it anticipated that his daughter M artha would

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marry Thomas Dunham, who had “pretended” [claimed] to be “contracted” [en­

gaged] to her. As it turned out, the Dunhams disapproved of the match with the
result that the young suitor married another woman and M artha Knott married
Thomas Tobey. H er mother died in 1673.
Knott, M artha2, M rs Thom as1Tobey, m. 1650 (#749h) (George1), daughter of
George and M artha Knott, married Thomas Tobey at Sandwich 18 November
1650. M artha Knott Tobey had seven sons and died at an unknown date.
(References: “Abstract o f W ills”, NEHGR, 4: 284; Savage, 3:40; Tobey and
Pope, Tobey Genealogy, 17-18)
Knowles, Richard1, died 1670-75 (#378a, 650a&h, 698aSch) was possibly the
son o f Rev. John Knowles, who in 1625 was a fellow and tutor of Catherine Hall,
came to New England in 1639, was pastor o f the church in Watertown, returned
to England in 1650 and died there in 1685. Richard Knowles was at Plymouth as
early as 1637 and he received a garden lot the next year. He was a shipmaster;
probably in the coastal trade. He was presented to the Court for “bringing a
barke from Greenes Harbor on the Lord’s Day - Discharged”. H e and Ruth
Bower were married in Plymouth 15 August 1639 and they had two children
there, John and M ary. T hey moved to Cambridge when the George Bower fam­
ily moved there in 1643 and their son James was born there in 1648. Richard was
prosecuted in 1649 “for denying passage o f cattell on the highway”. Ruth came
before the Court “for retailing o f strong waters for five or six shillings a bottle that
cost but 35 shillings the case”. H er fine of ten shillings went to the town’s poor.
They had two more children in Plymouth, Ruth, bom 1649 or 1650, and Samuel,
born 17 September 1651.
Richard and Ruth Knowles moved their family to Eastham, where he got grants
of land and was listed as a voter. They had their last two children there, Mehitable
on 20 M ay 1653, and Barbara 28 September 1656. In 1653 when Plymouth
Colony feared war with the Dutch at New Amsterdam, Richard’s was one o f two
barques pressed into service. W hen he retired from the sea he was elected to
minor town offices such as surveyor of highways. H e was on the committee to

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treat w ith the Rev. Samuel Osborn and was paid £2 10s for bringing the Osborn
fam ily and their goods from Plymouth. His death occurred most likely between
1670 and 1675. Richard and Ruth Knowles had seven children, the middle one
being Ruth.
Knowles, Ruth2,-Mrs Joseph2 Collins, cl649-1714 (#189a, 325a&h, 349a&h)
(Richard1), sometimes called Duty, was probably born at Plymouth in 1649 or
1650. W h en she was about fourteen she moved with her parents to Eastham,
where she married Joseph2 Collins 20 M arch 1671-2. She gave birth to nine chil­
dren between 1672 and 1689. She died at Eastham 28 August 1714. Ruth Knowles
and her husband are ancestors o f the Collins and Barss families and, therefore, of
Abigail Smith. T hey were also grandparents o f Cyrenus Collins o f Liverpool, who
through his son H allet was the grandfather o f Hon. Enos Collins, privateer, mer­
chant, banker and member o f the Executive Council o f Nova Scotia.
(References: Fred E. Crowell; Freeman, 2 :3 9 3 ; Libby, NEHGR, 79:288-297)
Lincoln, Jam es1, married 1714 (#118L): The origin o f this man finds a brief
comment in volume six o f M ayflow er Families: “perh. son o f Thomas and Sarah
(Lewis) Lincoln o f Barnstable; otherwise unidentified.” I f that is so (no contem­
porary evidence has been found), James must have been their second child after
their marriage on 6 January 1685, for his sister Sarah was born that October and
so his year of birth may have been 1686. In that case, his fathers parents were
Thomas Lincoln “the husbandman” (to distinguish him from three other Thomas
Lincoln’s in H ingham , the cooper, the miller, and the weaver!) and M argaret
Langer, daughter o f Richard and Margaret Langer, and his mother’s parents were
James Lewis and Sarah Lane o f Barnstable. James Lincoln married Lydia Snow
in Eastham on 10 February 1714. His name was written as Linkhornew. That
marriage and the birth o f two o f their children, James Jr. and Lydia, are recorded
in the O ld Eastham Records, reproduced in the M ayflow er Descendant. The fol­
lowing entries show a fascinating ringing o f changes in the recording o f a tongue-
twister surname:
M D 10:55 James Linkhornew and Lidia Snow were married by M r Samuell
Treat on die tenth day o f February anno Domini: 1714/15
James Linckeloo, son o f James 6c Lidea linkeloo was born 25 o f may: 1716

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Lidea Linkeloo Daughter ofjam es 6c Lidea linkeloo was bom July 4:1718
Lydia linkernue the wife ofjam es linkernue died march 18:1738
M D 28: 181 Feb 11, 1737 Jerem iah Smith 6c Lidea Lincolne both of
Eastham entered the intention to proceed in marriage
Sept. 2,1738 James Lincolne Jr. 6c Rebecca Brown intentions
Note, however, that Lincoln did not entirely win the day, for in 1770 and
1772 Joseph Linkhomew was registering the birth o f his sons Joseph and James.
“James Linckelne was listed as a debtor o f the estate ofjam es Snow, brother of
Lydia, on 13 Feb. 1721/2. No probate recs. for this couple have been found in
Barnstable Co.” (M ayflower Families, 6: 63)
Lincoln, Lydia2, M rs Jerem iah4 Sm ith, 1718- (#59L) (Jam es' ) was born at
Eastham 4 July 1718 to James Linkhom ew and Lydia Snow. Lydia Lincoln mar­
ried Jeremiah4 Smith, III, the intention to marry having been entered 11 Febru­
ary 1737. Through her daughter Lydia she was probably a great grandmother of
Ann Crowell, M rs Samuel Locke. H er husbands early death in 1754 left her at
age thirty-live with their six children between one and fifteen years. Elkanah, the
eldest, likely did the farm work, helped by David, 12, and Heman, 10. The Eastham
records do not show her m arrying again nor her death or burial. No probate
record for her husband has been found in Barnstable County. Strangely enough,
because Jeremiah Smith left several minor children, there is no record o f the
probate court naming a guardian or guardians for them, as would be required if
there were any assets. No w ill or administration of the estate o f the widow has
been found in the probate records. Nor is there any sign that she emigrated to
Nova Scotia in 1761 with Elkanah, although she could well have done so, bring­
ing her young daughters, Lydia and Marcy, w ith her and leaving behind David,
twenty, and Philip, seventeen, who remained in Cape Cod and married there.
(References: Austin, M ayflow er Families, 6: 63,263; Edwin Crowell, History o f
Barrington , p. 454; Eastham Records, M D , 10: 55 and 28:181; NEHGR, 49: 73,
452; Savage, 3: 91-95
Lumbert, Thom as', came 1630 (#740h), a native ofThorncombe, Devon, was
a passenger in the M ary &John along with his second wife and his sons Bernard,
Thomas and Joshua and his daughter M argaret. A proprietor of Dorchester, he

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became a freeman 18 M ay 1631 and was granted a two-acre meadow there in

1636.The family moved to Barnstable about 1639. Mentioned in the w ill ofTho-
mas Lumbert dated 25 M arch 1662 were his wife Joyce, his children Bernard,
Joshua, Joseph, Jedidiah, Benjamin, Caleb, Jem im a, and M argaret Coleman and
his grandchild A bigail Benjamin. Not listed was a son, Thomas, Jr. Caleb was to
have the house. The legator had already given property to sons Bernard, Joshua
and Joseph and son-in-law Edward Coleman. This surname is also Lombard or
Lumbard or Lum bart.
Lumbert, Thom as, Jr.2 m. 1665 (# 370h) (Thomas1) married Elizabeth Derby
on 23 December 1665. Thomas Lumbert, Jr. and Elizabeth had ten children:
Sarah, December 1666; Thomas, M arch 1667; Elizabeth, September 1668; Mary,
April 1669; Hannah, December 1671; Jabez, February 1673 dy; Rebecca, M ay
1676; Jabez, June 1678; Bethia, July 1680; Bethshua, August 1682; and Patience,
September 1684.
Lumbert, Rebecca3, M rs Benj.2Parker, 1678- (185h) (Thomas21) was bom at
Barnstable in September o f 1678 to Thomas Lumbert, Jr. and Elizabeth Derby.
Rebecca Lumbert married Benjamin Parker at Barnstable 8 December 1698. They
moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod. Rebecca had five sons and five daugters (M D 11:
114). W hen her husband died without a w ill the court distributed the estate to her
and her eight surviving children (Barnstable Probates, III, 546-547).
(References: Robert Charles Anderson, “A Passenger List for the M ary and
John”, NEHGR, 147:148-161; “First Settlers of Barnstable”, NEHGR, 3: 272;
M cLean, “Robert Parker o f Barnstable, M ass.”, NEHGR, 113: 265; “Notes on
the Lombard Family”, NEHGR, 12: 349-353; Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts, p.
295; Savage, 2:105-107)
Lumpkin, W illiam 1, 1604-71 (#658a&h), a thirty-three-year-old locksmith and
weaver, his wife Elizabeth, 34, their daughter Anne and a servant, Thomas Howe,
sailed in the Rose from London 8 A pril 1637 and were among the first settlers of
Yarmouth, Cape Cod. W illiam Lumpkin served variously as constable, grand ju ­
ryman, foreman o f the coroner’s jury, surveyor o f highways and deputy to the
General Court of Plymouth Colony. He and Peter Worden were each fined ten
shillings for disturbing public worship by sitting in a corner of the meeting house

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and talking in a low tone. Elizabeth, M rs. W illiam Lumpkin, died and he remar­
ried. W hen he died on 29 October 1671, he provided for his wifeTamesin.H e left
his loom, “with all the slayes and tacklinges that belong to my weaving trade,” to
his grandson Elisha Eldred and also £5 on attaining majority. He bequeathed the
same amount to another grandchild, Bethiah Eldred, which his daughter Tamesin
Sunderling was to pay and made a like bequest to another grandchild, W illiam
Gray. We know, therefore, that the Lumpkins had at least three daughters.
Lum pkin, Anne2, M rs W m 1 Eldred, d 1676 (#329a&h) (W illiam 1) came to
Yarmouth, Cape Cod, with her mother and father in 1637. About ten years later
Anne Lumpkin married W illiam 1 Eldred. She had nine children, including our
ancestor Jehosaphat.
(References: Zoeth S. Eldredge, p. 47; Luella Eldridge, p. 3)
M aker, Jam es1, married ca 1650 (#604): The origin o f the M aker family is un­
certain, some asserting that James was an Indian and others that he was one of
three or four brothers shipwrecked on the Elizabeth Islands. James Maker, Sr.
married the widow Mrs. Rachel M aker at H arwich about 1650 and they had a son
James. H e was listed in 1676 for the rate towards the cost o f King Philip s War.
M aker, Jam es2Jr., 1660-1732 (#302) (James1) was born at Harwich in 1660 to
James and Rachel Maker. Rachel, M rs James M aker Jr. gave birth to four children:
Lydia, born about 1684, Rachel, about 1685, twins James and John, about 1692.
W e know little o f James M aker Jr. T he Vital Records o f Harwich register his
death: “July 8,1732 Then James M aker died”.
M aker, Lydia3, M rs W m3Nickerson, 1684-bef1760 (#151) (James2 *) was born
in 1684 to James M aker Jr. and his wife Rachel. Lydia M aker married W illiam 3
Nickerson, son o f Joseph Nickerson and Ruhamah Jones, on 4 November 1703 at
Harwich. About 1711 they had a daughter Lydia Nickerson, who married Elisha
W heldenon 15 April 1731 at Harwich and they had a daughter Thankful W helden.
Thankful and her husband, Tim othy Ccvell, were great grandparents o f Alfred
and Amasa Fiske. Lydia M aker died before 1760.
(References: Freeman, v. 2; M cLean, TAG, 48: 4-11; Vital Records o f Harwich)

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M archant, John1, died b ef1670 (#1192): The family name is obviously o f French
origin and was not very common in England. There was a Thomas Marchaunt in
Colchester, Essex, in the time of Richard II and H enry VI and a few families
were found in Sussex, W iltshire, Devon and Somerset. John M archant Sr., born
about 1600 in England, was accepted as an inhabitant of Newport, Rhode Island
on 2 June 1638 but on 24 February 1638-9 he was receiving a grant o f eight acres
for two males at M ount Wollaston (Braintree). W ith him had come his son John,
13, and his wife Sarah (maiden name unknown), who died 3 December 1638. As
early as 1642 John Marchant moved again, this time to Watertown. Some while
before 1648 he moved to Yarmouth, Cape Cod, where on 7 June he was chosen as
constable. He is recorded there as defendant in a court case and as plaintiff in
another. He must have died before 1670 because in that year his sons name was
written as John Marchant Sr.
M archant,John2Jr., cl625-b ef 1693 (#596) (John1) was born about 1625, prob­
ably in England. He moved around with his father until they settled in Yar­
mouth. He married before 1648 but whom or exactly when is not known. Mrs.
John M archant Jr. had seven children. The birthdates o f the first two are found in
the Yarmouth records: M ary, 20 M ay 1648 and Abishai, 10 January 1650-1. The
remaining children were: John, about 1653; Charles, about 1655; Christopher,
about 1658; Sarah, about 1661, and Joseph, 1666. John was made a freeman of
Yarmouth in 1652. H e was appointed ensign o f the m ilitia in 1660 and was pro­
moted to lieutenant in 1670. In 1682 he moved to Edgartown and got a grant,
likely because a daughter and three sons were living there. H e most probably died
before 1693 in Edgartown.
M archant, A bishai3, born 1651 (#298) (John21) was born at Yarmouth on 10
January 1650-1 to John Marchant Jr. His mothers name is unknown. Abishai
M archant married about 1673 M ary Taylor, daughter o f Richard Taylor and Ruth
W helden. Their children were Samuel, Jabez, Hannah, John and Elizabeth. The
fam ily moved with Abishai’s father to Edgartown about 1682 and their son John
eventually became the head o f the Marchant fam ily there. Abishai and M ary
returned to Yarmouth by 1714 and she died there 1 February 1717-8.

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M archant, Elizabeth4, M rs Thos.3 W helden, 1681- (#149) (AbishaPJohn2'1)

was born at Yarmouth in 1681 to Abishai Marchant and M aryTaylor. Elizabeth
Marchant married Thomas W helden, son o f John W helden and M ary Folland,
on 21 October 1698 at Yarmouth.
(References: Banks, History o f Martha' Vineyard, II: 77-79 and III: 291; Fred E.
Crowell, No. 436; Plymouth Colony Records, M D , vol. 16; Popes Pioneers )
Nickerson, W m .1, cl605-90 (#456L, 600, 662a&h) was born about 1605 in
Norwich, Norfolk, England. He was apprenticed for seven years to his father,
W illiam , who was a tailor and freeman o f St. Ethelred s parish, the registers of
which are lost. The grandfather, Thomas, 1542-1600, was called a yeoman in the
records and the great grandfather, Thomas, was married to M argaret Rudd and
lived from 1515 to 1585. After his father’s death W illiam Nickerson became a
worsted weaver and was admitted as a freeman on purchase. On 24 June 1625 at
St. M ary’s Church, Coslany, Norwich, he married Anne Busby, daughter o f
Nicholas Busby and Bridget Cocke. During the next dozen years he plied his
trade in Norwich and Anne gave birth to two beys and two girls.
Both W illiam C . Smith and W arren Sears Nickerson aver that W illiam and
Anne decided to emigrate on account o f the persecutions o f non-conformists by
M atthew W ren, Bishop o f Norfolk. Indeed, a parliamentary committee charged
that in the twenty-eight months the bishop held the see, he had driven into
Holland and the New W orld three thousand o f the kings subjects, many ofwhom
were tradesmen or employers in the woollen industry.
Hotten’s book on early immigrants cites from A R egister ofPersons About to Pass
into Foreign Parts: “A prill, the/8th/1637. T he examinaction o f W IL L IA M :
NICKERSON: of Norwch in Norff/ Weaver/ aged 33 years, and. ANNE: his/
Wife/aged 28 yeares with / 4 Children: NICH O : ROBART: ELIZABETH:
and ANNE: are desirous to goe to Boston in New England there to inhabitt///”.
The John and Dorothy sailed from Yarmouth 15 April 1637 with Captain W illiam
Andrews as master, whose son was skipper of the accompanying ship, the Rose.
Aboard were the Nickerson family, Anne’s parents and four o f their children, and
Samuel Lincorne, 18, ancestor o f Abraham Lincoln and o f Joseph C. Lincoln, the
author of humorous Cape Cod stories. In the Nickerson group Nicholas was shown

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as nine years old, Robert as seven, Elizabeth as five and Anne as three, along with
two servants, W illiam Moulton and Anne W add. They arrived at Salem 20 June
1637. W illiam Nickerson took the freeman’s oath at Boston the following M ay
but he may have been living near the Busby’s, who had settled in Watertown. He
was a resident o f Yarmouth in 1640, a year after it was settled, and the following
year took the oath of fidelity. That same year he had trouble with the minister,
Rev. Marmaduke Matthews, who complained o f him as a “scoffer and jeerer of
religion” but who him self was embroiled in disputes with other members o f his
congregation. Being fined for that offence did not interfere w ith Nickersons be­
ing chosen to represent Yarmouth on the grand ju ry o f Plymouth Colony.
The early history of Yarmouth was marred by the dissatisfaction o f some about
the allotment of lands. According to the original grant made by the Plymouth
General Court, three early settlers, one o f whom was John Crow, held the lands
in trust to allot them to admitted residents, who complained so often that the
Court sent M yles Standish to improve the situation. H e made grants, one of
eighteen acres to W illiam Nickerson, and arranged that three representatives of
the inhabitants should be added to the allotment committee and that two o f the
three must consent before any disposition. W illiam Nickerson was one of the
three chosen the first year o f the arrangement but in ensuing years the people o f
Yarmouth were still agitated and harsh words flew so that Nickerson and others
were on one side or the other of suits for defamation or slander. In October of
1650 the Court ordered all concerned to discontinue their suits and asked Mr.
Nickerson to see the evil o f his offensive remarks about others. The next year he
was a juror at Plymouth in a civil case. In 1655 the freemen o f Yarmouth elected
him deputy to the General Court.
Nine children, some of them of marriageable age, were now testing the capacity
of the Nickerson family’s small acreage to sustain them. The great land acquisi­
tions and troubles of W illiam Nickerson began just before 1656 or early in that
year when he bought a tract of land at M onomoit from Mattaquason, Indian
chief, and his son John Quason, without clearly defining the tract or getting a
written document and also contrary to a law o f 1643 forbidding the purchase or
rental of land from the natives without the consent o f the Court, which could fine

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the offender £5 an acre and also an amount o f five times the value o f any timber
cut on that land. Nickerson appeared in June before the Court but his plea of
ignorance o f that law did not save him from being fined £5 an acre and from being
stripped o f his freemanship. The Court did not seek to collect the fine right away.
The following June he petitioned the Court for permission to use the land but was
not satisfied when the Court informed him that it had appointed a committee to
view the land and would gave him a piece o f the land and require him to give up
the remainder. He again applied for the whole tract and in June o f 1659 received
the answer that he m ight have it upon payment o f the penalty per acre required by
the law.
To Boston went the Nickerson family in M arch o f 1657 so that Anne could
care for her aged parents. She looked after her father till he died four months
later and then her mother, who died three years after that. W illiam Nickerson
bought from Dr. W illiam SneUing a house, garden and orchard and built a new
house and a shop on the property. For a debt he owed his late father-in-law
W illiam had to pay a judgm ent o f £70 levied against him by the County Court in
Boston in favour o f Abraham Busby, weaver, administrator for his deceased mother,
Bridget, the executor o f her husband’s estate, although W illiam in his appeal to
the Superior Court described the service that his wife had given, day and night,
to her mother and father, all of which time she had taken her meals in her own
home. Anne had received a bequest o f £50 and his “thicke bible” from her father.
Acting for the Busby heirs in Norwich and London, W illiam collected and trans­
mitted £90 to them. H e and Anne sold their property in Boston to Robert Gibbs,
merchant, for £150 and they were back in Yarmouth as early as 15 January 1661-
2, when he deeded fifty acres o f the land at Monomoit to his daughter Elizabeth,
wife of Robert Eldred.
Now W illiam and his sons Nicholas, Robert, Samuel, John, W illiam Jr., and
Joseph and his sons-in-law Nathaniel Coveil, Robert Eldred andTrustrum Hedges
presented a petition 4 July 1663 to Governor Prence and the rest of the Court
stating that he had bought the land to accommodate and sustain his children and
posterity without their becoming a burden on the Colony:

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... our request to the honored Court is that they w ould be pleased to graunt us
libertie to settle a township att M anamoiett or therabouts w ith as many in­
habitants as w ee shall see the land w ill comfortably accommodate, soe that
they be townsm en that w ee can dose w ith, w ee shall w illin gly receive them,
upon the condition that they shall pay theire partes o f the purchase as w ee
shall agree and not otherwaies; and ifth e Court shall be pleased to graunt our
petition, w ee shall count it a great fa v o r from God and fa v o r from the Court,
thus hoping tofin dfavorable answ arefrom the honored Court, w e rest.

The Court took no action. Believing that the Court would grant them at least
part o f their request, W illiam and his family, all but Nicholas, who remained in
Yarmouth all his life, by March of 1664 had moved onto the tract and begun
improving it. The Court ordered the chief marshal to levy £200 of the goods and
chattels of W illiam Nickerson but the marshal reported that he had been unable
to find any property to levy upon. The Court then deputed four men to sell and
improve the land in behalf o f the Colony and allow Nickerson a portion. Again
no action was taken. Nickerson then appealed to visiting royal commissioners,
who were holding sessions in Plymouth, who found his claim to a farm o f sixteen
square miles to be unreasonable but consented to intervene w ith the Colony Court
if he would abide by its decision. The Court remitted die fine and allowed him
100 acres at or near his house, amounting to ten acres apiece for him and his
children. Worse still, the Court granted the rest o f his purchase to nine persons,
namely, Thomas Hinckley, Nathaniel Bacon, Thomas Folland, Sr., John Free­
man, Edmond Hawes,Thomas Howes, Sr., Lieut. Joseph Rogers, W illiam Saijeant
and Anthony Thacher, and gave them the right to buy up to 1,000 acres more
from the Indians.
W illiam Nickerson thought the Court should have been more generous to him
who, unknowing of the prohibiting law, had bought the land in good faith and
now was ready to share it with settlers, whereas the Court, some o f whose mem­
bers could look after themselves in land grants and had personal reasons, insisted
on hewing to the letter o f the law. Believing that Thomas Hinckley, then assist­
ant governor, had used his predominant influence against him, he so wrote to the

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Court, which, despite his apology to Hinckley in open court, fined him. He wrote
two letters to Colonel Robert Nichollls, the governor of New York Colony, who
had been one of the visiting commissioners, complaining about the conduct of
the Plymouth government. In 31 October 1676 W illiam Nickerson was arraigned
at the Plymouth Court for w riting those letters the Plymouth authorities thought
had “very scandalously reproached “ the government and he was bound over in
the sum o f £500 and his sons-in-law Nathaniel Covell and Robert Eldred for
£100 each because they had some part in the defamation. Before this he may
have tried to get a title from the Indians and the Court countered by ordering
them to make no bargain with him except in the presence of an agent of the
Court. Four years later he sued C hief Mattaquason for damages caused by his
withholding the deed but, of course, the Court found against Nickerson. Thomas
H inckley had sold out his interest to M ajor Josiah Winslow. He and his eight
associates, who in the ten preceding years had made no attempt to use, sell or
settle any part of the tract, finally agreed to sell their rights for £90, whereupon
C hief Mattaquason and his son and the nine grantees conveyed the land by deeds
to W illiam Nickerson on 19 June and 3 Ju ly 1672. The Court remitted the fine
and confirmed his tide as now indisputable.
T hat year and again six years later with the Court’s permission W illiam bought
more land from the sachems for 1 shallop, 10 coats o f trucking cloth, 6 ketdes, 12
axes, 12 hoes, 12 knives, 40 shillings in wampum, a hat and 12 shillings in money.
In all he had four thousand acres, some o f which he deeded to his family and
some o f which he sold to setders o f the new town, later called Chatham.
Some historians, H ills as an example, are highly critical o f Nickerson and his
purchase. James W . Hawes wrote o f him:

William Nickerson w as a man ofintelligence an d o f great en ergy an d strength

o f will\ which degenerated into obstinacy. He could not brook opposition nor
readily accommodate h im self to his neighbors. He w as litigious, insisting upon
the letter o fw h a t he thought w ere his rights. His purchase ofla n d atM onomoy
w as doubtless in p a rt dictated by a desire o f independence an d his intention to
fo u n d a settlem ent o f which he should be the head.. . . As has been seen, he

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disposed o f all his property before his death and therefore his name does not
appear on the probate records. This action on his p a rt was perhaps due to
distrust o f the public authorities, produced by his years o f conflict w ith them.
(Cape Cod Library, I, No. 102,1590-1591)

Civil suit was not a stranger to him. Warren Nickerson writes (p. 13) that the
expressed principle o f W illiam Nickerson was: “For I desire not to wrong any
man of his just rights, nor would I be wronged myself.” Like a number of our
Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors, he was litigiously sensitive and inclined. M arch,
1658-9: he recovered judgment against Edward Sturgis for taking away goods
and calves belonging to him. March, 1662-3: he lost a suit against the town of
Yarmouth for withholding his share o f whale blubber over several years and he
had to pay damages o f £10 for taking whale blubber belonging to Thomas Howes,
Robert Denis and others. October, 1674: Francis Baker sued him for the cost of
six meat barrels and work done on tar barrels and he sued Baker for faulty work
and lost both suits. October, 1679: he sued an Indian about the ownership o f a
horse and lost the case and 15 shillings. November, 1679: having sued Josiah
Cooke Sr., also our ancestor, for a pair o f andirons and a silver cup which “Cooke
had levied on for rates”, once again he went down to defeat and had to pay costs.
His one encounter with the gritty side o f the law was when he and his sons
Samuel, Joseph and W illiam Jr. and his son-in-law Nathaniel Covell were charged
with confronting the constable Thomas Howes: they had to sit in the stocks and
when he refused to provide sureties for his good behaviour, he “stood committed
for three days”.
The time came to arrange for the last years. Sarah Covell, whose husband had
died four years before, came to live w ith and look after her father and mother and
in return on 12 February 1686 he deeded to her all his remaining property. Anne
must have been in poor health, for she died a few months later at the age of
seventy-five. He and Sarah agreed that the management o f his large land holdings
would be too much for her after he was gone, so they conveyed to his son and her
brother W illiam Jr. an interest in those lands except for the home farm, which was
to belong exclusively to Sarah.

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Having founded the town o f Monomoy (Chatham) and disposed of his large
property, W illiam Nickerson died at about the age o f eighty-five in the period
1689-1690, shortly after his wife Anne. He is long dead and does not need our
defence. As to his litigations, he was like Thomas Dexter: he sued, was sued, and
usually lost. Concerning the land deals, the white society practised the right of
private property and the owner’s exclusive use of it whereas the Indians shared
among themselves the land and water and all thereon and therein and had the
idea that selling a piece of land to the white man was merely giving him the right
to join them in using it. An outstanding example is the price paid by Samuel
Nash, Constant Southworth and M yles Standish for a tract of twelve miles square
or 92,000 acres: 7 coats, 8 hoes, 9 hatchets, 10 1/2 yards o f cotton cloth, 20 knives
and 4 moose skins. Again, when after King Philip’s W ar all of the Wampanoag
lands were seized, “the Bradfords and others obtained large tracts on the beautiful
promontory o f Mount Hope” (W illison, 401). W ith regard to the relations of
W illiam Nickerson with the Plymouth authorities, it is hard to know whether he
m ight have got more w ith greater diplomatic skill or whether he was in the
unfortunate position o f the late comer pitted against the entrenched first comers.
W illiam C . Sm ith, in his History o f Chatham w ill have the last word here:

R egarding his controversy w ith the Courts it seem s clear that he prolonged it,
because he believed that the Court w as dealing too harshly w ith him. This
w ou ld seem to have been the fe e lin g o f Col. Nicholls. D uring and after his
tim e , there w ere many other cases sim ilar to his, which w ere generally com­
prom ised by g iv in g the illegal purchaser o f the Indian rights a considerable
proportion o f his purchase, sometimes as much as one-half. H ad Mr. Nickerson
been thus dealt w ith, the controversy w ou ld probably h a ve been a short one,
and the fa m ily less exasperated
It is to be regretted that there is so little on record regarding the Nickerson
side o f the case. The statements o f the Colony Court must, therefore, be taken
by the reader w ith due allowance, (p. 77)

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Nickerson, Sarah2, M rs N athaniel1 Coveil, 1644- (#331a&h) (W illiam 1) was

born about 1644 at Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony, to W illiam 1 Nickerson and
Anne Busby. Sarah Nickerson married Nathaniel Covell in 1662 or 1663. They
had four sons, Nathaniel, W illiam Joseph and Ephraim, and probably two daugh­
ters, Sarah and Elizabeth. As wife and widow, Sarah showed herself to be an able
administrator, selling parcels of her own property and managing the great do­
main that her father deeded to her. By 1699 she had sold two-thirds of the prop­
erty to settlers, keeping the rest for division among her four sons.
Nickerson, W m .2 II, 1646-1719 (#228L) (W illiam 1) was born at Yarmouth,
Plymouth Colony, in 1646 and was baptized at Barnstable on June first, the son of
W illiam Nickerson and Anne Busby. At Eastham on 30 November 1668 he mar­
ried M ercy W illiam s, daughter o f Thomas W illiam s and Elizabeth Tart. They
had seven children: W illiam ,Thom as, Mercy (M ary), Elizabeth, Judith, Nathaniel
and Robert. W illiam II was a soldier in King Philip’s War. Before 1677 he owned
two parcels o f land near Great H ill and Ryder’s Cove and in 1689 he bought most
o f the land at Old Harbor from three grandsons of C hief Mattaquason and built
a house there. He took the oath o f freeman in 1690 and played an active part in
village affairs as grandjuror, inspector o f whales, constable, selectman six years,
treasurer six years. In his fifteen years as village clerk he registered few vital records
and none o f his own family. He received from his father and his sister Sarah an
interest in the large property. In 1693 and 1697 he and Sarah conveyed to Samuel
Sprague a part o f that land and a third interest in the rest. He and George Godfrey
supervised the building o f the meeting house by volunteers. Following the pat­
tern set by his father, W illiam and Mercy deeded their lands to their four sons
between 1702 and 1707. H e conveyed the homestead and other land to Robert,
the youngest son, but reserved a life interest for himself and his wife. W illiam
Nickerson II died before 7 A pril 1719, when his wife was granted administration.
Nickerson, W m .3 I l l , died 1748 (#114L) (W illiam 21) was born between 1668
and 1675 at Monomoit (Chatham), the son o f W illiam Nickerson II and Mercy
W illiam s. He and his first wife, Deliverance Lombard, had eight children at their
home in Old Harbor, where he carried on his tanning business making leather for
boots, shoes and mens work pants. As leader o f the local militia W illiam Nickerson

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III was called “Ensign” and he also acted as a selectman. Deliverance died young
in 1716. A t Chatham on 24 October 1717 Peter M arshall, Justice o f the Peace,
married him and A nna Atwood, daughter o f Eldad Atwood and Anna Snow.
Ensign W illiam passed on his tanning house and business to his sons Caleb,
Nathaniel and Eldad when he died in 1748.
Nickerson,Anna4, M rs Jon.4Crowell, cl718-55 (#57L) (W illiam 3'2‘1) was bom
about 1718 at Chatham to Ensign W illiam Nickerson and his second wife, Anna
Atwood. Anna Nickerson married 13 July 1738 Jonathan Crowell, son o f Isaac
Crowell and Ruth Crowell. A nna and Jonathan were the parents o f David Crowell
and great grandparents o f Ann Crowell. Anna died at Chatham some time before
17 October 1756. Jonathan and his second wife, Elizabeth Parker, moved to Nova
Scotia to take up his grant in Barrington.
Nickerson, Joseph2, 1647-aft 1725 (#300) (W illiam 1) was bom at Yarmouth,
Plymouth Colony, early in December o f 1647 and was baptized the 16th, the son
o f W illiam Nickerson and A nne Busby. He m arried, probably at Yarmouth,
Ruhamah Jones, daughter ofTeague Jones. They had five sons: Jeremiah, W illiam ,
Joseph, Josiah and John. Joseph Nickerson and his family moved to Monomoit
with his father and lived on a piece o f land his father conveyed to him north o f
Ryder’s Cove. They lived for a time at East Harwich until in 1697Joseph bought
fifty acres at M uddy Cove for £25 in silver. Ruhamah was charged with complicity
when the barn o f Edward Bangs was burned after they had quarrelled. Facing
ruin, Joseph petitioned for an abatement and the “affair was decided favorably.”
Joseph received Lots 6 and 16 o f his fathers Quason Purchase. In his w ill o f 5
November 1709 he left much o f his land to his son W illiam . Between 1725 and
1731 he died at Harwich.
Nickerson, W illiam 3, ca 1678-1764 (#150) (Joseph2W illiam 1), son o f Joseph
Nickerson and Ruhamah Jones, was bom about 1678 at Harwich. Captain Jonathan
Sparrow at Eastham on 4 November 1703 married W illiam Nickerson and Lydia
Maker, daughter o f Jam es M aker and Rachel (maiden name unknown), said to be
Indian. They lived in East Harwich, where their nine children were born: John,
Rachel, Lydia, Isaac, Joseph, Silas, W illiam , M ary and Priscilla. W illiam was
drowned while canoeing some time before his w ill was proved on 12 M arch 1765,

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probably the preceding autumn, at which time he would have been eighty-six. He
gave one-third of the homestead to his wife Lydia and parcels o f land to all his
sons and daughters and all his other properties to his grandson, W illiam , son of
his eldest son, John, who may have been deceased. He gives his reason for this
bequest to his grandson, “as he has lived w ith me and is to live with me as long as
I live, and is to do for me and my wife”. W h at clear English words o f one syllable!
Nickerson, Lydia4, M rs Elisha4 W helden, m 1731 (#75) (W illiam 3Joseph2
W illiam 1) was born at Harwich, date unknown, to W illiam Nickerson and Lydia
Maker. Joseph Doane, Justice of the Peace at Harwich, on 15 A pril 1731 married
Lydia Nickerson and Elisha W helden, son o f Thomas W helden and Elizabeth
M archant. T hey had seven children, including their third-born, T hankful
W helden, who married Tim othy Coveil and came to Nova Scotia with him and
became a great grandmother of Alfred and Amasa Fisk(e).
(References: B arclay,T A G ,31:123-125; H arwich Vital Records-, H ills, 2: 90-94;
Hotten; Hawes, Cape Cod Library, Nos. 91 and 102; W arren Nickerson, passim-,
Amos Otis Papers.; W illiam C . Sm ith, A H istory o f Chatham, 55-77 and 110; Yar­
mouth (MA) Vital Records)
Parker, Robert1, d bef 2 M ar 1685 (#368h): For his articles in the Register,
1958-1960, on the then much-neglected genealogy o f Robert Parker, M cLean
refers to the typed copy o f the Barnstable Town Records at Town House, Hyannis,
in which Robert Parker is shown to hold two parcels o f land in 1655 and 60 acres
in six parcels two years later, to buy 25 acres o f upland for £78 from Thomas
Bouerman in 1662, and to marry Sarah James in 1657. T hey had four children:
Mary, bom 1 A pril 1658; Samuel, bom 30 June 1660, m. Sarah Bumpas when he
was 35 and she 15; Alice, 20 January 1662, died in infancy; Jane, born 3 M arch
1664. Sarah James Parker died 30 June 1664, soon after Jane was born.
Three years later at the beginning o f August, Robert Parker married Patience
Cobb, daughter o f Henry Cobb and Patience Hurst. They had eight children:
Thomas, born 24 April 1669; Daniel, 18 A pril 1670; Joseph, 12 February 1672;
Benjamin, see below; Hannah, April 1676; Elisha, 1680; Alice, 15 September
1681. In 1668 Robert served on a coroner’s jury and the next year he was chosen
constable. In 1672 Thomas Shave (or Shove or Shawe) bequeathed £9 to his

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“well-beloved kinsman Robert Parker” and to him along with Elisha Parkers chil­
dren the residue o f the estate. It is likely that Elisha Parker, o f Barnstable, husband
o f Elizabeth Hinckley, sister of Governor Thomas Hinckley, was a brother o f
Robert, who named a son Elisha. In 1679 Robert bought land at Rochester and in
1681 at Yarmouth. In that year the Plymouth Court found Joseph Peter, an In­
dian, guilty of stealing £13 or 14 and some liquor from Robert Parker and, owing
to his several like convictions, sentenced him to be sold out of the country and it
awarded the proceeds, after deducting the jail costs, to Robert. In January o f 1683-
4 he was admitted to the West Parish Church and in April his two youngest
children were baptized there. The Barnstable Records show that Robert Parker
died in 1680, an erroneous date as W hittemore pointed out at the turn o f our
century and as M cLean verifies. Robert died between the date o f that baptism and
the Plymouth Court’s grant o f administration o f his estate on 2 M arch 1684-5.
The Court ordered that the widow Patience should have their dwelling and the
lands about it, that the eldest son, Samuel, have the house and lands o f the farm he
was living on, that daughters M ary Jenkins and Jane Parker have £20 each, that
the residue be divided among the eight children o f Robert and Patience. The
Court of Assistance confirmed the order and further awarded £30 in the lands to
each o f the five sons and £20 apiece to the daughters out o f the movables, die
residue to go to the widow to bring up her small children.
Parker, Benjamin2, 1674-1720 (# lS4h ) (Robert1), bom 15 M arch 1674, son of
Robert Parker and Patience Cobb, married at Barnstable 8 December 1698 Rebecca
Lumbert, whose sister M ary married his brother Daniel. Benjamin was the only
one o f the Parker brothers to settle in Yarmouth, where he probably inherited land
from his father. Because fire later wiped out most o f that town’s records, one finds
litde further trace o f Benjamin Parker except that he died without a will and the
estate was distributed 19 August 1720 among the widow Rebecca, the eldest son,
Ebenezer, and his eight younger children (Barnstable Probates, III: 546-547, quoted
by M cL ean). T he children o f Benjamin Parker and Rebecca Lumbert were

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Ebenezer, bom 1 August 1699; Hannah, 2 January 1700-1, dy; Jacob (see below);
Elisha, September 1704; Joseph, 1 October 1706; Thankful, 16 September 1708;
Hannah, December 1710; Benjamin, December 1712; Sarah, 4 M ay 1715; Rebecca,
6 M ay 1717 (M D , 11:114).
Parker,Jacob3, 1702-71 (#92h) (Benjamin- Robert1) was born 21 October 1702,
according to the Yarmouth V ital Records. About 1725 he married Rebecca Tobey,
daughter o f Thomas. Their five sons and three daughters, all born at W est Yar­
mouth with these dates, were: Jabez, 27 September 1726; Thomas, 9 A pril 1729;
Hannah, 19 September 1731; Benjamin, 1 M arch 1733-4; Rebecca, 26 Ju ly 1737;
Desire, 20 September 1742, married Joseph Collins and moved to Liverpool;
Jacob, 11 M ay 1746; Elisha, 21 Oct, 1747. T he w ill o f Jacob Parker, yeoman, of
16 October 1771 made bequests to his beloved wife Rebecca, sons Jabez, Jacob,
Elisha and Benjamin, grandsons Elnathan and Thomas (sons o f Thomas, de­
ceased), and daughters Hannah Bray, Rebecca Burgess and Desire Collins.
Parker, Benjamin4, born 1736 (#46h) (Jacob3Benjamin2 Robert1), son o f Jacob
Parker and Rebecca Tobey, was born in Yarmouth, M A , 1 March 1733-4. He
married M ary Snow, daughter o f Prence Snow and Jane Collins, o f Chatham,
M A , on 7 September 1757 (M D , 13:31). T hey moved to Liverpool, Nora Scotia.
The Vital Records o f that place (N EH G R, 126: 97) list their children in this
order but in all cases but one the last number o f the birthyear is missing: Snow
Parker, 16 M ay 1760; Benjamin, 17 July 176-; Hannah, 14 October 176-; Mary,
7 December 176-, Desire, 9 February, 176-; Thomas, 27 October 177-; Elisha, 5
September 177-; M oses, 5 Ju ly 177-; M artha, 5 October, 177-; Jane, 24 June
178-.
Parker, H annah5, M rs Paul5 C ollins, 176?-1830 (#23h) (Benjam in4Jacob3
Benjamin2Robert1), bom to Benjamin Parker and M ary Snow at Yarmouth, M A ,
on 14 October 176-, married Paul Collins, son o f Joseph Collins and Abigail
Crowell, at Liverpool, NS, 18 Ju ly 1780. Ha.nah Parker had three sons and three
daughters. She died 19 December 1830 in Liverpool at the age o f sixty-six (T. B.
Smith Collection, p. 19)

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(References: M aclean W . M cL ean,” Robert Parker o f Barnstable, M ass.”,

N EHGR, 112: 190-197 and 113:265 and 114:10; Savage, 3 :3 5 0 and 356; T. B.
Smith Collections, PANS; Henry W hittem ore, G enealogical Guide to the Early
Settlers o f America, 401-403 (Baltimore: Gene. Pub. Co., reprint 1967)
Rider, Sam uel1, 1601-79 (#730a) was the son o f John Rider and Helen Smyth,
who were married at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, on 1 November 1600
and had him , their first child, baptized on 19 June 1601. Samuel Rider and Anne
Gamlett were married in A ll Saints Parish in Northampton on 16 October 1628.
The following October they had a child Jane, who died when she was nearly two
years old, a few days after her parents had lost a newborn baby. Samuel and Anne
then had three children who survived and were baptized at A ll Saints: Samuel,
1632; Jane, 1634; John, 1636, In the parish register o f these events Samuel is
recorded as a labourer. His name first appears in the Plymouth Records on 7 Janu­
ary 1638-9 on a list o f men proposing to move to Yarmouth. In June o f 1653 he
was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant in the Yarmouth Company o f militia
but in the following M arch for some reason or another he was reduced to the
ranks. On 1 June 1658 he was re-appointed lieutenant and seems to have been
active in that rank until John M archant was appointed lieutenant in 1670. Samuel
and Anne Rider had five more children: Benjamin, Zachaiy, Joseph, M ary and
Elizabeth. Samuel Rider made his trill 20 November 1679 and it was proved on 9
December. He left all his estate, housings, lands and movables to his loving wife
Anne during her natural fife or state o f widowhood and at her death all was to go
to Benjamin except a parcel o f planting land in the prime field for John, which at
his death was to become Benjamin s. He gave Jane three cows, Samuel five shil­
lings, Elizabeth ten shillings, M ary ten pounds and Zachary and Joseph twenty
shillings each. The widow Anne died 14 December 1695.
Rider, Elizabeth2, M rsJohn2Cole, m. 1667 (#365a) (Sam uel1) was a daughter
o f Samuel Rider and Anne Gamlett, o f Yarmouth. Elizabeth Rider married John
Cole o f Swansea, son o f James and M aty Cole, on 21 November 1667. H e died in
1677, leaving her w ith four sm all children. The Plymouth Court settled “the
whole personal estate on his widow for the bringing up o f his children”.

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(References: Cape Cod Library No. 66, “The Rider Family o f Yarmouth”;
M ayflow er Descendant, editor, “Rider-Ryder Notes”, M D 11: 49-55}
The Sears Fam ily: The origins of the family of Richard1 Sears is an interesting
case study of how romantic fiction can wishfully creep into a family history in the
absence of strict research methods. The family histories written in 1857 and 1890
told the story o f a titled family and the loss o f a great estate in Henry the Eighth’s
time by the elder brother, Richard Sears, on account of his religious beliefs so that
his younger brother got possession o f the inheritance. Richard’s only son, John,
did not try to recover his ancestral rights but sought adventure with his father-in-
law, the famous Sir John Hawkins. His eldest son, John Sears Jr., married a wealthy
woman o f the fam ily of Count Egmont and when he died, his eldest son, Richard
Sears, took inherited money and settled in New Plymouth and then Yarmouth,
Cape Cod. His elder son, Knyvet, made two voyages to recover the family lands
in England and died there. This account appears in no less an authority than
Burke’s Vicissitudes o f Families. Freeman recounts the fate o f that Knyvet’s sons:
Richard and David Sears fell on the battlefield of Culloden on 27 April 1746. In
a footnote Freeman (2: 599) explains: “it has been conjectured” that they had
gone to England to recover the ancestral estates “on the luckless errand o f their
grandfather Knyvet” and had arrived at a time when Bonnie Prince Charlie was
invading England. They joined the army as officers and died in that bloody strug­
gle. Freeman does not give the source of that conjecture (2: 598-599)
Some members of the Sears family asked Samuel Pearce M ay to revise and
update its genealogy. Finding irreconcilable differences he investigated and found
“not one step o f the pedigree can be substantiated by records and on the contrary
some portions are impossible, and others in conflict with known authorities.” (p.
262) His clients asked him to publish the facts so that the pedigree would no
longer be quoted as it was so often, particularly in Rev. E. H. Sears’ Pictures in the
Olden Time and Sir Bernard Burke’s Vicissitudes in 1863. Sir Bernard later inves­
tigated and found that the details “were incapable of proof, if not altogether
wrong, and opposed to fact.” (p. 267) W ith a red face the chief herald dropped
the Sears chapter from the next edition of his book.

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Mr. M ay wrote that George and John Sayer were brothers, George being the
elder and not the other w ay round. The middle names o f Bourchier are anachro­
nisms. Edmund Knyvet did not have a daughter named Ann and he died insol­
vent. John Bourchier Sayer was claimed to have married a daughter o f Sir John
Hawkins: Sir John and his wife were too young to have a daughter of marriageable
age. The Egmont family never lived in Amsterdam and if a John Bourchier Sayer
married a M arie van Egmond, she must hav been o f an obscure and unknown
family. The H all belonged to the Bourchier family until Queen Elizabeth regranted
it to the Earl of Northampton, who sold it to George Sayer in 1576, so that this
hall was owned by a Sayer at a much later date than the one stated in the pedi­
gree.
Richard Sares o f Yarmouth was probably born about 1613 and not 1590. There
is no record o f his marriage to Dorothy Thacher: the Thacher genealogists know
o f no Dorothy. M r M ay thought that Richard likely married Dorothy Batts, who
probably came over in the Bevis in 1638 with her brother Christopher and his
wife, nee Ann Thacher. Richard Sares never had a son Knyvet and the records
show that Richard and Daniel were the younger sons o f Paul and not nephews
adopted as sons. Swift’s History o f Old Yarmouth (1885) cites a Bible o f Richard
Sares, kept by the family for generations, to prove the marriage to Dorothy Thacher
and the birth of their son Knyvet; a mail inquiry to many members o f the family
elicited no knowledge of its existence.
“To sum up briefly: the ‘English pedigree’ cannot be proved:—it is doubtful if
Richard Sares was ever in Holland, or that his wife was a Thacher;—he never had
a son Knyvet,- and Richard Sears and Daniel Sears, o f Chatham, were youn ger
sons of Paul, .. .” (p. 266)
Sears, Richard1, died 1676 (#740a) wrote his name Sares, but the name in Eng­
land was usually Sayer or Sayers. The place and date o f his birth are unknown, but
it was probably in England. Richard Sears was taxed in Plymouth in 1633, then
four years later in Marblehead, which granted him three acres. About 1635 he
married Dorothy Jones: where is not known. Their first child, Paul, was born about
1637, most likely in Marblehead. Richard, Dorothy and their baby moved to Yar­
mouth, Plymouth Colony, where they soon had two more children, Deborah, bom

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about 1639, and Silas, born about 1641. In 1642 he was on the list o f those liable
to bear arms. In 1650 he and sixteen others made complaint to the Court against
W illiam Nickerson for slander, damage £100, and w ith seventeen others against
John Crow, W illiam Nickerson and Lieut. W illiam Palmer for trespass, damage
£60. In 1652 he was a grandjuror and the next year was made a freeman. In 1658
the General Court appointed him and three others to levy upon those inhabitants
of Yarmouth who did not pay their share o f the new minister s annual stipend of
£50. In 1660 he was constable and two years later one o f Yarmouth’s two deputies
to the Colony Court. Richard Sares was addressed as Goodman and not as M as­
ter. M ay writes at page 31 o f his book: “H e was a farmer, hard-working and indus­
trious, an affectionate husband and kind parent, a God-fearing man, and respected
by his neighbors.” Richard's w ill and codicil were proved 5 M ay 1676, his wife as
executor. To Dorothy he left all his lands, goods and cattle for her life. After her
death the following provisions were to apply: to Silas all the upland where his
house is; to son-in-law Zachary Paddock the house he lives in and the two acres
about it during the lifetime of his wife Deborah; to Paul the rest o f all the lands
and, by the codicil, the house, bed, bedding, cattle, beehives, etc. The inventory
added up to £220. Five cows were valued at £2 each, a bull and two heifers £4 10s,
five yearlings and two calves £6, Bible and other books £1 3s. Dorothy lived three
years longer, for according to the town records, “Goody Sares was buried M ar. 19,
1678-9.”
Sears, Paul2, cl637-1708 (#370a) (Richard1) was bom about 1638, likely at
Marblehead, and was brought up in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony. There in 1658
he married Deborah W illard, daughter o f George W illard and his wife, whose
name and parentage we do not know. Their children were: Mercy, 1659; Bethia,
1661-2; Samuel, 1663-4; Lydia, 1666; Paul, 1669; M ary, 1672; Ann, 1675; John,
1677-; Richard, 1680-1; Daniel, 1682-3. Paul Sears took the oath of fidelity in
1657, was captain of m ilitia, made a claim for a horse lost in the Narragansett
War, sat on a grand ju ry and was one of the original proprietors of Harwich lands.
His gravestone in Yarmouth Cemetery, M ay states, recorded his death on 20

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February 1707-8 in his seventieth year. H is w ill left all movables, livestock and
household goods to “his loving wife Deborah” and at her death all these were to be
divided equally among the daughters. The lands he divided among his sons Samuel,
Paul and John.
Sears, Bethia', M rs John* Crowell, 1661-1724 (#185a) (PauFRichard1), daughter
o f Paul Sears and Deborah W illard, was born 3 June 1661 at Yarmouth. Bethia
Sears married John3Crowell, o f Nobscusset, son o f John Crowell and M ehitable
M iller, at Yarmouth 27 M ay 1684. She died 5 July 1724 at the age o f sixty-three.
She and John are ancestors o f Elizabeth Barss’s daughter, A bigail Sm ith, M rs
Amasa Fiske.
(References: Robert Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 2:1642-1644; Aus­
tin’s One Hundred an d Sixty Allied Families , 205-206; Freeman, 2:598-599; H ills,
66-67; May, Descendants o f Richard Sores; May, NEHGR, 40: 261-268; Yarmouth
Vital Records)
Skiff, Jam es1 Sr., died cl688 (#500L, 628) yeoman o f Plymouth, received five
acres for services to Isaac Allerton, assistant governor, and he bought five acres
more. He was one of the earliest settlers o f Sandwich, having sold his house and
land in Lynn and moved about 1637. In Sandwich he received a grant o f land in
1641, became a freeman three years later and then a town officer. H e was one o f
the jurors appointed to lay out a convenient w ay from Sandwich to Plymouth, In
1654 he represented Sandwich at a convention o f m ilitary men. The next year he
was one of four men under contract to build a m ill for the township for twenty
pounds. In 1658 the General Court o f Plymouth Colony resolved to summon
James Skiff to answer a charge o f breaking the law by refusing to take the oath of
fidelity. The following year the Court refused him as the town’s deputy because of
his friendship with his neighbours the Quakers. T he town appointed him and
John Ellis to manage the business o f the whales and the fish that yielded a quan­
tity of oil. According to the Plymouth Colony Records (3: 61) o f 18 June 1660,
“James Skeff should deliver to every musquetere o f the m ilitary company that
went out to the general muster at Yarmouth” an agreed weight o f powder. In
1662 he and another man were appointed to settle the boundaries o f certain
lands. Between 1659 and 1663 he inventoried, oversaw or administered the es­

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tates of the late Anthony Bussey, John Green and Joan Swift. In 1666 he was
granted forty acres. On 2 April 1667, he, Richard Bourne and W illiam Bassett
along “with the commissioned officers o f Sandwich were appointed a Council of
War.” (NEHGR, 118: 86). M ary, Mrs. James Skiff Sr. (maiden name unknown)
had five sons: Jam es, Stephen, Nathaniel, Benjamin and Nathan and six daugh­
ters: Sarah, Bathsheba, M ary, M iriam , Patience and Elizabeth. Mary, wife and
mother, died 21 September 1673 at Sandwich. Having deeded his lands to his
son Nathaniel, James died in Sandwich some time about 1688.
Skiff, Jam es2Jr., 1638-1731 (#250L,314) (James1) was born 12 September 1638
tojam es and M ary Skiff. James Skiff Jr. married Elizabeth Cooper 18 November
1659. T hey moved to M artha’s Vineyard. In chapter seven we shall tell the story of
his divorce and ensuing life there.
(References: Pope, Pioneers '.; Freeman’s history; Pierson, 3-4)
Smith, John1, married 1638 (#464L) was a settler at Plymouth Town in 1633,
for on 25 Ju ly of that year he was apprenticed for seven years to John Jenney,
brewer’s man and farmer. After the apprenticeship was shortened to five years,
“John Sm yth and Bennett Moorecock maryed the V llth December 1638” (Ply­
mouth V ital Records, p. 181). A t the age o f sixteen she had come to Plymouth in
the Elizabeth an d Ann with her brother Nicholas, 14, and sister M arie, 10. John
Smith and Bennett Moorecock had Jeremiah about 1645 and Joseph 16 April
1652.
Sm ith, Jerem iah2, I, cl645-1706 (#232L) (John1), born about 1645 to John
Smith and Bennett Moorecock, was apprenticed to Thomas W hitney and his
wife on 30 January 1649. Jeremiah Sm ith, I, married at Eastham on 3 January
1677 Hannah Atwood, daughter o f Stephen Atwood and A bigail Dunham. They
had Mercy, born 16 February 1678; Abigail, 1 June 1681; Hannah, “middle of
September” 1694; and Jeremiah, II. Jeremiah Smith I died at Eastham 29 April
1706 and his widow lived until 29 M arch 1729 in her eightieth year.(Eastham
VRs, M D , 4 :1 4 0 ,1 4 1 )
Sm ith, Jerem iah3, II, 1685-1728 (#116L) (Jeremiah2John1) was bom 18 Au­
gust 1685 at Eastham. There on 9 August 1711 Jeremiah Sm ith, II was married
to A bigail Sm ith, daughter o f Daniel Smith and M ary Young, by Rev. Samuel

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Treat. The births o f four children are shown in the Eastham Vital Records: Simeon,
10 M ay 1712; Jerem iah4, 22 February 1713-4; Nathaniel, 2 A pril 1718; and
Jonathan, 19 July 1725 (M D , 4:237). Jeremiah3 died in 1728. Intentions of mar­
riage o f Nathaniel Smith and M ary Young were entered at Eastham 27 October
1744. (M D , 29:15) H is brother Jonathan married at Chatham 9 November 1752
Jane Hamilton, daughter ofThomas Hamilton and Rebecca Mayo. Both Nathaniel
and Jonathan Smith came to Nova Scotia about 1761 and became original pro­
prietors o f Barrington Township (M D , 8:138).
Sm ith, Jerem iah4, III, 1713-54 (#58L) (Jeremiah3 2John1), born 22 February
1712-3, married Lydia Linkhomew (Lincoln), who was bom 4 Ju ly 1718 to James
Linkhornew and Lydia Snow, daughter of Lieut. Joseph Snow and M a r y ------ .
Jeremiah Smith, III and his wife had six children: Elkeny, born 8 December 1738;
David, 30 June 1741; Heman, 8 M arch 1744; Philip, 25 January 1746; Lydiah, 9
December 1749; and Marcy, 5 M arch 1753. A t age forty the husband and father
died 2 A pril 1754, leaving a widow thirty-five years old and six children between
one and fifteen years o f age. No probate record for this Jeremiah Sm ith has been
found in Barnstable County. Like Uncles Nathaniel and Jonathan, Elkeny Sm ith
became a grantee in Barrington Township. Their names are found in Leonard H.
Smith’s A D ictionary o f Imm igrants to Nova Scotia, but not M arcy or Lydia. M arcy s
marriage on 21 November 1780 to Neil “McCummersky” (McComiskey, accord­
ing to Fred E. Crowell, “Smith”, no 55), o f County Down, Ireland, is recorded in
the Barrington Township Records, page xxxiii. The brothers David and Philip re­
mained in Eastham, both marrying: David, probably Phebe Snow, and Philip,
Sarah Mayo.
Sm ith, Lydia5, M rs David5Crowell, 1749- (#29L) (Jeremiah4 3 2John1) Sh o w ­
ing Lydia Smith as the fifth child of Jeremiah4 Smith and Lydia Lincoln, Fred
E.Crowell wrote:

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Lydia, b. Dec. 7 (or 9), 1749; m. a t Barrington, N.S., Nov. 1,1773, D avid
Crowell, b. March 10,1743; son o f Jonathan Crowell, by hisfirst w ife, Anna
Nickerson; D avid C rowell an d hisfatherJonathan w ere original proprietors
ofB arrington, N.S.; D avid C rowell w as probably Lydia's second husband, as
the Barrington record sa ys-”1773Nov. 1, D avid Crowell, B arrington [mar­
ried] Lydia Snow, w id d ow ”.

The Mayflower Society’s Hopkins book (p. 263) states that the daughter of
Lydia Lincoln and Jeremiah Sm ith,“Lydiahb.D ec. 1749;prob.m . Stephen Snow
Jr. (see no. 250)” and then at page 276: ^Stephen b. 9 Nov. 1752; m. (1) Lydia
Smith (see no. 235); m. (2) M artha ?Smith”. According to the Eastham Vital
Records (M D , 32: 175): “M arch 26 1772 Stephen Snow Juner and Lidia Smith
Both o f Eastham by the Revrd M r Cheever Entred by me Edward Knowles
Town C lar”.T hat item does not identify Lidia as the daughter o f Jerem iah Smith
and Lydia Lincoln. There seems to be no record o f children born to Stephen and
Lydia Snow nor of her death or burial. The same records do not give any sign o f
Stephens second marriage except to register the births of eleven children o f Stephen
and M artha Snow between 24 June 1779 and 19 January 1797 (M D , 33: 135).
We are left with questions. W as the first wife of Stephen Snow a daughter of
Jeremiah Smith and Lydia Lincoln? If she was, what was the maiden name o f the
Lydia Snow who married David Crowell and who was her late husband? If she
was not, who was the Lydia Smith who married Stephen Snow and what became
of her, and when did the other Lydia Smith come to Nova Scotia, with her uncles
and brother and sister, or later?. If the two Lydia Smiths are one and the same
person, surely she and Stephen Snow were not divorced-there would scarcely
have been time in the nineteen months between the Snow-Smith marriage and
the Crowell-Smith marriage and, besides, a divorce, a rare and notorious event in
those times, would certainly be on record-leaving the only possible answer that
Lydia deserted Stephen, joined her uncles and her elder brother and identified
herself as a widow. W ith the close ties and no doubt some communication be­
tween these families and their relatives in Cape Cod, that would seem to be
absurd. A t least three other Lydia Smiths were bom in that area and time, but

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seven or eight years before the birth of Stephen Snow: (a) to Joseph and Lydia
Sm ith at P lym o uth 23 M a y 1744; (b) to Jo h n and D eborah Sm ith at
Middleborough 17 July 1744; and (c) to M atthias and Hannah Smith at Barnstable
13 August 1745.
Rev. Dr. Edwin Crowell, whose grandparents would have known David and
Lydia Crowell, in listing the children of Jonathan Crowell and Anna Nickerson,
wrote this (p. 454): “David, gr[antee], m. Lydia Smith o f Bears Pond, Cape Cod,
a niece o f Nathaniel Smith, gr.”
(References: Barrington Township Records:; Edwin Crowell, H istory o f Barrington
Township , 454-457 and 565-570; Fred E. Crowell, “Snow” (no. 15) and “Smith”,
(no. 55); Eastham Records; Hamlin, NEHGR, 7:278-9; Plymouth Vital Records;
Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts, p. 422; “M emoirs,” NEHGR, 84: 322; James A.
Savage, Genealogical D ictionary )
Sm ith, Ralph1, ca. 1616-85 (#468L, 640aSch) (a different family) was born at
Hingham, Norfolk, England, in or before 1616. Evidently a young bachelor and
perhaps a servant, he was one o f ninety-five passengers who sailed in the Elizabeth
Bonaventure from Yarmouth, county Norfolk, in early M ay and arrived at Boston
15 June 1633. In September he was building a hut and clearing land in Hingham,
Massachusetts Bay Colony, a town that drew most o f its settlers from its name­
sake. Four years later he drew a house lot on Batchelor Street (now M ain) in
Hingham. On 3 January 1636-7 Charlestown gave him a months admission on
trial but there is no further record o f him there. Ralph Sm ith married, when and
whom are not recorded. Robert L. Smith and others think that Ralph married
Elizabeth or Rebecca, daughter o f Edmond Hobart, a fellow passenger. M ost his­
torians of this Smith family opine that Ralph was married twice and that his first
wife was the mother o f all his children. According to Rev. Peter Hobart’s Journal,
Mrs. Ralph Sm ith [name not given] gave birth in Hingham to an infant who died
15 February 1640 and then four more children: Samuel, baptized 11 July 1641;
John, 23 Ju ly 1644, married Hannah, daughter o f Thomas W illiam s and Eliza­
beth Tart; Daniel, 2 M arch 1647, m. M ary Young; Elizabeth, born 18 Septem-
berl648, married perhaps Jabez, son o f Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins.
They moved to Eastham, where two more children were born, Thomas about

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1651 and Deborah on 8 M arch 1654 (M D 5:22). Ralph Smyth had several bouts
w ith the law, according to Charles Paul Smith, who quotes court orders from
Plymouth Colony records. The Plymouth Court fined him twenty shillings for
lying about a warrant directed to him and about sighting a whale and “other
misorderly carriages tending to disturbence in the town o f Eastham”; fined him
3s. 4d. for striking W illiam W alker but remitted it when he and W alker came to a
private agreement; required Ralph Sm yth to return tools that he had kept in pay­
ment o f three weeks’ room and board o f the carpenter Crispen Walden, who was
billetted w ith him , but allowed Smyth to keep a certain parcel o f cotton wool; was,
w ith his sons Samuel and Daniel, granted court costs in a suit brought against
them by Josias Cooke, who withdrew the suit. Despite all this, Ralph Smyth was
elected selectman in seven years during the period 1668-1676 and he was on a
ju ry for the widening o f the road to the M ill House at Stoney Brook which had
been an Indian trail. On 27 October 1685 administration of his estate was granted
to his widow, Grace, and his son Samuel.
Sm ith, Samuel2, 1641-97 (#320a&h) (Ralph1), baptized at Hingham 11 July
641, first appears in the records because when he was about twenty-one he was
fined 3s. 4d. “for saying hee could find it in his hart to thrust a pin into the said
W illiam W alker”, his father’s adversary. Samuel Smith married at Eastham 3
Jan uary 1664-5 M ary H opkins, daughter o f Giles Hopkins and Catherine
W helden and granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins. Their marriage was reported
in the Boston paper. Samuel, a trader, shipped whale oil to Boston and was also
engaged in the mackerel fishery. He ran the inn at Billingsgate in Wellsfleet. A t
the first public meeting at Monomoyick (Chatham) of which there is a record,
Samuel was chosen coroner and commissioner. In 1680 he bought 1,000 acres
from the Indian John Sipson and sold the land to Eastham four years later. He
and M ary had the following children:
a son who was born and died in M arch of 1667;
• Samuel, born 26 M ay 1668, who married Barbara, daughter of Barnabas
Lathrop, an assistant governor;

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M ary, born 3 June 1669, married Daniel Hamilton o f Chatham in 1693

and moved to Chatham and lived on land inherited from her father (this couple
were the grandparents o f Patience Hamilton, who married Archelaus Smith, Jr. of
Barrington, N.S.;
Joseph, 1671-92;
John, 1673 (see below);
Grace, 1676-1691;
Rebecca, born 10 December 1678, died young.
Samuel Sm ith, Sr. died 22 M arch 1696-7 without a will at fifty-four years of
age. The Court made his widow administrator and appointed John Doane, Joseph
Collins and W illiam W alker as appraisers. Some o f the items in the inventory
were: home lot, house, bam, meadows, more than 50 head o f cattle, more than 60
sheep, several horses, wheat, rye, meats, a seine, whaling ships and craft belong­
ing to them, a canoe, a quarter share o f a sloop. H is estate was worth £1,275, a
large amount in those days. H is daughter M ary and son John each got h alf o f two
forms at Monomoy. Joseph, Grace and Deborah are not mentioned in the will.
We shall trace the descendants o f Samuel and then come back to Daniel, his
brother.
Sm ith, John3, 1673-1718 (#160 a&h) (Samuel2 Ralph1) was bom at Eastham
26 M ay 1673 to Samuel Smith and M ary Hopkins. On 14 M ay 1694 he married
an Eastham girl, Bethia Snow, daughter of Stephen Snow and Susanna Deane.
About 1700 John Smith moved his family to Chatham to take up a farm inher­
ited from his father. He “became one of the substantial citizens of the place” and
“was a large owner in the Great Beach.” (Cape Cod Library, 36: 24) He held
several offices in the town, including selectman for one year. He died in middle
age, his w ill being administered 25 February 1717-8. The probate files show six
sons (one son having died in infancy) and three daughters. The court appointed
guardians for the minor children. The widow Bethia did not marry till some time
in 1734 and then to Josias Cooke, whereupon they moved to Eastham. The chil­
dren o f John and Bethia were: James, 13 February 1694-5, dy; Samuel, 25 M ay
1696, married M ercy Higgins; Deane, 1698, married Esther Ryder ofYarmouth;
Mercy, 1700, married Nathan Kenney o f Chatham - parents of Herman and

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Nathan Kenney, of M iriam Kenney, who married Samuel Hamilton, all Barrington
grantees; Mary, 1702, married Obadiah Chase; John, 1703, married (1) Eliza­
beth Brown, daughter o f George Brown and M artha Cooke, and (2) Mrs Lydia
(Ebenezer) Snow; Stephen, 1706 (see below); Bethiah, 1708, married Elisha Young;
David, 1711 (no further record); and Seth, 1713, married (1) E lizab eth_____
and (2) M ary (Godfrey) Nickerson, widow of Caleb.
Smith, Stephen4, 1 , 1706-66 (#80a&h) (John3 Samuel2Ralph1), born in 1706,
married Hannah Collins, daughter o f John Collins and Hannah Doane, about
1727. She died after the birth o f her only child, Stephen. Stephen Smith Sr.
married Bathsheba, daughter o f George Brown and M artha Cooke, on 9 April
1729. A farmer and a deacon o f the Congregationalist Church in Chatham,
Stephen Smith was, according to Deyo’s history, “an important factor in church
and state.” (p. 627) He and Bathsheba Brown had five sons, one of whom was
Archelaus, and four daughters. He died o f smallpox 13 January 1766. Three days
later his second wife, Bathsheba Brown, died of the same disease at the age o f
fifty-seven. The epidemic also carried off two of their daughters. Stephen Jr. em i­
grated to Liverpool, his half-brother Archelaus moved to Barrington, while the
three others, George, Obed and Elijah, remained on their farms in Chatham.
Smith, Stephen5, II, 1725-1807 (#40a&h) (Stephen4John3Samel7Ralph1), the
only child of Deacon Stephen4 Sm ith and H annah Collins, was baptized in
Chatham 18 December 1725. There about 1746 he married M ehitable Eldredge,
who had been born in 1729 to Nathaniel Eldredge and Sarah Conant (W . C .
Smith, History o f Chatham , p. 237). They moved to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, in
1760 to take up a land grant. W ith them came eleven-year-old Stephen, who
figures in the Chatham, Cape Cod, Records as follows: “Stephen Smith, the son
of Stephen Smith Jr and Mahatable Smith his wife, was born M ay 23 rd N.S.
[new system] 1749.” Father Stephen’s uncle Joseph Collins and his aunt Anna
Collins Crowell probably went in the same ship. More information on this family
in Chapter Ten.
Now we go back to Daniel, son of Ralph Smyth, immigrant:

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Sm ith, Daniel2, 1647-ca 1719 (#234L) (Ralph1), son o f Ralph Smyth and
brother o f Samuel, was baptized 2 March 1647 at Hingham, Massachusetts. He
married M ary Young, daughter o f John Young and Abigail Howland, on 3 M ay
1676 at Eastham. According to the Eastham Records, their children were Dan­
iel, bom 8 January 1678; Content, bom 8 June 1680; Abigail. 30 A pril 1683;
Jam es,__April 1685; N athaniel,__ October 1687; Mary, 8 January 1692-3. The
will o f Daniel Smith was entered on probate 20 January 1720: it makes bequests
to the widow M ary and to all the children but M ary, who may have died before
the w ill was drawn in M ay o f 1716.
Sm ith, A bigail3, M rs Jerem iah3 Smith, m 1711 (#117L) (Daniel2 Ralph1) was
married at Eastham on 9 August 1711 to Jeremiah Smith II, son o f Jeremiah
Smith I and Hannah Atwood and grandson o f John, the progenitor o f the other
Smith family.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 3:1697-1699; Cape Cod
Library No. 36; Chatham Records; Eastham Records; Freeman History o f Cape
Cod, 2: 372; Charles H. Pope, The Pioneers o f Massachusetts, p. 423; Charles Paul
Smith, Ralph Smith, ca. 1610-1685 o f H ingham and Eastham; Dr. D wight Smith,
Ralph Smyth o f Hingham an d Eastham, Mass., a n d His D escendants; Robert L.
Smith, “Smith”, PANS, vol. 28, no. 69; Thomas Sm yth, “The Family o f Ralph
Smyth, o f Hingham, M ass.”, NEHGR, 26:190-197)
Snow, Nicholas1,1600-76 (#476L, 644a&h, 752h, 924L) was sketched in chapter
two at Plymouth Town. Nicholas Snow, his wife, Constance Hopkins, and three
of their children, M ark, Joseph and Stephen, are our ancestors.
Snow, M ark2, 1628-94 (#376h, 462L) (Nicholas1) bom at Plymouth 9 M ay
1628, “was a man o f large influence and usefulness”, wrote Frederick Freeman (2:
373). In August of 1643 he was listed in Plymouth as liable to bear arms and the
next year moved with his father and mother to Eastham. The year 1655 was eventful
for him: he was proposed for the status o f freeman, was named constable ofEastham,
and on 18 January married Anne Cook, daughter o f Josiah Cook. T hey had a
child, Anna, on 7 July 1656 but his joy turned to g rief when his young wife died
eighteen days later. In June o f the next year M ark Snow was sworn in as a freeman,
served as juror and grand juror and was named a surveyor o f highways. H e was

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captain of the militia company in 1659. In January of 1660 he married Jane Prence,
daughter of Governor Thomas Prence. They had eight children: Mary, Nicholas,
Elizabeth, Thomas, Sarah, Prence, Elizabeth and Hannah. From 1663 he was
town clerk for eighteen years, from 1667 he was a selectman for eighteen years
and from 1675 he was a deputy to the Colony Court for six years. In 1676-7 he
was a juror in two stirring trials, the first o f Mary, M rs Thomas Ingham, of Scituate,
accused o f using witchcraft to inflict M ehitable Woodworth with violent fits and
great pains, and found not guilty, and the second, of three Indians accused of
m urderingjohn Knowles, John Tisdall and Samuel Atkins, two being found “sus­
picious” and the other innocent and all sent out of the country. The w ill of M ark
Snow was proved 16 January 1694-5, his wife being executor. He gave his entire
personal estate to her and divided his real estate among their three sons but Prence
was to get the homestead upon her remarriage or death. The w ill does not men­
tion his daughters, probably because they had received their dowries.
Snow, A nna3, M rs Eldad2Atwood, 1656-1707 (#231L) (Mark-Nicholas1) was
born at Eastham 7 July 1656 to M ark Snow and Anne Cooke. Anna Snow mar­
ried Eldad Atwood, son o f Stephen Atwood and A bigail Dunham, on 14 Febru­
ary 1683-4.They had four daughters and four sons. T heir daughter Anna Atwood
married W illiam Nickerson. Anna died at Eastham about 1707.
(References: Austin, M ayflow er Families: Stephen Hopkins\ pp. 14-15, 38-39;
Freeman, H istory o f Cape Cod, 2: 373; James W . Hawes, Cape Cod Library # 34;
H ills, 11:50-51; Josiah Paine, “Thomas Paine o f Eastham and Posterity,” NEHGR,
22:60-64)
Snow, Prence, Sr.3, 1674-1742 (#188h) (M ark2Nicholas1) was born at Eastham
22 M ay 1674 to M ark Snow and Jane Prence. About 1698 Premce Snow, Sr.
married H annah Storrs, a daughter o f Samuel Storrs and M ary Huckins. He
served as a selectman thirteen years in Eastham and then moved to Harwich.
T hey had eight children: Jabez, born 11 November 1699; Hannah, 29 November
1701; Samuel, 16 December 1703; Mercy, 18 November 1705; Prence, 26 Octo­
ber 1707; Jonathan and David, 22 December 1709; and Mary, 10 September
1712. The oldest five children were baptized in the Brewster church, just after
their mother had become a member. Their father was admitted to the church 17

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July 1720 and he was chosen to attend to its rebuilding. Prence Snow, Sr. took part
in buying land for Harwich from the Indians. He held the rank o f ensign. He died
at Harwich 7 Ju ly 1742 and was buried in the Old Cemetery. His w ill, proved
thirteen days later, left to his widow all the lands in Mansfield, CT, that her father
had given her. He gave land to his daughter M ary and made bequests to sons and
grandsons.
Snow, Prence, Jr.4, 1707-40 (#94h) (Prence3M ark2 Nicholas1)* son o f Prence
Snow, Sr. and Hannah Storrs, was born 26 October 1707 at Harwich, Cape Cod.
An intention o f Prence Snow, Jr. and Jane Collins to marry was dated 10 Septem­
ber 1737. She was a daughter o f John Collins and Hannah D oane.They had two
children, Prince, born 19 November 1738, married Sarah Atwood and moved to
Liverpool, NS; and Mary, born 25 September 1740. Prence Snow, Jr. was made a
member o f the church on 5 August 1739. A sergeant and a mariner, he died 24
M ay 1740 at the age o f 32 and was buried in the Old Cemetery at Brewster. On
13 September the court awarded administration o f his estate to Jane, his widow,
and his brother, Jabez. The following May, Jane attested to the inventory and
received allowance for herself and her two small children.
Snow, M ary5, M rs Benj.4Parker, 1740- (#47h) (Prence4"3M ark3Nicholas') was
born 25 September 1740, four months after her father had died so young. She
received bequests by the 1740 w ill o f her grandfather Prence Snow, Sr. and by the
w ill of 1751 of her grandmother Hannah (Storrs) Snow. She married Benjamin
Parker, son o f Jacob Parker and Rebecca Tobey, 7 September 1757.T h ey moved to
Liverpool, NS. about 1760. T hey had ten chldren. Hannah Parker, their third
child, who married Paul Collins is, hypothetically, a grandmother o f M ary Emma
Smith and a great grandmother o f Amasa Homer Fiske (see chapter twelve).
(References: Annals o f L iverpool an d Queens County, pp. 732-733; Austin,
M ayflower Families: Hopkins, 42-43,172-173; Liverpool Vital Records, NEHGR,
126:97; M cLean, “Robert Parker of Barnstable, M ass.”, N EH G R, 1958-1960, p.
182; T. B. Smith Collection o f Family Histories, Queens County Museum)
Snow, Joseph2, ca 1624-1723 (#238L) (Nicholas1), son of Nicholas Snow and
Constance Hopkins, was born about 1634, probably in Plymouth. Mary, M rs Joseph
Snow (maiden name unknown) had nine children: Joseph, born 24 November

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1671; Benjamin, 9 June 1673; M ary, 17 October 1674, dead in 1717; Sarah, 30
April 1677; Ruth, 14 October 1679; Stepen, 24 February 1681; Lydia. 20 July
1684; Rebecca, 4 December 1688, unmarried in 1717; James, 31 M arch 1689;
Jane, 27 M arch 1692; Josiah, 27 M arch 1694. The mother o f these children was
alive when her husband made his w ill on 23 November 1717. Joseph Snow died 3
January 1722-3 in his late eighties. To his wife he left a third o f the homestead as
well as meadows, uplands, a wood lot, a cow and six sheep. H alf o f the remaining
personal property he divided among four daughters, Sarah Young, Lydia Lincoln,
Ruth Brown and Rebecca Snow and a granddaughter, Rebecca Hamilton. The
other h alf went to sons and grandsons. His land he gave to his sons and certain
grandsons.
Snow, Lydia3, M rs Jam es Lincoln, 1685-1738 (#119L) (Joseph 2 Nicholas1)
was born in Eastham, where on 10 February 1714 she married James Linkhomew.
The Probate Records contain no trace o f him. M rs. Alden thinks he must have
moved from there. The children recorded in the Old Eastham Records (copied
by Joseph Paine o f Harwich) are: James Linkhornew, born 25 M ay 1716 and
Lydia Linkhornew, born 4 July 1718. Lydia Snow Linkhomew died at Eastham
18 M arch 1738 at the age of fifty-three.
Snow, Stephen2, ca. 1636-1705 (#322a&h) (Nicholas1), the third son o f Nicholas
Snow and Constance Hopkins, was born about 1636, probably in Plymouth. He
married on 13 December 1663 Susanna Deane Rogers, daughter o f Stephen Deane
and Elizabeth Ring and widow o f Joseph Rogers, whose father, Lieut. Joseph had
been a passenger in the M ayflower. H er young husband “died from a fall in wres­
tling w ith his friend Richard Hawes, Christmas day, 1660” Libby, NEHGR,
47:241). Stephen and Susanna had at least six children: Bathshua, born 25 July
1664; Hannah, 2 January 1666;M icajah,22 December 1669; Bethia. 1 July 1672;
Mehitable and Ebenezer. Susanna died before 1701, for Stephen married M ary
Bigford on 9 A pril of that year. Stephen Snow died 17 December 1705 and his
w ill was proved shortly after on 10 January 1705-6. His wife M ary was to have the
use of the house and her two stepsons were to take care to maintain her out of the
profit o f his land “with what was hers before marriage.” M icajah and Ebenezer
were to have the lands.

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Snow, B ethia3, M rs John3Sm ith, 1672-1734 (#161a6ch) (Stephen2Nicholas1),

born in Eastham, married there on 14 M ay 1694 her second cousin John Smith,
son o f Samuel Smith and M ary Hopkins and grandson o f Ralph. Both Bethia
Snow and John Smith were descended from Stephen Hopkins, she through Giles
and he through Constance. Bethia gave birth to seven boys and three girls. The
eldest, James, died in infancy. After seventeen years o f widowhood she died in
1734.
(References: Alden, N EH G R, vols. 47, 48, 49, 51; Eastham Records; Free­
man, 2: 373; Hawes, Cape Cod Library No. 34; H ills, 1:126-127 6c 2: 24,53)
Soole, S arah 1, M rs Sam uel1H inckley, 1600-56 (#715a) was baptized at
Hawkhurst, Kent, on 8 June 1600, the firstborn o f Thomas Soole and M ary
Iddenden, who had been married there 16 October 1598. Sarah Soole married
Samuel Hinckley in that parish church 7 M ay 1617 and they made their home at
Tenterden, Kent, where at St. M ildred’s Church eight o f their children were
baptized and four were buried. Sarah sailed in the Hercules with her husband and
four children, Thomas, Susannah, Sarah and Mary, in the spring o f 1635 and
settled at Scituate, where she was admitted to the church on 30 August. In Scituate
and Barnstable she bore eight more children, five o f whom died young. Sarah died
18 August 1656 at Barnstable.
(Reference: Elizabeth French, “Genealogical Research in England”, NEHGR,
66:186-187)
Storrs, Sam uel1, bom 1640 (#378h) was baptized at Sutton cum Lownde, Not­
tinghamshire, 7 December 1640, the son o f Thomas and M ary Storrs. Samuel
Storrs settled in Barnstable in 1663 and on 6 December 1666 he married M ary, a
daughter ofThom as Huckins and M ary W ells. Samuel and M ary had seven chil­
dren over sixteen years: M ary, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Samuel, Lydia and
M ehitable. H is wife died 24 September 1683, a few days after the birth of
M ehitable, who died in infancy. Samuel Storrs was admitted to the Barnstable
church in 1685 and on 14 December o f that year he married Esther Agard, prob­
ably the widow o f John Agard o f Boston, by whom she had had two children.
Samuel and Esther had three children, in 1686,1688 and 1692, Thomas, Esther
and Cordial. They moved about 1698 to Mansfield, CT, where the two Samuels,

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father and son, were among the proprietors and received many allotments of land.
Samuel Storrs, Sr. was active in the development o f the community and some of
the early town meetings were held at his house. He died at Mansfield 30 April
1719 at the age o f seventy-eight. His will of 22 M ay 1717, recorded at Mansfield
7 July 1719, gave his five surviving daughters equal shares of 160 acres o f land..
Storrs, H annah3, M rs Prence3Snow, 1672-1751 (189h) (Samuel1), daughter of
Samuel Storrs and M ary Huckins, was born at Barnstable 28 March 1672. Hannah
Storrs married Prence Snow, Sr. about 1698 and they had five sons and three
daughters, The five eldest were baptized in the Brewster church, where she was
admitted in the spring of 1708-9. Her husbands w ill o f 13 January 1740-1, proved
20 July 1742, returned to her “all the lands her father gave her in Mansfield, Con­
necticut.” An agreement for the division of the land was not signed until 23 March
1746-7 (NEHGR, 51: 76). Hannah died in the latter part of 1751, probably at
Harwich. Her will, proved 19 December, made bequests to her two surviving sons,
Jonathan and David, to her daughter M ary Burge, and to specified children o f two
dead sons, that is, of Samuel and Prence, Jr.
(References: John D. Austin yM ayflow er Families: Hopkins, pp. 42-43; “Notes”,
N EHGR, 51: 76; Charles Storrs, The Storrs Family, pp. 75-79)
Tarte,Thom as1Ju ro r 1640 (#918L) first appears in the records o f Scifuate as a
juror in 1640 and the next year he and his wife joined the church. Thomas Tarte
was listed in 1643 as able to bear arms at Scituate in New Plymouth (NEHGR,
4: 257). On 20 Ju ly 1649 Samuel Howse o f Scituate, shipwright, constituted
Thomas Tarte “his true and lawful attorney” to ask o f the executor o f "the last will
and testament o f Thomas House, late o f London, watchmaker, all such legacies
as are due to the children” o f Samuel Howse “by virtue o f the said last w ill.”
(NEHGR, 66:357) Thomas Tarte s wife Elizabeth and daughter Elizabeth likely
came from England with him. Evidently they must have had a son Thomas, for
Pope seems to have confused father and son by attributing to Thomas Sr. nine
children born between 1661 and ca. 1675.
Tarte, Elizabeth2, M rs Thom as1 W illiam s, died c l6 9 2 (#459L) (Thomas1)
married Thomas W illiam s, o f Boston, 3 M ay 1641; her marriage portion was to
be paid out ofgoods in the hands ofW illiam Brackenburg. Elizabeth Tarte W illiam s

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was the mother o f five daughters and a son. She probably died in 1692, according
to a genealogical note by “Cape Codder” in the B o s to n T r a n s c r ip t of 9 November
1927, and likely before her husband, who died in 1696, for she is not mentioned in
his will.
(References: Charles Henry Pope, T h e P io n e e r s o f M a ssa ch u setts, p. 447; B o sto n
T ra n scrip t, 9 November 1927, Note 6203)
Taylor, Richard1, died 1673 (#354a, 358a, 598) was born in England but when
and where are not known. The first mention o f him in New England records was
in a list of those from sixteen to sixty years of age who were liable to bear arms in
Yarmouth in August of 1643. Because there were two men o f his name there, his
trade of tailor was specified with his name and the other was called “Richard of
the Rock”. The H is t o r y o f B a r n s ta b le C o u n ty states that Gabriel W helden ob­
jected to his daughter Ruth W helden marrying Richard but after the Court took
cognizance he gave his consent 27 October 1646. Plymouth Colony Records (2:
110) for that date: “In the case betweene Gabrieli W helding and Richard Taylor,
about his daughter Ruth, the said Gabrieli pmiseth his free assent and consent to
theire marriage.”Their first two children, Ruth, bom 29 Ju ly 1647, and Ann, bom
2 December 1648, died in or shortly after their first year o f life. Richard and Ruth
had six more daughters and two sons, all o f whom lived adult lives. M ary, M artha
and Elizabeth are our ancestors. The rest with their approximate year o f birth
were: John (Richard), 1652, Hannah, 1658, Ann, 1659, Joseph, 1660, and Sarah.
Richard Taylor was a surveyor o f highways in 1648 and a grand juror three
years later. In 1656 he was constable o f Yarmouth and the next year he took the
oath o f fidelity and served as one o f the surveyors o f highways. In 1659 he was a
member o f the ju ry that inquired into the death o f M ary Chase. Richard Taylor
was one o f the three sureties for the town in the suit o f Nickerson vs. Yarmouth. In
1664 he and Edmond Hawes acted as commissioners o f excise and four years later
he was again elected constable. On 8 M arch 1670-1 he was fined ten shillings
because he sat tippling w ith John Sprague and others, “and by his psence abeting
them in their evill practices,” in the house o f James Cole o f Plymouth in early

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December “near unto or on the evening before the Sabbath day.” Indeed, Sprague
was gaming and brought a horse into the parlour. (Plymouth Colony Records,
5:53). Two years later Yarmouth granted Richard Taylor two small islands o f creek
thatch.
His wife Ruth drowned very early in December o f 1673 in the wreck o f a boat
going from Yarmouth to Plymouth or Duxbury. Richard died on the 13th of that
month, probably from old age combined with shock and grief. As the elder, his
son John inherited the house and two-thirds o f the land; Joseph got the other
third; the rest of the estate was divided between him and his sisters. The inven­
tory, which amounted to about £200 w ith debts of £18, included houses, nine
acres o f meadow, three o f marsh, twelve o f upland, one horse, cattle, sheep, hogs,
corn, wheat, flax, 21 yards of cloth, lumber, household articles, 38 barrels o f tar
due to him, and money John Blake o f Boston owed him.
Taylor, M ary2, M rs A bishai2M archant, 1649-1718 (#299) (Richard1) was born
in Yarmouth in 1649 to Richard Taylor the tailor and Ruth W helden. M ary
Taylor married Abishai Marchant, son o f John, in their home town in 1673. She
had five children. The family moved about 1687 to Edgartown, M arthas Vine­
yard, where she died, a widow, 1 February 1717-8. Through their daughter Eliza­
beth they are ancestors o f M atilda Coveil, the mother o f Alfred and Amasa Fisk.
Taylor, M artha2, M rs Joseph? B earse,m l650-1728 (#177a) (Richard1) was bom
at Yarmouth 18 December 1650. M arth a Taylor married Joseph2 Bearse of
Barnstable 3 December 1676 and they had eight children. A widow for thirty-
two years, M artha died 27 January 1727-8.T heir son Benjamin, 1682-1748, mar­
ried his first cousin Sarah Cobb and they became the grandparents o f Captain
Joseph Barss, a grandfather o f A bigail Sm ith, M rs. Amasa Fisk.
Taylor, Elizabeth2,M rs Samuel2Cobb, cl655-1721 (#179a) (Richard1) was bom
in Yarmouth about 1655. Elizabeth Taylor married Samuel Cobb of Barnstable
on 20 December 1680. T hey had ten children. She died 4 M ay 1721 at the age of
sixty-six. Her daughter Sarah, 1681-1742, married her first cousin Benjamin Bearse.
(References: Hawes, Cape Cod Library No. 48; Deyos history; Plymouth Colony
Records; Savage, 1: 413-414 and 4: 263; Yarmouth Vital Records)

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Tobey, Thom as1, died c l7 1 4 (#744h): Thomas Tobey was an early settler of
Sandwich, first mentioned in the town records, according to Freeman’s history:
“Thomas Tobie Sr. subscribed 7s. for the meeting house on the 6 mo., 7. 1644”.
He lost a lawsuit in 1653 against a neighbour for “retaining” a yearling calf. The
next year he paid a tax o f 2s. 6d. and in 1655 subscribed 5 s. toward the building
o f a meeting house. Two years later he contributed £1 toward the support o f a
minister and took the oath o f fidelity to Plymouth Colony. H e served his pioneer
community in m any ways, as constable, higway surveyor, pound keeper, juryman,
excise officer and auditor. H e acted on many committees that required energy and
judgm ent: to oversee the division o f stranded whales, to assess taxes, to establish a
boundary w ith Barnstable, to assign soldiers and furnish ammunition in King
Philip’s W ar, and to lay out land for the minister.. Thomas Tobey, I was granted
additional land o f some sixty acres. According to the town book, he married Martha
Knott 18 November 1650 and they had eight sons: Thomas, II, bom 8 December
1651 and John, Nathan, Ephraim, Jonathan, Samuel and Gershom, whose birth
order and dates are unknown. M artha having died, Thomas married after 1689
Hannah, the widow o f Ambrose Fish.
Thomas Tobey, I made a long and detailed will, which was dated 29 March
1709-10 and proved 9 A pril 1714 and which ratified gifts o f land already made to
his sons and disposed o f lands and buildings to them. Because Thomas, II and
Ephraim had died before him , he bequeathed to his grandson Thomas, III, “be­
sides what I have already given him one heifer of two years old and one shilling in
money” and to Sarah Toby “that Lott of Land on which her mother Hannah now
dwells”. To his own wife, Hannah, he gave the estate she brought to the marriage
plus a cow and all the “money which she shall have of mine in her hands at Tim e
of my Death.” To his three daughters, unnamed in the will, he gave five shillings
apiece. The widow Hannah by her w ill o f 3 March 1721 (probated the last of the
month) gave 20 s. to her son Seth Fish, to her son Samuel Tobey with his wife
Abiah and to her son Gershom Tobey with his wife M ehitable one-third each of
her estate o f £96 and the remaining third to her son Eliakim Tupper with his wife
Joannah.

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Tobey, Thomas2, 1651-77 (#372h) (Thomas1) was born 8 December 1651 at

Sandwich, Cape Cod, Plymouth Colony. H e married M ehitable Crow, a daugh­
ter o f John Crow and Mehitable M iller, o f Yarmouth. Thomas Tobey, II settled
with his wife in Yarmouth but he died there at the age o f twenty-five on 2 Febru­
ary 1676-7. T hey seem to have had only one child, Thomas, who alone o f this
fam ily received a legacy from his grandfather Crow in 1710.
Tobey,Thomas3, 1677-1757 (#186h) (Thomas2-1) was bom in Yarmouth 2 Feb­
ruary 1676-7 to Thomas Tobey, II and M ehitable Crow. His first wife is said to
have b een --------Crow, a daughter o f George. The dates o f her death and o f his
marriage to Rebecca Knowles (?) are unknown. They lived in Yarmouth, in the
part that is now the town o f Dennis. Thomas Tobey, III had five children, whose
dates and order o f birth are not fully known: Thomas, born about 1704; Mehitable;
Rebecca, about 1707; Desire; and Seth, born about 1716.
Thomas Tobey s w ill o f 22 October 1751, proved 15 M arch 1757, provides for
his wife and indicates the legal status o f a wife then with regard to the family
property: “Liberty to live in the East room o f my dwelling”, “liberty to pass and
repass to fetch water out of my well and to use the cellar to put in beer and soap
& c during her widowhood”, enough properly cut firewood at her door, 60 pounds
o f meat (beef and pork) and 8 bushels o f corn and 4 bushels o f rye yearly, one cow
to be kept for her, an iron pot and skillet, “a Linnen Spining wheel & one third
part of the beading [bedding] that hath been made by her since we married to­
gether” - “all the abovesaid articles... as her Dowry” and in addition “all the move-
able Estate that she brought with her when we came togeather”.
The father bequeathed to his daughters Mehitable Taylor, Rebecca Parker and
Desire Sears 20 shillings each and to each o f the three sons o f his son Thomas a
small Bible. He gave his eldest son, Thomas, the west end o f the house, h alf the
other buildings, five adjoining acres, a third o f the meadows, h alf the upland and
woodland and half the movable estate after the widows death. To Seth he left the
east end o f the house, h alf the other buildings, half the upland and woodland,
two-thirds o f the meadows, a feather bed and bedding and, after the mothers
death, half the movable estate.

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Tobey, Rebecca4, M rs Jacob3Parker, cl707-86 (#93h) (Thomas3'2'1) was born

in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, about 1707 to Thomas Tobey and his second wife Rebecca
Knowles(?). Rebecca Tobey married Jacob Parker, son o f Robert Parker and Pa­
tience Cobb, about 1725 in Yarmouth. In W est Yarmouth she gave birth to five
sons and three daughters in the period 1726-1747. She was a beneficiary in her
father’s w ill o f 1751 and in her husband’s w ill o f 1771. She died “in her 80th year”
7 March 1786, ten years after her husband’s death, and was laid beside him in the
West Yarmouth Cemetery.
(References: M cLean, “Robert Parker o f Barnstable, M ass.”,N EH G R 113:111;
Tobey and Pope, Tobey Genealogy , 1-38; Torrey, N ew E ngland M arriages P rior to
1700)
W helden, Gabriel1, d 1654 (#592,710a, 718a, 11 98,1286a, 1358a, 1390a) was
born in England, probably near Arnold in Nottinghamshire. His children were
born in England, probably by his first wife. W hen and where he stepped ashore in
the New W orld is not known. In September of 1638 the Plymouth Court licensed
him to build a house and cut hay to winter his cattle at Sandwich. Apparently he
arrived in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony, about 1639 with a grown-up family. On
17 June 1641 he won a suit against W illiam Lumpkin and Hugh Tilly, who had to
pay him 15 shillings for his third part o f a skiff and for damages for his loss of
getting fish to fertilize his com. In 1642 and 1647 he was sworn in as surveyor o f
highways. W e have already seen that when Gabriel W helden refused to consent to
the marriage o f his daughter Ruth W helden, her suitor, Richard Taylor, success­
fully took the matter to the General Court. In 1648 Gabriel sold land in Yar­
mouth to Edward Sturgis and, according to Pope, moved to Lynn and then later
to M alden, where he died between the date o f his w ill, 11 February 1653-4 and its
probate 4 April 1654. Before that, on 21 October 1653 he and John, his youngest
son, had sold lands in Nottinghamshire to W illiam Crofts, o f Lynn, Massachu­
setts. Gabriel gave ten shillings to the church and all the rest o f the estate to his
second wife, Margaret.
We know o f five children o f Gabriel and his unknown first wife: Ralph, Henry,
John, Catharine and Ruth, die last three o f whom appear below as our ancestors.

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W h eld en jo h n 2, cl632-1711 (#296) (Gabriel1) was born about 1632, probably

in England. About 1653 he married M ary Folland, daughter ofThomas Folland.
Two years later he and his brother Henry sued their fathers estate for their share
in the inheritance. John and M ary had four children, Joseph, Elizabeth, Jonathan
and Thomas, but there is no record o f their birth or baptism. John W helden was
exempted from training in 1677 because he had three sons fitted wih arms. He
died 20 November 1711 (Yarmouth Vital Records, 1:132). There is no probate
record.
W helden,Thom as3, c l6 6 0 - (#148) (John2Gabriel1) was a son o f John and M ary
W helden. “Thomas W heilding and Elezabeth M archant both o f Yarmouth were
joined in marriage on the 21st day o f December 1698 by M r. John Cotton M inis­
ter o f Yarmouth.” (Yarmouth V R, 1: 134) Thom as W helden and Elizabeth
Marchant had children on these dates, as listed in V R, 1: 4, were: [wom juell, _
M ay 1699; Mercy, 9 M ay 1701;Thomas, 15 December 1702; Elisha, 14 Novem­
ber 1707 [probably 1704 or 1705];John,21 July 1707; Samuel, 8 M ay 1708; Thank­
ful, __June 1715; Gershom, 9 November 1717; Desire, 1 October 1723 (VR,
1:5).
W helden, E lisha4, c l7 0 4 - (#74) (T hom as1John2 G abriel1) married Lydia
Nickerson, daughter o f W illiam Nickerson and Lydia M aker, on 15 A pril 1731 at
Harwich, Cape Cod. The children o f Elisha W helden and Lydia were: Mary,
born 8 April 1732; Lydia, 14 Ju ly 1736; Thankful, 4 November 1738; Priscilla, 4
April 1741; Elisha, 9 A pril 1743; Rachel, 28 June 1745; Elizabeth, 24 November
1748 (VR, 1:67).
W helden, Thankful5, M rs Timothy4Covell, 1738- (#37) (Elisha4Thomas3John2
Gabriel1), born in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, to Elisha W helden and Lydia Nickerson
4 November 1738, entered intentions to m arry Timothy4 Coveil, o f Edgartown,
26 February 1757 (V R 1:193). The record o f the births in Yarmouth o f their
children is: Jonathan Covell, 5 November 1760, Tim othy Coveil, 6 M arch 1765
and Thankful Covell, 24 August 1767. Thankful W helden moved with her hus­
band and children to Roseway, Nova Scotia, about the beginning of the American
W ar of Independence. We shall take up their story in Chapter Nine.

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 PILGRIM CAPE COD

W helden, Catherine2, M rs Giles3 Hopkins d aft 1690 (#643a, 679a, 695a)

(Gabriel1), was born in England to Gabriel W helden and his unknown first wife.
Catherine W helden married Giles Hopkins, son of Stephen.
W helden, R uth2, M rs R ichard1Taylor, c l6 2 6 - (#355a-h, 359a-h, 599a-h)
(Gabriel1), Catherine’s sister, married RichardTaylor the tailor of Yarmouth. Ruth
W helden and Richard became grandparents of Benjamin Bearse, who married
Sarah Cobb.
(References: Freeman 2 :2 0 2 ,2 1 0 ; Hawes, Cape Cod Library No. 43; Maclean
W . M cLean, “John and M ary (Folland) W helden ofYarmouth, M ass.”, TAG, 48:
4-11; NEHGR 16: 75; Pope, Pioneers o f Masachusetts, 489; Savage 4; 504; Yar­
mouth Vital Records)
W illard , George1, bom 1614 (#742a) A tablet in the crypt o f Canterbury Ca­
thedral was placed in 1902 to the memory of the elder o f two brothers who founded
the American W illard family, M ajor Simon W illard, 1604-1676, “a Kentish sol­
dier and an early pioneer” who was commander-in-chief of the British forces in
King Philip’s W ar and distinguished him self also as a legislator and magistrate. If
the tablet is correct, he and his younger brother, George, had at least two promi­
nent ancestors, one the Provost o f Canterbury in 1218 and the other, Baron of
Cinque Ports in 1377. Simon and George were bom in Horsmonden in Kent and
were baptized there nine years apart, George on 4 December 1614. W hether he
came to New England w ith his brother in 1634 or later is not known but he was
certainly in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, in February of 1638-9, when he took the
oath o f fidelity. The minister o f the Scituate church, Rev. Charles Chauncy, prac­
tised the total immersion o f infants at baptism. This belief divided the commu­
nity. George W illard was called before the court for saying that only fools and
knaves paid the tax, that the churches o f Plymouth and Bay Colonies were wrong
in not baptizing their children, and that the Assistants on assuming their function
did not take the oath o f supremacy. H e was released on bond and the charges were
not pursued. H e joined a newly formed second church under the more orthodox
Rev. W illiam W etherell and he had Deborah and Daniel baptized on 14 Septem­
ber 1645 and Joshua, probably newborn, on 2 November. There is no further men­
tion of him nor any of his still unidentified wife in Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs.

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George W illard moved to the tolerant colony o f M aryland, where he received a

sizeable grant called “W illard’s Purchase,” situated in what is now the town o f
Nottingham, and where he sold “one Black cow with a red calfe by her side”. He
and his wife had at least four children, two o f whom, Deborah and Daniel, moved
to Yarmouth, Cape Cod.
W illard , Deborah2, M rs Paul2 Sears, 1645-1721 (#371a) (George1), whose
mother was George W illard’s now unknown wife, was baptized in Scituate, Ply­
mouth Colony, on 14 September 1645. She moved with her fam ily to Maryland.
As a young adult Deborah W illard moved with her brother Daniel to Yarmouth,
Pilgrim Colony, where about 1658 she married Paul Sears, son o f Richard Sears
and Dorothy Jones. Deborah and Paul had five daughters and five sons. W hen he
died on 20 February 1707-8 he left to his “loving wife Deborah” all movables,
livestock and household goods. After Deborah’s death in 1721 these were divided
among her surviving daughters.
(Reference: Joseph W illard et al., Willard Genealogyy pp. 4-14)
W illiam s, Thom as1, died 1696 (#458L) was a servant o f the widow o f Richard
Warren. On 6 Ju ly 1635 he had to answer in the Plymouth Court a charge of
making profane and blasphemous speeches. H e volunteered for the Pequot W ar
in 1637. H e married Elizabeth Tart, daughter o f Thomas and Elizabeth Tart, of
Scituate, on 30 November 1638. Thomas and Elizabeth W illiam s moved from
Scituate to Eastham about 1649, probably with Rev. John Lothrop. They had a
son, Nathaniel, and five daughters, Sarah, Mercy, Elizabeth, M ary and Hannah.
Sarah and M ercy married Nickersons, Elizabeth and M ary married into the
Hopkins family, and Hannah married a Mulford. The w ill of Thomas W illiam s,
probated 22 October 1696, made bequests to daughters and grandchildren. His
wife must have died before him, probably in 1692.
W illiam s, M ercy2, M rs W m 2Nickerson, cl644-1739 (#229L) (Thomas1),
daughter o f Thomas W illiam s and Elizabeth Tart, was born about 1644. M ercy
W illiam s married W illiam Nickerson II on 30 November 1668 at Eastham and
they had seven children. Having lived twenty years as a widow, she died on 7
April 1739 at about the age of ninety-five, leaving 157 descendants.

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(Reference: Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts^ p. 501; Boston T ranscript , 9 Nov.

1927, Note 6203)
Young, John1, died 1691 (#470L) was listed in 1643 among the men able to
bear arms at Plymouth and therefore was born before 1627 and possibly a few
years before that, for he must have been o f age (21) when in 1644 he was listed as
a creditor in the inventory o f John Jenney’s estate. On 13 December 1648 he
married Abigail Howland at Plymouth. The family moved in 1649 to Eastham,
where he was a constable five years later and took the oath o f fidelity two years
after that.. John and A bigail had eleven children over a period o f twenty-four
years, three o f whom died young. He made his w ill 19 January 1688-9 and died at
Eastham 28 January 1690-1. Probated 21 A pril 1691, the w ill left the whole of
his estate to Abigail during her widowhood, to his sons John, Joseph, Nathaniel,
David, Robert and Henry and to daughters M ary, Abigail and Lydia. The widow
Abigail died 7 April 1692 and her estate was divided twelve days later.
Young,M ary2, M rs Daniel2Smith, 1658- (#235L) (John1) was born at Eastham
28 A pril 1658 to John Young and Abigail Howland. There on 3 M arch 1676 she
married Daniel Smith, son of Ralph Smyth, and they had six Smith children,
Daniel Jr., Content, Abigail, James, Nathaniel and Mary. Through their daughter
Abigail, Daniel Smith and M ary Young are ancestors o f Ann Crowell.
(Reference: “Barnstable County Probate Records, M D , 15: 79-80; Pope, 518-
519; M rs. George W ilson Smith, “John Young o f Eastham and Some of His
Descendants”, N.Y. Genealogical & Biographical Record , 35: 257-258; Robert S.
Wakefield Sc Robert M . Sherman, “Henry Howland of Duxbury, His Children
and Grandchildren”, NGSC^vol. 75, no. 2 (June 1987).

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 IV
Salem and the Bay Colony

J;
CAPE ANN

ust as the Cape Ann experiment led to the founding o f Salem, so Salem
was the influential forerunner o f the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Rev. John
W hite, whose ideas were tested at Cape Ann, deserves a place in history as one o f
the founders of New England, although he would not have sought that recogni­
tion. The early New England historian, W illiam Hubbard, said o f him, “under
God one o f the C h ief founders o f the Massachusetts Colony” (p. 108).
The son of a tenant of a manor farm that was owned by New College, Oxford,
and the nephew of the college warden, John W hite became a graduate and a
fellow there. A t New College he and his friends studied Calvins Institutes and
came to have varying degrees o f Puritan leanings. He also borrowed from his
friends, from John B all a catechism and from Richard Bernard a system o f in ­
struction for parishioners and also Bernard’s friend, John Conant, later rector of
Lincoln College, Oxford, as a colleague in his New England ventures. In 1606 at
the age o f thirty-one John W h ite became the rector o f H oly Trinity Church and
St. Peters Church in Dorchester. Personable and energetic, ever loyal to the Church
of England, he was to give thirty-six years to his church and his adopted town,
encouraging strict worship and neighbourly service.
On 6 August 1613 Dorchester was destroyed by fire, 170 houses, two o f the
three churches, including H oly Trinity, and most o f the public buildings, shops
and warehouses. W ith disaster funds from King James 1 and invoking God’s help,
John W hite galvanized the burgesses, merchants and people into rebuilding. They

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came to see the needs o f the poor, the homeless and the unemployed, doubled
their weekly rates for poor relief, built three almshouses and a hospital, estab­
lished a library, and provided schooling for the poor.
The Dorset port o f Weymouth, eight miles south o f the important mercantile
centre o f Dorchester, was engaged not only in trade with Europe but also in the
Grand Banks fisheries. John W h ite became concerned about the needs o f its fish­
ermen who were away h alf the year from family and church. Both seamen and
landsmen were needed on the voyage, the one to fish and the other to d ry or salt
the fish for the voyage home o f 3,000 miles. W ith a patent from the Council of
New England, he formed the Dorchester Company o f fifty Dorset and six Devon
gentry, merchants, twenty clergymen, mostly Puritan, and a few Londoners to
establish a fishing and farming setdement at Cape Ann. For the joint-stock com­
pany, an English invention, the shareholders raised five pounds a year for five
years, a total o f £3000. Through Dorset circulated a paper, possibly by M r. W hite,
entitled “Reasons Shewinge the benefitt o f Plantinge in New England”.T he com­
pany aimed to form a village and a religious centre to serve the isolated families
Eving in inlets from Cape Cod to M aine, those whom the historian Charles Knowles
Bolton has called “the real founders o f New England”.
W est Country fishing ships going to that coast had the expense o f carrying the
fishermen back and forth and also were often too late with their catch to get a
good price in the English and Spanish markets. Permanent settlement, he rea­
soned, would enable early fishing and then farming, hunting, trapping and trading
with the Indians in the off season. In 1624 the company bought and sent out a
small ship o f fifty tons, the Fellowship , which arrived too late and so brought back
a catch that fetched a poor price in Spain. That spring the Zouch Pbenix brought
fifteen passengers for Cape Ann, among whom were John Tylly, who was to su­
perintend die fishing, and our ancestor Thomas Gardner, overseer o f the planta­
tion (both for at least a year, according to Hubbard) and his wife and sons, George,
Richard and Joseph. T he following year the company added a Flemish flyboat of
forty tons, which they converted and renamed the Pilgrim , but owing to poor
workmanship she had to be retrimmed and thus caused tardy fishing and much

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loss of money, added to which was the cost o f leaving thirty-two landsmen at the
Cape over the winter. The next year they sent an additional ship, the Amytie, but
one of the three ships, leaking, had to return and the project failed further because
the war with Spain ruined the market for fish.
W hen the enterprise at rocky Cape Ann was not prospering, John W hite must
have talked with his friend John Conant, the rector of Lymington in Somerset,
who was associated w ith the Dorchester Company as early as 1623. No doubt
Mr. W hite was aware o f the departure of Roger Conant for New England and
possibly o f his discomfort with the Plymouth brethren and his sojourn at Nantasket.
It appeared that Gardner andT ylly lacked the means or the skill to rein in some
o f the idle and disorderly employees. Looking for stronger leadership at Cape
Ann, John W hite asked the treasurer to write and invite Roger Conant to be­
come the company’s manager there. Late in 1625 Conant took charge o f the
settlement, which m ay have numbered up to 200 people, but Shipton, Conant s
biographer, estimates only 100 and then, after some had drifted away, but fifty by
the time he arrived. The Company brought Rev. John Lyford, whom the Pilgrims
had driven out o f Plymouth, to Cape Ann as pastor but was unable to get Oldham
to leave his trading post at Nantasket in order to oversee the fur trade at Cape
Ann. Conant was not able in the short time to bring order and industry to that
rocky place which he disliked. The investors, who had lost £20 apiece and owed
£3,000, sold the ships and dissolved the company. John W hite concluded that the
failure stemmed from mishaps and mismanagement but, more fundamentally,
from his unsound theory o f combining settlement with fishing. In The Planters
Plea (reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, p. 413) he explains a
double bind:

Two things w ithal may be intim ated by the way, that the very project itselfo f
p lan tin g by the help o f a fish in g voyage can never answ er the success that it
seems to promise. First that no sure fish in g place in the land nor any good
place f o r plan ting fo u n d fit f o r fishing, at least neere the Shoare. And, sec­
ondly, rarely any Fisher-m en w ill work at Land, neither are Husband-men
f i t fo r Fisher-men but w ith long use and experience.

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FOUNDING OF SALEM

True to its ethical motives the Company paid off its employees and undertook to
transport them home. M ost of them returned to England or went to Virginia or
M aine. About thirty men, women and children remained , including the families
of Roger Conant, Thomas Gardner, John Tylly, Peter Palfry, John Balch and also
John Woodbury, who was in charge of cattle. Conant wanted to stay and form a
colony in a more propitious place, which he found at Numkeag, sixteen miles to
the southwest. John W hite wrote that he would try to support the proposed colony
with a legal patent, more colonists, provisions, and goods for trade with the Indi­
ans. In the autumn of 1626 Conant led the remnant of the Cape Ann setdement
to Numkeag, which was to become “the germ from which the Massachusetts Bay
Colony sprung” (Frederick Odell Conant, p. 118). Rev. W illiam Hubbard (1621-
1704) who wrote A General History o f N ew England\ was in a position to tell us
how Numkeag became a permanent settlement, for he knew Roger Conant and
must have talked with the Old Planters. He and his three brothers, his step-mother
and two aunts came out in 1636 with his father Mr. W illiam Hubbard, husbandman,
a learned, affable, modest and eloquent man who was to become a very large land-
owner at Ipswich and a fellow deputy o f Roger Conant to the General Court:
W illiam the historian tells how it happened:

Wherefore that reverend person, M r White. .. did w rite to Mr. Conant, not
to desert his business; faithfully prom ising that i f him self w ith three others
(whom he knew to be honest and prudent men) viz. John Woodberry, John
Balch and P eter Palfreys, em ployed by the adventurers, w ou ld stay at
Numqueag and g iv e timely notice thereof he w ould provide a patent f o r them.
The three... f o r fe a r o f the Indians, and other inconveniences, resolved rather
to g o all to Virginia, especially because Mr. Lyford, their minister, upon a
lovin g invitation was thither bound. But Mr. Conant, as one inspired by
some superior instinct, though n ever so earnestly pressed to go along w ith
them, perem ptorily declared his m ind to w a it the providence o f God in that
place, w here now they were, though all the rest should forsake him; not doubt­

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ing, as he said\ but i f they departed he should soon have more company. The
other three, observing his confident resolution , at last concurred w ith him ,
and soon after sent back John Woodberryf o r E ngland to procure necessaries
f o r a plantation, (pp. 107-108)

The small group at Numkeag built plank cottages along the shore and ploughed
the fields abandoned by the Indians. They survived two hard New England win­
ters with scarce provisions and inadequate shelter. W ith his characteristic energy
John W hite formed a syndicate of nine merchants of Dorchester who had been at
the centre of the old company, along with Rev. John Conant, and they got two
small ships, Peeter, 40 tons, and Happy Entrance , 20 tons, loaded them with cattle
and fodder, cheese and beef, soap and oil, and, o f course, clothing, which arrived
in June with the returning John Woodbury.
That small group o f Dorchester merchants realized that they needed a larger,
richer and more influential organization to develop this new colony. T hey knew
from their own and previous English attempts that successful colonies require
sufficient capital and provisions, able and well motivated settlers, knowledge o f
the new environment, and good planning and management. To get a new patent
under the Council for New England and to attract the capital o f London mer­
chants, they recruited W est Country notables such as Sir Henry Rosewell, the
Lord Lieutenant o f Devon. Fortunately, the president o f the Council for New
England was the Earl o f W arwick, leader o f the Puritan party in Essex, and in
March o f 1628 he granted to the New England Company a charter to settle land
between the Charles and Merrimac Rivers, in which area Numkeag was situated.
Its joint-stock capital came from forty-one subscribers, six having belonged to
the D orchester C om pany (in clu d in g John W h ite and its treasurer, John
Humphrey), seven gentry, mostly lawyers o f the Inns o f the Court, and twenty-
five merchants, largely Londoners involved in other Puritan ventures. Reverend
John W h ite and the Westcountrymen became minority shareholders in the en­
terprise when the New England Company took over the assets o f the defunct
Dorchester Company. Predictably it did not reaffirm Roger Conant as governor at
Numkeag but appointed one o f its own members, the forceful John Endecott,

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who was a member o f John W hite’s church and was married to a cousin o f Mathew
Cradock, the wealthy London merchant who became the first governor o f the
Massachusetts Bay Company. The historian John Fiske describes John Endecott
as “honest and conscientious, but passionate, domineering, and very deficient in
tact.” (pp. 204-205) He sailed from Weymouth on 20 June 1628 w ith forty colo­
nists and a cargo o f supplies.
Shipton writes (p. 73), “There is not much question that without Conants
mediation and aid the Endecott expedition would have failed... for the winter of
1628-29 was a hard one and the newcomers so afflicted with sickness”. A t sea
some o f the A bigails passengers had come down with scurvy and infectious fever,
which, brought ashore, killed half o f Endecott s company and many o f Conants
group as well. At Endecott s request Plymouth Colony sent their physician, Samuel
Fuller, to minister to the sick and he became the settlement s paid physician for a
time. But being also a fervent Separatist deacon he took pains to proselyte the
Salem flock and especially Governor Endecott, the life o f whose wife Fuller had
tried to save. Endecott wrote, thanking Bradford, “I am by him satisfied touching
your judgments o f the outward forme o f G ods worshipe” (quoted by W illison, p.
270). Under his leadership the Salem church, whose pastor had been John Lyford,
a Church of England clergyman, moved toward Separatist tenets and practices.
Soon Lyford went to a church in Virginia and died a year or two later.
The patent o f the New England Company covered territory that had been
granted to a son o f an opponent o f the Earl o f W arwick, Sir Ferdinando Gorges,
who was much annoyed. Fearing trouble, the members, with W arw ick as one of
the petitioners, obtained from King Charles on 4 M arch 1629 a charter for the
Massachusetts Bay Company, which as successor to the New England Company,
came to be largely dominated by the Puritan interests o f East Anglia. W ith 110
investors and M athew Cradock as governor, the company decided to expand the
settlement. They prepared an expedition o f five rented ships, which arrived at
Numkeag at the end of June with artisans, craftsmen, labourers, indentured serv­
ants, a surgeon, cattle, oxen, horses, arms and provisions for the colony and mer­

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chandise for the Indian trade. The people o f Numkeag had planted large gardens
in preparation for those five shiploads o f 300 colonists. Then they all together
made boards and barrel staves, built houses, cleared and tilled the soil and planted
corn.
Historians have divided into two camps on the question o f the degree and
nature o f the tension between the newcomers and the O ld Planters and espe­
cially between Endecott and Conant. W illiam Hubbard, who knew Roger Conant,
commented on the subject:

...th e late controversy that h a d been agitated betw ix t the forem en tion ed
Dorchester planters, a n d their n ew agent Mr. Endicot and his company•, be­
in g by the prudent moderation o f Mr. Conant, a gen t before f o r the Dorchester
merchants, quietly com posedso that meum a n d tuum that d ivid e the world,
should not disturb the p ea ce o f go o d Christians, that cam e so f a r to p rovide a
place, w here to live together in Christian am ity an d concord, (pp. 109-110)

Pressed by Conant and W h ite and aware o f its need o f Conant and his experi­
enced group, which included those able men, Thomas Gardner, John Tylly, John
Woodbury, Peter Palfry and John Balch, the Company finally agreed to give the
Old Planters the rights and privileges o f £50 shareholders and i nstructed Endecott
to make those concessions. That was important because only the shareholders, or
freemen as they were called, could vote or hold office. Indeed, there were only
about forty-five freemen in Salem before 1640 and only they after 1637 could
hold civic or m ilitary office.
Governor Endecott called a day o f humiliation for the choice o f a pastor and a
teacher. Chosen as pastor and teacher were two Church o f England clergymen
who had been banned from preaching in England and who now inducted each
other by a mutual laying on o f hands. Endecott then invited the Pilgrims Brad­
ford, Brewster and Fuller to a second day o f humiliation. Two Essex members of
the Massachusetts Bay Company, the lawyer John Browne and his merchant
brother, Samuel, strongly objected to these proceedings, to the two ministers’
departing from the orders o f the Church o f England and to the banning o f the

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Book o f Common Prayer. Endecott promptly shipped them back to England as

“schismatiques” and as “men factious and evil conditioned” (quoted by J. R. Smith,
page 28). The next year with the coming o f Winthrop, a lull in the religious
quarrels at Numkeag led to the choice o f a new name, Salem, which W illison says
was from the Hebrew sholom , peace, and Thistlethwaite suggests was derived
from Jerusalem. W illiam Hubbard in his history (1680) refers us to Psalm 76,
verse 2: “In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.”
A famous episode at Salem took place when in November o f 1634 John
Endecott, assistant governor o f the Bay Colony, perhaps carried away by an idea
o f Roger W illiam s, w ith his sword cut the ‘popish’ red cross o f St. George out o f
the English flag. Shipton explains it as an impetuous act at a time when Ferdinando
Gorges was putting forward his prior claim to the territory, when a council headed
by the Archbishop o f York was given the power to make laws and constitutions,
including religious, for the colonies, and when the government o f Massachusetts
Bay feared daily that it would lose its charter and get a royal governor. W inslow
said that Endecott had done w hat many thought but had not the courage to do.
Ironically, John Oldham was a member o f a committee to consider the problem
raised by that public act. Because it was a bad time to twist the lions tail, the
General Court stripped Endecott of vote and office for a year.
W h y Roger Conant and his associates sold their houses and gardens in 1636
and moved to found nearby Beverly is unsure. Were they uncomfortable in the
Salem church? W ere they annoyed or frustrated by the administration? Were
they pushed out, as some historians suggest? Conant s biographer says no and his
argument, which runs as follows, makes sense. To keep the Old Planters at
Numkeag the Company promised them land grants. About five years later they
took the matter to the town s management committee, on which they were stoutly
represented, consisting o f Endecott, Conant, Thomas Gardner, M assy and Trask.
The committee granted 200 fertile acres each to Balch, Conant, Palfrey, Trask
and Woodbury at the head of the Bass River. “As part o f the bargain the Old
Planters relinquished their houses in the town.”The town bought Conant s house
for the gunsmith. “The removal to Bass River in no way interfered with Roger

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Conant’s participation in Salem affairs... .” (p. 123). It is a pity that Endecott’s

and Conant’s papers have not survived and that but few and scrambled records
exist o f the early meetings o f the selectmen and o f the proprietors, o f which
Conant was the clerk.
Transportation and communication were mostly by water. Dugouts about twenty
feet long were used for local freight, shallops for voyages to Boston or Gloucester,
and ketches for longer travel and trade, many o f which were being built in Salem
shipyards. Letters came now and then from friends and relatives in England and
their news was shared with neighbours, church members and fellow workers.
Community life was pleasant as long as one did not go beyond the bounds.
Young men m ight not w alk and talk with a young woman without her parents’
consent and certainly not woo her. If the parents were absent or dead, the lad had
to apply to the County C ourt for permission. For instance, M atthew Stanley had
to pay a fine of £5 “for drawing away the affections o f the daughter o f John Tarbox
and his wife without liberty first obtained o f her parents” (quoted by Phillips, pi
156). A second offence o f this kind cost £10 and a third, prison. An act o f 1634
forbade long hair, for it was declared to be contrary to the Scriptures, but it was
little enforced. The elders and magistrates began strictly in 1649 to see that men
and boys wore short hair. Was the year 1649 chosen because Cromwell and the
Puritan party had taken over the government in England and Scotland? Some
people must have been wearing elegant clothes because the Quarterly Court de­
creed that men worth less than £200 would be fined if they wore silver or gold
buttons or lace or went about in great boots and the same was true for women
who wore silk scarves or silk hoods. Because Salem had more than fifty families it
had to support a reading and w riting school and with more than a hundred fami­
lies, a grammar school so that Satan could not keep the young from a knowledge
o f the Scriptures and so that the brightest m ight go on to Harvard College,
which Salem was helping to maintain. Salem came to be governed by a small
near-oligarchy that acquired choice real estate and were on the right side o f poli­
tics and religion.

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TH E QUAKERS

The first real trouble with Quakers in the area came when a complaint was made
to the County Court about two meetings which had been held at the houses of
Nicholas Phelps and Lawrence Southwick. Two Quaker missionaries, whose au­
dience seems to have been mostly women, escaped from the first meeting before
they could be apprehended. In June o f 1658 the Court met at the Ship Tavern. Its
presidents were M ajor W illiam Hathorne o f Salem, M r. W illiam Hubbard and
Major-General Daniel Dennison, both o f Ipswich, and M r. Simon Bradstreet o f
Andover. Thomas Gardner was one o f the twelve jurors.
For eleven years the administration rigourously suppressed the Quakers. Those
who confessed to being Quakers were fined or sent to the workhouse and those
who recanted were released. T hey suffered frequent fines for absenting themselves
from Puritan church or for attending Quaker meetings. Sometimes they were
banished or imprisoned. Some o f the Gardner and Shattuck families felt the brunt
of the law. Thomas Gardners daughter M iriam , the wife o f John H ill, was a Quaker,
as were Thomas’s sons Thomas and Richard and the wife o f George Gardner. H er
daughter Sarah Shattuck, the wife of Richard Gardner, was so dogged that they
moved to Nantucket. M cCracken quotes Vernon Loggins’ book The Hathornes
(New York, 1951) to indicate that W illiam Hathorne hounded M rs. George
Gardner “into fleeing with her husband and children to Hartford in Connecticut
because o f her Quaker faith” (p. 65).
So it was for the Shattucks. The elderly second wife o f Thomas Gardner was
often fined. H er youngest son, W illiam Shattuck, a shoemaker o f Boston, having
been banished from Boston, moved to Rhode Island and then to New Jersey. Her
eldest son, Thomas Shattuck, a feltmaker or hatmaker, was exiled from Salem
and carried off to prison in Boston. M ary, his sister, petitioned the authorities
there for his freedom. Ironically, this was the man who brought the document
from Charles II to New England in 1669 ordering the colony to cease and desist
from persecuting the Quakers.

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Our purpose being to sketch events and conditions for only the period during
which our ancestors lived in a particular place, we cannot follow Salem through its
part in King Philip s W ar of 1675-76 nor its witchcraft trials o f 1692 nor its devel­
opment as a great port of world trade during the heyday o f sail. Phillips in his
Salem in the Seventeenth Century is inclined to be opinionated and partisan but he
writes about ‘W itchcraft in Salem Village” with objectivity and perspective. Marion
L. Starkey has written one of the best books on the subject, the readable and well-
researched The D evil in Massachusetts (©1949), republished by Doubleday in 1989.

(References: James Duncan Phillips, Salem in the Seventeenth Century, W illiam

Hubbard, General History o f N ew E ngland fro m the D iscovery to 1680 ; J. R. Smith,
Pilgrims and Adventurers', FrankThisde thwaite, Dorset Pilgrims', George F. W illison,
Saints and Strangers)

SALEM AN CESTO RS

Conant, Roger1, 1592-1679 (#664a&h), the eighth and last child o f Richard
Conant, was baptized on 9 A pril 1592 in the old gray church o f East Budleigh,
the birthplace of Sir W alter Raleigh, just fourteen miles from Exeter. Rogers mother
was Agnes Clarke, daughter o f John Clarke, the leading merchant o f nearby
Colyton, and o f Anne Macey, daughter o f W illiam . John Clarke had bought from
the Crown a part of the confiscated lands o f the beheaded Earl o f Devon. Agnes
Clarke used her substantial dowry and her partnership w ith her husband to pros­
per the brew house, the m ilk house and die weaving room. H er husband, RichardA
Conant, born about 1548 at East Budleigh, was a church warden and an influen­
tial yeoman. H is father, John®, had also been a warden and was buried there 30
March 1596.
Being the youngest, Roger Conant could not expect much from the estate o f
his father. H is brother John, six years older, was sent to grammar school and then
to Oxford and fame. W hether Roger and Christopher, four years older than he,
ever finished grammar school is not known. Christopher went to London in 1609
as an apprentice o f Thomas Allen, grocer. Like him, Roger became an apprentice
in that city, but to a salter, probably about the age o f fourteen because according

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to the act o f 1563 a boy had to be more than ten and could not finish his appren­
ticeship until he was twenty-one. H e would have been trained not only in salting
and trading o f goods but also in accounting and business practices, for salters
branched out from salting meat to supplying ships and dealing in all sorts o f
products. A fter seven years he was admitted to the Salters Guild, for which no
doubt his father advanced the admission fee and some money to set him up in
business. Roger was w ell enough established by 1 November 1618 to m arry Sarah
Horton at St. Ann’s Blackfriars. He and Christopher became sufficiently prosper­
ous to be accepted as bondsmen for their brother Johns becoming rector o f
Lymington parish. Roger was also called M r., which was then pronounced mas­
ter. He and Sarah lost their firstborn at thirteen months and then had Caleb, who
was baptized 27 M ay 1622 at St. Lawrence Jewry.
W h y did they em igrate, give up comfort, security, and social status in return for
the perils o f the wide ocean, scurvy and ships fever, and many unknowns in a
strange wilderness? Shipton, his biographer, says that the conditions in England
were not bad enough to push a family o f this social and economic standing, ap­
parently not radical in politics or religion, to leave for the New W orld. Although
prospering, Roger Conant must have sensed the general feeling o f worsening
economic conditions as King James strangled trade and industry with taxes and
granted monopolies to his favourites. He must have been aware o f the growing
unemployment and crop failure in the W est Country that the Reverend John W hite
was to write about, “M an y among us live without employment, either wholly, or in
the greatest part.” C ertainly Roger Conant, whom Hubbard the historian de­
scribed as “a pious, sober and prudent gentleman,” was not likely to have been
impulsively influenced by Captain John Smith’s book o f delightful lies about New
England. Roger and Sarah must have planned carefully together such details as
the sale o f the home and business and the gathering o f provisions and the putting
aside o f the considerable sums o f £17 for the passage and £11 for goods. They left
in midwinter in a vessel belonging to Thomas Weston, according to Banks’ Plant­
ers o f the C ommonwealth , and arrived in M arch o f 1623, probably at Samaris Cove,
according to his biographer Frederick Odell Conant. Some writers have him coming
in the Anne in 1623 w ith his brother Christopher Conant.

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R oger Conant:founder o f Salem , Massachusetts

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Anderson in The Great M igration Begins argues that Roger Conant was most
likely the unnamed “salt-man” being sent whom Deacon Robert Cushman, the
Pilgrims’ tireless negotiator with the financial backers of the colony, described in a
letter to Bradford 24 January 1623-4 as “a skillful 8c industrious man” but whom
Bradford called “an ignorant, foolish, self-willed fellow,” who had a warehouse
built on unsupportive ground and later at Cape Anne burnt a building and “spoiled
the pans”. On this basis, Anderson has Conant as the salt-man arriving in 1624.
If this be so, one wonders whether Roger Conant had crossed the governor in
religious or political ways and so earned a vituperative caricature, which Bradford
penned so defdy on occasions.
In Chapter One we saw how John Oldham ran afoul o f the Plymouth admin­
istration for “inciting insurrection,” that is for proposing a more democratic gov­
ernment and for supporting Rev John Lyford’s attempts to establish the Church
of England rite. Because Conant does not figure in Bradford’s coloured narrative
of events nor in Mourt's Relation nor in Thomas Morton’s w itty satire, N ew Eng­
lish Canaan, and because Conant’s letters and documents were lost over time and
John W h ite’s papers were destroyed during a Royalist raid on Dorchester during
the Civil War, we do not know w hat was his attitude or minor role. After staying
perhaps eighteen months in Plymouth Town, soon after Oldham was expelled he
sailed with Sarah and their two children, Caleb and Lot, out o f Plymouth H ar­
bour and joined Oldham and Lyford and the rest o f their small company at
Nantasket (now called H ull). Shipton says that Conant’s reason for leaving Ply­
mouth may have been more economic than religious because there was no place
for an independent trader in the Pilgrims’ common-holding organization and
being a particular he could neither vote nor hold office. He planted a vineyard and
the first orchard in New England on an island which bore his name and later came
to be called Governor s Island. There, too, was a great abundance o f game, wild
turkeys, and those beautiful rose-breasted passenger pigeons that North Am eri­
cans shot into extinction. Then came die invitation from the Dorchester Com ­
pany, as W illiam Hubbard records it:

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... Mr. White, w ith the rest o fth e adventurers, hearing o f some religious and
w ell affected persons, that w ere lately rem oved out ofN ew Plymouth out o f
dislike o f their principles o f rigid separation, o f which num ber M r Roger
Conant was one, a religious, sober, an d prudent gentlem an, y e t su rvivin g
about Salem till the yea r 1680, w herein he fin ish ed his pilgrim age, h a vin g a
grea t hand in a ll these fore-m entioned transactions, about Cape Ann, pitched
upon him, the said Conant, f o r the m anaging and govern m en t o f a ll their
affairs at Cape Ann. (p. 107)

W e have seen then how Roger Conant went to try to save that project o f the
Dorchester Company, how he led a strong remnant to found Numkeag, later
called Salem, how he and the Old Planters helped the new settlers under John
Endecott, now the governor, to establish themselves, and how Conant and his
group had to exert themselves in order to be made £50 shareholders and, there­
fore, to become freemen with the right to vote and hold office. Both Roger and
Sarah Conant were original members o f the Salem church. According to Bolton
(page 83), “The covenant which Conant signed contained nothing to which an
Episcopalian... could object.” Ten years later the Puritans o f New England split
into Episcopalian and anti-Episcopalian camps.
The Conant family had its joys and its losses. Roger and Sarah brought two
children across the seas with them, Caleb and Sarah. Lot was born about 1624
and possibly another child, Joanna, two years later. Their Roger was the first white
child born in Salem, 1628. Then they had Joshua, M ary, Elizabeth about 1630,
1632 and 1635 and Exercise, baptized in Salem 14 February 1638-9. They got
news that Caleb, whom they had sent to England for education, had died at the
age o f eleven years in the latter part o f 1633. Roger Jr. married Elizabeth Weston,
who had property in Cork, Ireland. Joshua Conant married Seeth Gardner, daughter
of Thomas Gardner and M argaret Fryer. M ary married John Balch Jr., who was
drowned when a sudden squall struck a ferry crossing from Salem to Beverly.
W ith the coming of Endecott and his adherents, who were in the seat of power,
Conant’s role as the founder and organizer o f Salem was at an end . Like the Old
Planters, his first interest may have been in trade and with his partners, Peter

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Palfrey and Anthony Dike, in a ship and warehouse. This second town of the Bay
Colony chose him as a selectman, as an assistant to the magistrates, as the head of
a committee to lay out lots and as one o f its first deputies to the General Court in
Boston. In fact, he was a member o f the General Court when it chose the site of
Harvard College.
Historians differ about whether Roger Conant was and remained a puritan
Church o f Englander like the Reverend John W h ite or whether, like John
W inthrop, he was moulded by events into a congregational Puritan. Because no
letters or documents written by him or about him then, except for Hubbard’s
history, exist to define his religious views or evolution or, indeed, the reasons for
his departure from Plymouth and later from Salem, historians are led to assume
and to interpret, it may be according to their predilections. Historians such as
Charles Edward Banks and Charles Knowles Bolton came to the conclusion that
Roger was faithful to the Church o f England and was, therefore, made unwel­
come in Plymouth by the Brownist Pilgrim s and eventually in Salem by the
Congregationalists led by John Endecott. Shipton interprets Roger Conant s de­
parture from Plymouth as a particular not having a right o f vote or office and as an
independent trader not fitting into community ownership and into trade restricted
to the original proprietors. W illiam Hubbard, who talked with Roger Conant,
does not mention Conant’s religious views except that he did not approve o f rigid
separatism. Shipton is inclined to side w ith the administration in all things. He
likens Roger Conant to the “saintly W illiam Bradford” and says that some mod­
ern writers dislike Bradford for his “painfully saintly” qualites. Shipton does not
mention Bradford’s ability to vilify and caricature his opponents and omits to say
that Bradford him self w ent out to the ship and opened and copied the letters of
John Lyford and John Oldham. Robert Charles Anderson, co-editor o f The Ameri­
can Genealogist , explores “T he Conant Connection” in England and shows that
many o f Sarah Conant s relatives were Puritan divines and that many o f the Lon­
don associates o f Conant “were at the head o f the Church o f England (or non­
separating) Puritans” and therefore that his Puritanism was highly developed. The
nub o f Anderson’s case comes in two or three o f his sentences:

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When R oger Conant m arried Sarah Horton in London in 1618, he must

im m ediately h a ve com e w ith in th e circle o f acquaintances o f R ichard
C ulverwell, husband o f Sarah's half-sister M argaret, an d o f William Gouge,
M inister o f St. Ann Blackfriars, w here the m arriage took place. [NEHGR,
147:128]
By bis m arriage to Sarah Horton, R oger Conant became apart, how ever
peripherally, ofth is broad an d deep tradition o f Puritanism in the C ulverwell
fam ily. We h a ve seen above that R oger Conant was known to the R everend
John White as early as 1623 and therefore linked w ith the New England
activities . [NEHGR, 147:127]

Anderson, distinguished genealogist, becomes an interpretative historian when

he deals w ith the question: “given the great advantages available to Conant, in­
cluding his many prominent connections in English Puritan circles, and his ap­
pointment to direct the activities o f the Dorchester Adventurers at Cape Anne,
why did he not take a larger part in the affairs of the Massachusetts Bay colony
after the early 1630’s?” Anderson suggests that Conant, much promising and
little fulfilling, “could well have fed the historian [W illiam Hubbard] with slanted
versions o f his part in the early history o f Massachusetts Bay.” In stark contrast,
Governor Bradford “was speaking his mind” but did not name Conant “perhaps
out o f respect for the living.” Anderson wonders whether those were the “charac­
ter faults which prevented Conant from rising beyond local importance in the
later history o f Massachusetts Bay, despite his early great advantages.” ( Great
M igration, 1:455—458) That interpretation is based on the premise that Conant s
driving force was an interest in public affairs or a desire for political power. Even
if that were so, he certainly was brought up short when John Endecott, with his
powerful fam ily connections and as a member o f the New England Company,
was made governor at New Salem and went on to become assistant governor and
governor o f the Bay Colony. It is likely that Roger Conant was satisfied to serve as
a deputy to the General Council and go about his business as husband and bread­
winning father o f a large family. The wealthy, educated and eloquent W illiam
Hubbard, Sr., and many others, climbed no higher political rung.

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Roger Conant died on 19 November 1679 at the age o f eighty-seven. H is wife

must have died before 1 March 1677-8 because she is not mentioned in his thought­
ful w ill o f that date. His estate was inventoried 24 November 1679 at nearly £300,
two-thirds o f which was real estate.
Conant, Joshua2 Sr., ca 1630-59 (#332a&h) (Roger1) was born about 1630 in
Salem to Roger Conant and Sarah Horton. Little is known o f Joshua Conant Sr.
except that he was a sea captain and that he married Seeth Gardner, daughter o f
Thomas and M argaret. T hey had an only child, Joshua, and were living in
Marblehead in 1657. H e died without a will two years later in England. John
Poor and Richard Prince assessed his estate at £190 less debts o f £35 on 28 M ay
and the Court appointed Thomas Gardner administrator o f the estate in No­
vember.
Conant, Joshua3Jr., bom 1657 (#166a&h) (Joshua2 Roger1) was born on 15
April 1657 at Salem and baptized 4 June. After the death o f his father he was
brought up in Salem. There at the age o f nineteen Joshua Conant Jr. married
twenty-four-year-old Christian More. She died 30 M ay 1680, nearly four years
later, just eighteen days after the birth o f their only child, Joshua. In 1684 her
husband sold for £30 seventeen acres in Beverly that his grandfather Roger had
bequeathed to him.
Joshua was involved in historic events in 1689. In the spring o f that year when
W illiam and M ary supplanted James II in the Bloodless Revolution, the colonists
at Boston deposed Sir Edmund Andros, the Governor o f New England, who
they claimed was plotting with France, and sent him to England for trial. On 17
September a French fleet captured several vessels out of Salem, including Captain
Joshua Conant s ketch Thomas and M ary off the port o f Torbay. On 23 November
Captain Joshua appeared before John Hathorne, assistant magistrate, and gave
this deposition: Two French warships and a merchant ship seized his ketch, put
him on board the flagship Lumbuscado, and carried him as a prisoner to Port Royal.
In conversation with a Mr. Mero, who had it from the French, he learned that
thirteen ships from France were headed for Boston because Sir E. A . had sent to
the French king for them and would deliver up the country into their hands. Near

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the French coast English warships captured several o f them and dispersed the rest;
“but hearing that Sir E. A . was taken and now held [the French decided] they
should not proceed at present but threatened what they would do next summer.”
Little evidence and much hearsay!
A widower for ten years, Joshua Conant married at Salem on 9 January 1690-
1 Sarah Newcomb, 20, daughter o f Andrew Newcomb o f Edgartown, Martha’s
Vineyard. T hey had four children: Kezia, bom 8 November 1691; Caleb, 13 No­
vember 1693; Sarah, 12 April 1695; John, 19 A pril 1700. It was about 1700 that
the fam ily moved to the northern part o f Eastham, now Truro, Cape Cod. Sarah
Conant, our ancestor, has appeared in chapter three as the wife o f Nathaniel
Eldridge and the mother o f Mehitable.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins., I: 451-459; Anderson,
NEHGR, A pril and July 1994; Frederick Odell Conant; Ferris, 2:220-228; Rev.
W illiam Hubbard; Clifford K. Shipton; George F. W illison)
Horton, Sarah1, cl5 9 8 -b ef 1 M ar 1678 (#665a&h), who became the wife o f
Roger Conant, was born about 1598 to Thomas Horton, a merchant o f London,
and his second wife, Catherine Satchfield. Sarah Horton had only one full sibling,
a younger sister named Parnell. Her father had been married first to M argaret
Culverwell, whose uncle Richard with his nieces husband, Lawrence Chadderton,
a fellow of C hrist’s College, acquired a defunct Dominican monastery and con­
veyed it to Sir W alter Midmay, who completed the foundation o f the puritan
Emmanuel College, o f which Chadderton became the first master. Sarah Horton
had a half-sister, Margaret. M argaret and her husband, the Reverend Richard
Culverwell, rector o f St. M argaret Moses, Friday Street, had two academic sons,
Nathaniel, a Cambridge Platonist, and Rev. Richard, an Anglican rector. The
Christian name o f Thomas Horton’s father is not known but he lived in Coole,
Cheshire, and may have been connected w ith a Horton family that had been two
centuries in that area. Sarah Horton’s mother Catherine was bom to Gilbert and
Anne Satchfield, was baptized 27 M ay 1569 at St. Peter Cornhill, and was buried
at St. M argaret Moses on 13 September 1627.
(Reference: Robert Charles Anderson, NEHGR, July, 1993 6c A pril 1994)

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Gardner, Thomas1, cl592-1674 (#608, 666a&h) was born about 1592, a date
based on a deposition to the Essex County Court on 26 November 1661 that
gives his age as about sixty-nine. Thomas Gardner probably came from the West
Country o f England because he was chosen by the Dorchester Company and
sailed out ofWeymouth with fellow passengers from Devon and Somerset. W ith ­
out citing evidence Charles Edward Banks in his Topographical Dictionary sug­
gests the Somerset parish of M artock as Thomas Gardner’s place o f origin. The
name of his first wife and the mother o f his children has not been proved. More
than a century and a half ago Rev. Joseph B. Felt wrote that her name was M argaret
Friar. From the Covenant o f Salem Church her first name was most likely Margaret.
The authorities Dr. Frank A. Gardner, Dr. George E. M cCracken and G. An­
drews M oriarty accepted M argaret Friar until contrary evidence be found [Friar,
M argaret (admitted church 1640 (# 609,667a-h)].
On the other hand, Robert Charles Anderson in The Great M igration Begins
hypothesizes that Thomas married about 1614 a woman whose name is unknown
to us, that she was the mother of all his children and that she died about 1636 in
Salem, “perhaps at the birth of youngest child Seeth”. Anderson supports his
proposal in two ways: Thomas Gardner got a land grant in 1637 for a household
of seven, which after counting him and his minor children at home (unless,
Anderson adds, “one or more o f the children could have been serving in another
family”) would not include the wife and mother, who must have died; if M argaret
was his first wife she should have been on the list of church membership with him
in 1636, whereas she was not admitted till 24 M arch 1639—40. Anderson finds it
likely, therefore, that M argaret married Thomas by 1639 as his second wife. W e
shall stick with M argaret Friar as the mother of those children until it is proved
otherwise.
Thomas Gardner and his wife and children Thomas and George sailed from
Weymouth in the Z o u ch P h e n ix in 1624 because he had been appointed overseer
of plantation at the Cape Ann settlement. Also aboard was John Tylly, overseer of
fishing. The third child was born there that year and was named John. Causes of

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the project’s failure have been given as misfortune, poor m anagem ent and
indiscipline. According to Dr. Gardner, Roger Conant, who assumed entire con­
trol there in 1625, “soon learned that die lack o f success had been due to poor soil,
and that no setdement at this place could be made profitable.” (1907, p. 6)
Thomas Gardner and his family went with Roger Conant in the autumn o f
1626 to establish a colony at the mouth o f the Numkeag River and no doubt
worked w ith the other few Old Planters to build houses and a church, plant
gardens and help newcomers to get setded. The birthdates o f the next five addi­
tions to the Gardner fam ily at Salem were not recorded so that only approximate
dates m ay be given for Sarah (1627), Samuel (1629), Joseph (1630), Richard
(1632) and M iriam (1635), but the bapdsm on 25 October 1636 o f their last
child, a daughter, Seeth, was registered.
A t a meeting o f the Massachusetts Bay Company on 28 Ju ly 1629 Thomas
Gardner as “an able and expert man in divers facultyes” was recommended along
with others for employment in the setdement. H e and two others joined with
Roger Conant and John Endecott in signing a grant o f land to Townsend Bishop
in 1635. As one of the town’s representatives he also signed grants o f 300 acres
each to Thomas Scruggs and John Blackleech. W h at part Thomas played in the
religious dissension and other contention with the coming o f Governor John
Endecott and his group is not known. Perhaps none or very little. H e seems to
have kept on good terms with most. He signed the covenant o f the “First Church”
in 1629. Thomas was a member o f the management committee o f the town when
it granted 200 acres each to five Old Planters. Years later, Seeth Gardner was to
marry Joshua Conant, a son o f Roger Conant: so the families must have been on
good terms. The Massachusetts Bay Colony admitted Thomas Gardner freeman
in 1637 and in the same year appointed him a deputy to die General Court. The
following year he was an overseer o f highways and a year later was highway sur­
veyor and town constable. He was often a member o f the town administration
and did other public duties for many years.
A document in the County Court Papers o f 1660 spoke o f him as “Ould Mr.
Gardner”, for he was then about sixty-eight. In 1663 he was licensed to sell “one
barrell o f strong waters retale”. His licence was changed in 1667 so that as an

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innkeeper he could sell only to those from out o f town. Evidently the court was
held in his house in 1674, his servants being awarded ten shillings for both ses­
sions. The town o f Salem granted him 100 acres and six other parcels o f land.
Five generations o f Gardners after Thomas lived on the main farm and the old
farmhouse endured till October of 1854, when a disgruntled former hired man
set it on fire.
W hen M argaret Gardner died is not known. Thomas Gardner married the
widow Damaris Shattuck, who probably gave him a few grey hairs on account of
her Quaker attachment and court appearances. He died 29 December 1674, a
month and a day after his wife. He made a fair w ill, “weighing the uncertainety of
M ans life”. W illiam Trask deposed:

I n e v e r h e a r d t h a t O ld M r. G a r d n e r d i d h i n d e r a n y f r o m b u r r i n g t h e i r d e a d
t h e r e b u t t s a i d a t t s e v e r a l l f u n e r a l l s t o f r i e n d s & n e ig h b o u r s d o e n o t burrey
y o u r d e a d b y s u ch a y o u n g t r e e f o r I d o e d e s ir e to b e b u r n e d t h e r e m y s e l f e &
a c c o r d in g ly t o m y k n o w le d g e h e w a s b u r i e d t h e r e h im s e lfe .

We are descended from Richard and Seeth Gardner. Richard, o f Nantucket, is

a great great grandfather o f Keziah Gardner, M rs. Tim othy Coveil, a grand­
mother of Alfred and Amasa Fisk. Seeth, who married Captain Joshua Conant, is
the great great grandmother o f A bigail Smith, M rs. Amasa Fisk, and o f Mary
Smith, daughter o f Alexander Sm ith, the probable wife o f Alfred Fisk. Two other
ofThom as’s children are o f interest to us although they are not our ancestors. The
year after Thomas died his son Capt. Joseph Gardner o f the First Foot o f Salem
was killed in King Philip’s W ar in the Great Swamp Battle with the Narragansett
Indians. H is widow married Governor Simon Bradstreet. Thomas’s second son,
George, is a forebear o f Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) because Georges
daughter Ruth married John Hathome, o f a prominent Puritan family that also
produced a judge at the Salem witchcraft trials in 1692. Moreover, George through
his daughter M ary, who married Habbakuk Turner, became the ancestor o f John
Turner, who in 1668 bought from the widow Moore a plot o f land on Salem
Harbour and built a mansion, luxurious for its time, which Hawthorne took as

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the setting of his gothic romance The House o f the Seven Gables and which, the only
remaining seventeenth-century mansion in New England, we may enjoy with its
period gardens and ancient horsechestnut trees and cast our minds back to Tho­
mas Gardner and M argaret Friar, pioneer ancestors of Nathaniel Hawthorne, of
John Turner the merchant mariner, and of us.
Gardner, Seeth3, M rs Joshua2Conant, 1636- (#333aSdi) (Thomas1) was the
wife o f Joshua Conant, a son o f Roger. Seeth Gardner was the great grandmother
o f Mehitable Eldridge, who was the great grandmother o f A bigail Sm ith, the
wife o f Amasa Fiske, Sr.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, II: 731—737; Frank A.
Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Planter, McCracken, The American Genealogist, 3 0 :155 -
168; Perley, H istory o f Salem, 68—73)
Shattuck, D am ans1, died 1674 (#611) as a widow and the mother o f seven
mostly grown-up children married Thomas Gardner as his second wife. Her
maiden name and her husband s first name are unknown. It is possible that he had
died in England and that she came as a widow with her children. Damaris Shattuck
became a member o f the First Church in 1641 but was often in court in her older
age for being present at a Quaker meeting or being absent from church. In 1667
and 1668 “Old M rs. Gardner” was fined five shillings for each such infringement.
She died 28 November 1674.
Shattuck, Sarah2, m. ca 1652 (#305) was a daughter ofDamaris. Sarah Shattuck
married Richard Gardner, son of Thomas and Margaret, about 1652. She was
brought to court and heavily fined for being present at a Quaker meeting or failing
to attend services at the First Church. W hen she continued in the same she was
excommunicated in 1662, which meant that she was consigned to Satan and that
her neighbours were expected not to speak with her. She and her husband moved
to Nantucket.
(References: Austin, One Hundred & Sixty Allied Families, Gardner; McCracken)

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 V
The Bay Colony

M A SSA C H U SE TTS BAY COMPANY

he Elizabethan Church Settlement, an attempt to reconcile competing theo­

T logical strands within the warp and woof of an English Protestant church,
was more and more frayed by Calvinist influence, by an often ignorant parish
clergy and by the succession to the throne of Charles the First—w ith a Catholic
wife, Henrietta M aria o f France—who empowered the H igh Anglican party led
by W illiam Laud. The puritan element had been trying to rid the church o f so-
called papistical practices and to bring its doctrines and liturgy more in tune with
the spirit of the early church. M any o f the educated class, including gentry, some
powerful aristocrats and a young clergy learned their puritanism at the universi­
ties, especially Cambridge, and lawyers breathed the same air at the Inns o f the
Court. The Archdeacons’ Courts reprimanded parishioners for absence from pub­
lic worship and acts o f disrespect at church service or ordered public confession
but they did not persecute the laity. The Bishops’ Courts, on the other hand, fined,
silenced or imprisoned clergy who violated their oaths o f ordination and therefore
the law of the realm. Some o f them were able to preach in the sixteen Essex par­
ishes of the Earl of W arwick and in those o f other peers who had the right to
appoint clergy within their landholdings. East Anglia became the centre of the
puritan struggle.
The religious and the political came together in an earnest and brave group of
Puritans within the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Their king,
Charles I, though in some ways well-intentioned, obstinately sought to become

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absolute like Louis XIII. H is chief minister, the Duke o f Buckingham, conducted
unpopular and inept campaigns on behalf o f the Huguenots at La Rochelle and
against C adiz and the Spanish treasure fleet. T he king dissolved Parliament when
it decided to impeach Buckingham and refused to grant funds. W hen the king
turned to forced loans, those who refused to pay them were imprisoned. He un­
willingly signed the Commons’ Petition o f R ight in 1628, which declared that no
one should be required to lend money to the king or pay a tax not approved by
Parliament or should be imprisoned without just cause. The king continued to
tax and encouraged Bishop Laud to introduce H igh Church ceremonies into the
church service. The Commons locked the door against the king’s messenger and
read a protest. Sir John Eliot spent his last three years in the Tower and three
others remained there till the end o f the C ivil W ar. Ruling eleven years without a
parliament, King Charles raised money by selling monopolies, by exacting huge
fines in the Star Chamber Court and by imposing ship money on inland places.
Add to the religious and political dissent the social and personal elements which
helped to bring about the great emigration from England. The same week that
Charles began to rule without a parliament he granted a charter to the Massa­
chusetts Bay Company, successor to the New England Company which had grown
out o f the Dorchester Company. The powerful influence of W arwick, the lord
lieutenant of Essex, was behind these grants even though he had refused a forced
loan and insisted on no im prisonm ent o f anyone w ithout ju st cause. John
Humphrey, a Dorset gentleman, a friend o f the Reverend John W hite and treas­
urer o f those earlier companies, married Lady Susan, sister of the Earl o f Lincoln,
a colleague of the Earl o f W arwick in the House o f Lords. Lincoln’s other sister,
Lady Arbella, was married to Isaac Johnson, a member of the New England
Company Lincoln was married to a daughter o f Viscount Saye and Sele, another
Puritan sympathizer. Thomas Dudley, Lincoln’s kinsman and steward, a stern
and narrow Calvinist, also became prominent in that company and the Bay Com­
pany. John W inthrop, the squire o f Groton M anor and a relative of the great
Essex family o f M ildmay, was in financial difficulty owing to his dismissal as a
well-feed attorney of the Court o f Wards and Liveries. Invited by Isaac Johnson
to Sempringham, the Earl o f Lincoln’s seat, he attended a meeting which de-

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tided for emigration to New England rather than to the West Indies. He was one
o f twelve gentlemen, including S ir Richard Saltonstall, Dudley, Humfrey and
Johnson, who at Cambridge 26 August 1629 agreed to go by the first o f March
w ith their families and personal property to establish a permanent settlement,
provided that the general court legally transfer to the plantation the charter and
governance o f the company.
The original members o f the Massachusetts Bay Company consisted o f die
undertakers or investors and the freemen or common stockholders. The under­
takers were promised two hundred acres for every fifty pounds they invested and
the profits from the fur trade and from ocean freights. The freemen elected a
governor, an assistant governor and usually eight or nine assistants but possibly
eighteen under the charter. T he company’s meeting was called a general court.
M athew Cradock, a London merchant, was the first governor, later on he invested
a large amount o f money in the m ill at Watertown, in a plantation at M ystic and
in cattle raising and ship building. The general court on 28 August 1629, being
informed o f the Cambridge agreement, decided to examine thoroughly the pros
and contras o f transferring the government o f the proposed colony to the new
land. For that purpose the meeting, in Governor Cradocks absence, appointed a
committee of four to argue against the proposition and a committee o f Saltonstall,
Venn and Johnson to argue for it. W hen the vote was taken the next day, Cradock
was not there and only 27 out o f 105 members were present, o f whom seven had
signed the Cambridge agreement and most o f the rest were notable Puritans.That
the vote, as the minutes say, represented “the general consent o f the Company” is
doubtful but the signers o f the Cambridge agreement had thus won control. “Such
a transfer had never before been made in the history of English colonization, but
without it New England would never have been free to develop as it did and
would have been subject, as was Plymouth in the early days, to the delays and
misunderstandings inevitable w ith a distant seat o f government.” (Pomfret, p. 15)
W inthrop, a late recruit, first appears in the company records when he was ap-

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pointed to a committee on 19 September. On 20 October Cradock and Goffe

resigned as governor and deputy because they were not emigrating and were suc­
ceeded by W inthrop and Humfrey. John W hite was there as one of the voting
members.
During the next six months by word o f mouth the promoters spread the idea of
emigration and recruited passengers. Those with puritan and separatist inclina­
tions more readily heeded the message. Banks in The Winthrop F leet o f 1630 ar­
gues that most of the emigrants did not leave their homes owing to the religious
unrest but rather for social and economic reasons. M ost o f them, he says, were
yeoman tenants of the gentry and the nobility and they, pacified by a servile clergy,
surrendered much of their earnings to their masters and never improved their lot
over generations. The right to become a freeholder was recognized in the reign of
James but those who became small freeholders were heavily taxed in Charles’s
time. On the other hand, for a settler there was the lure o f owning a hundred acres
outright in the new land. A considerable portion of the passengers, Banks states,
were loyal Anglicans. “M any of them never joined the Puritan churches, nor be­
came Freemen after their arrival” (p. 22) Banks further argues that W inthrop’s
reason for leaving was economic rather than spiritual. Morison sets forth the strait­
ened means o f W inthrop, his ambition to use, in W inthrop s words, “that talent
that God hath bestowed upon him”, and his desire to help form a colony accord­
ing to the word o f God. J. R. Smith writes: “In accepting the governorship Winthrop
believed that he had received his calling to lead men and to establish a Bible
commonwealth free from the corruption o f the Church o f England.” (p. 32) John
Fiske puts it in more strongly:

The aim o f Winthrop and his frien d s in com ing to Massachusetts w as the
construction o f a theocratic state which should be to Christians, under the
N ew Testament dispensation, all that the theocracy o f Moses and Joshua and
Samuel had been to the Jew s in the Old Testament days. They should be to all
intents an d purposesfreedfrom thejurisdiction o fth e Stuart king, and so fa r

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aspossible the text ofth e Holy Scriptures should be their gu ide both in w eighty
matters o f general legislation and in the shaping o f the smallest details o f
daily life. In such a scheme there w as no room f o r religious liberty as w e
understand it.

From the first, despite many vicissitudes, the Reverend John W hite had aimed
to establish a settlement in New England dedicated to the living of a godly puri­
tan life, but not a separatist one. In The Planters Plea he was to summarize the
motives of settlers: “Necessity may press some, novelty draw on others; hopes of
gain in time to come may prevail with a third sort; but that the most and most
sincere and godly part have the advancement of the Gospel for their main scope
I am confident ... some may entertain hope and expectation of enjoying greater
liberty here in the use of some orders and ceremonies o f our Church, it seems
very probable.” (quoted by Thistlethwaite, p. 38)

TH E GREAT MIGRATION

M ost of the preparations were centred in London.The Company chartered eleven

ships and assembled vast quantities o f provisions and materials for 400 hundred
officers and seamen and 700 passengers. The flagship, the Arbella, carried 3,500
gallons of water, 10,000 gallons o f beer, 16 hogsheads o f meat, 600 pounds o f salt
cod, 40 bushels of dried peas and 20,000 biscuits. As to payment for passage,
settlers fell into four categories: paying passenger, part-paying who would provide
labour for the remainder, one receiving money or land grants for a craft or profes­
sion in support of the colony, and indentured servant whose master paid the pas­
sage and got fifty acres o f land in return. The average family o f eight persons paid
£30, including the cost of transporting a ton o f freight.
The flagship, which carried the charter, W inthrop, Lady Arbella and Isaac
Johnson, Saltonstall and his children, and Rev. George Phillips and his wife and
many others, together with the Talbot, Ambrose and J e w e l sailed 29 M arch 1630
from Southampton with most of the 700 emigrants. The ships being delayed at
Yarmouth by contrary winds, Coddington, Dudley, Johnson, Phillips, Saltonstall
and W inthrop signed on behalf of all a letter of farewell to “their brethren in and

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o f the Church of England, for the obtaining of their Prayers and the removal of
Suspicions and misconstruction o f their Intentions”: “We leave our dear Mother,
the Church of England, not loathing the m ilk wherewith we were nourished
there, but blessing God for the parentage and education, as members o f the same
body, and always rejoice in her good,” (Pomfret. pp. 16,17) The rest o f the ships,
C h a rles, H o p e w e ll, M a y flo w e r , S u ccess, T ria l, W hale, and W illia m a n d F r a n cis, sailed
a month later with a few passengers, sixty horses, forty cows, other livestock and
much freight. The A r b e lla arrived at Salem on 12 June. Governor W inthrop de­
cided to settle at Charlestown, south of Oldham’s claim.
W ithout fruits and vegetables on the long voyage, the seafarers, as so many
before them, saw among them the horrible symptoms o f scurvy. A number of
them died at sea and many more at Charlestown. Arriving too late to plant a crop
and getting little help from Salem, which also was stricken, the settlers lived
mostly on salt meat, hard tack, shellfish and a few supplies got from the Indians.
They had to turn loose 180 indentured servants to fend for themselves. Scurvy
and an infectious fever, probably typhus from the Charlestown water, carried off
more than 200 people by the end o f that first winter, including Isaac Johnson and
his wife, Lady Arbella, and M rs W illiam Coddington and M rs. George Phillips,
who left a small son. R elief came in February when the L yo n , which W inthrop
had sent to Bristol for provisions, arrived with lemon juice to stop the scurvy, as
well as grain, peas and barrelled beef, all of which John W h ite and other friends
had gathered together. Sickness and privation caused more than a hundred peo­
ple to go back to England or to southern colonies.
The next few years saw great growth and activity. Because they found brackish
water at Charlestown, John W inthrop moved to a peninsula across the Charles
River, on the invitation o f W illiam Blackstone, a hermit scholar and Anglican
minister, who offered to share his spring, near which he had built a hut on the
present Beacon H ill and had planted an orchard on what is now Boston Com­
mon (he moved to Rhode Island in 1635). More ships, w ith 350 passengers,
sailed to the Bay Colony in 1630, F o u r S isters, M a r y a n d J o h n , L y o n and three
others. Our ancestors who are known to have come that year are W illiam Learned
and Sarah, his wife, Isaac Stearns and M ary Barker, John Warren and Margaret,

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his wife, Thomas W illiam s, and John and Rebecca Throckmorton. That year
Charlestown, Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Watertown and New Town, later called
Cambridge, were established. By 1634 nearly 4,000 English people had landed in
the Bay area, along the shore of which they had founded twenty villages, had
built houses, fences, roads and bridges, had cleared farms, had raised 1,500 head
o f cattle, 4,000 goats and many swine and had cut timber, fished and trapped.
Already they were trading furs, salted fish and lumber for the manufactured arti­
cles o f England. In the first ten years nearly 200 ships came and up to 1638 a
yearly average o f about 2,000 newcomers arrived.
Towards the end of the decade migration began to decline because English
authorities believed that it was harming the kingdom and the Church. W ith this
in mind, the king as early as 1634 set up the Commission for the Foreign Planta­
tions, chaired by Laud, with power to govern and make laws for the colonies. The
next year the Commission ordered the Bay Company’s charter to be revoked but
the colony refused to submit. In 1637 the king appointed the elderly and almost
penniless Ferdinando Gorges as governor-general but the ship he had built for
his vice-regal voyage broke when it was launched. T he next year when ordered to
send the charter back to England the General Court presented its arguments in a
letter w ith such tact and skill that the Privy Council allowed the colony to con­
tinue w ith its government pending a new charter, which amid political turmoil in
Great Britain was never drafted. A ll ship captains were forbidden to take passen­
gers to New England without licence from the Commission, and the Lord H igh
Adm iral was required to ensure that no clergyman should take ship without the
approval o f the Archbishop o f Canterbury or the Bishop o f London. By 1640 the
struggle between Parliament and the king and the outbreak o f the civil war two
years later kept reformers and their servants at home.
The historian James Truslow Adams, who emphasizes the economic cause o f
emigration, gives us figures to put the Great M igration in perspective. In 1630
when a few hundred came to Massachusetts, 10,000 Englishmen were engaged
in the fisheries in Newfoundland many months o f the year and there were about
2,500 permanent settlers in Bermuda, 1,600 in Barbados and 3,000 in Virginia.
Ten years later the whole Massachusetts territory had 14,000, Connecticut 2,000

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and Rhode Island 300 while M aine and New Hampshire together had 1,500,
M aryland the same, Virginia 8,000, Nevis 4,000, St. Kitts 12,000 and Barbados
19,000. These stand in contrast to the 16,000 in the Puritan colonies, o f whom
the truly Puritan element, he judges, was less than half. He warns against consid­
ering the English emigration o f that time as simply a great outpouring o f Puri­
tans.

GOVERN M ENT AND RELIGION

M any o f the settlers came from the well-off, educated middle class who had some
experience o f law and local government in England. At their head were W inthrop
and his associates, who believed that they were commissioned by God to create
and govern a new and purified community. W inthrop held that to ensure the
survival o f the colony its government must be greatly centralized. The charter,
however, provided for four meetings each year o f the general court, which was the
body empowered to pass legislation and elect the governor and assistants. A s de­
manded at a public meeting in October o f 1630, the administration invited appli­
cations for freemanship and got 108 responses, mostly from earlier residents like
Blackstone, Conant and M averick, many o f whom were either o f the Church of
England or not o f Puritan, sympathy, but most o f them were accepted the follow­
ing May. A few o f the old planters refused to become freemen and were later
shipped back to England. Because the governor and the general court equated
episcopacy with the tyranny of Laud and the king, they discouraged that form of
worship in the colony and in 1631 they decided that as a means of keeping out the
emissaries o f Archbishop Strafford and Bishop Laud and the agents o f Gorges,
only members o f their churches might become freemen; this in violation of the
rights o f the settlers.
The freemen, few as they were, won the right to elect the governor and assist­
ants as a result o f Watertown’s complaint in 1632 about taxation without repre­
sentation. Strong feeling throughout the colony resulted two years later in a sys­
tem of deputies from each town to the general court. They demanded to see the
charter and found that the General Court and not the governor and assistants
alone had the right to pass laws, levy taxes, grant lands and admit freemen. In

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1644 the legislators were divided into two houses, the one o f deputies and the
other of assistants. The latter was the more powerful part because they served not
only as the upper house but also as the appeal court and executive council. In
forty-eight years only thirty-five new names appear in the lists o f assistants.
W inthrop was governor twelve years and deputy governor nine years. John
Endecott was governor fifteen years and deputy governor five years. Rev. W illiam
Hubbard (1621P-1704) in the first history of New England wrote thus o f John
W inthrop, who died in 1649: “A worthy gentleman, who had done good in Israel,
having spent not only his whole estate ... but his bodily strength and life, in the
service o f the country; not sparing, but always as the burning torch, spending...”
A war council was set up in 1634 when the rulers of the Bay Colony feared that
the king would withdraw the charter and govern the colony directly. They forti­
fied Castle Island, Fort H ill, Charlestown, Dorchester and other vital positions
and ordered the training o f militia. Their temper was to run their own affairs in
state and church without provoking the king and his council, if possible. At the
time of the Pequot War, Governor W inthrop proposed a New England Confed­
eration, mainly to protect the Bay Colony, Connecticut, New Haven and P ly­
mouth Colony against the Indians or an attack by a foreign power, Dutch or
French. This came into being in 1643 but after a time it became inactive because
the Bay Colony put its own interests first, taking over M aine and administering
New Hampshire towns, and because after the Restoration in 1660 the English
government resumed its authority over colonial defence and diplomacy..
Roger W illiam s, about whom we shall say more in chapter nine, was a young,
learned Puritan divine who came to the Bay Colony in February of 1630-1 and,
by challenging some of the ideological mainstays o f the colony and expressing
some eccentric ideas, became a thorn in the flesh o f the Puritan establishment. He
declared that the churches there had not formally separated from the Church of
England but only from its errors. Serving as minister in Salem, in Plymouth and
again in Salem, he asserted that the church and the commonwealth were one and,
therefore, that the church of the Bay Colony was a national one. He told his own
church in Salem that unless they would separate from the national churches of
New England he would separate from them. Hubbard, the early historian, adds

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other “notions” o f Roger W illiam s: females should wear veils in public; the cross
in the king’s colours, a relic of antichristian superstition, should be taken away; it
is not godly to hear the godly ministers of England; magistrates should have nothing
to do with the first four of the Ten Commandments (concerning graven images,
taking the name of the Lord in vain, keeping the sabbath holy, and honouring
father and mother), there should be toleration of all religions because punishing
for matters o f conscience was persecution. Roger W illiam s rejected the argument
of the Puritan leaders that, God, who had entrusted them with a monopoly of
truth, would destroy the commonwealth if they allowed contrary views to corrupt
the colony. He wrote a pamphlet declaring that the only way the settlers could get
a valid title to land was to buy it from the Indians, its rightful owners, that the king
had no right to grant such land to the Bay Colony. He also disapproved o f the
Puritans’ treatment of the Indians. W hen the General Court sent to arrest him for
transport to England, he was warned, probably by W inthrop, who was not un­
sympathetic, and escaped into the forest. Governor John Haynes and Rev. John
Cotton criticized W inthrop for being too lenient.

SO CIAL LIFE

Farming was the basic industry in the early days for almost everyone from the
governor down. The early families lived in farm villages just as their English an­
cestors had done in the M iddle Ages. Each home lot o f three to five acres con­
tained the farmhouse, bams, garden, orchard and cattle yard. The grain fields lay
behind the home lots and on the outskirts were found the common lands used for
grazing and wood-cutting, the use o f which was managed by the community. Be­
cause a farmer’s fields were scattered throughout the township he spent much
time going from one to the other. He wrestled with a wooden plough in a sandy,
rocky soil, harvested with a sickle or scythe which lim ited him to five acres a
season, and tried valiantly to keep wild animals and birds from raiding his hen­
house and fields. He often engaged in trade or small industry in wintertime.
Every member of the family worked during the daylight hours, the men at the
manual labour outdoors and the women at housework, carding, spinning, weav­
ing, candle-making, cheese pressing and soap kettling. The girls worked with

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their mother and the boys with their father, learning skills and producing for the
family. Individuals o f a certain class were bound out to pay for their passage and
until the period o f the contract was completed they received a small wage. A
servant was a farm worker, a housemaid or an agent o f an English corporation.
Blacks were introduced as slaves in Massachusetts about 1650. The first code of
laws, 1641, accepted slaves i f they were war captives or strangers who had sold
themselves or been sold to residents. A s in England, labourers worked hard for
poor pay. The cost o f living was fairly low, a house and some land for £10 to £20,
a cow for £5, a coat for £1, a suit for about 13 shillings, a hat and doublet for £3,
a feather bed and a bolster for £2 each.
The family, including servants and apprentices, if any, began to observe the
Sabbath at six p.m. on Saturday. At the meeting-house on Sunday they listened
without flinching to sermons that m ight run as long as four hours and to prayers
that might invoke Jehovah an hour or two, all relieved by the occasional psalm
sung without instrumental accompaniment. Satan was a reality who with his hellfire,
both vividly described, must have left lingering dread in the minds o f sensitive
children. These early New Englanders found in religion not only a way o f life but
a social diversion that filled much o f their scanty leisure. T he Puritan society re­
stricted card-playing, dancing, drama and music and thus left room for excessive
drinking although inns were forbidden to serve to a person more than a half pint
of wine at a time. Large amounts o f alcoholic beverages were consumed at funer­
als, and workers at a church-raising were paid in large quantities o f rum. Fines, the
stocks and public whipping were used to discourage heavy imbibing, as for many
other misdemeanours.
Marriage and a large family were an important part o f the colonial dispensa­
tion. A farmer needed a wife and there was not much place in that society for
unmarried women, who were soon barred from receiving a grant o f land lest it
encourage their singleness. The freedom o f a son or a daughter to choose a mate
was qualified by the need of a gift o f land or a dowry from the father to help
establish the new family. M arriage, a civil contract, was performed by a magis­
trate. A widow left w ith children usually had to marry again promptly for their
protection and support. A man and a woman were not allowed to kiss in public

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view. Captain Kemble made the mistake o f kissing his wife on the front doorstep
when he came back from a three-year voyage: for lewd and unseemly behaviour
he sat two hours in the stocks. Generally it was a well-behaved society sexually
but women found guilty o f adultery had to wear the letters AD on arm and back
o f the upper garment and if they failed to do so, were whipped. Divorces were
granted for adultery and desertion, as in England, but also for cruelty and breach
o f vow. Children generally ate meals in silence and sat or stood solemnly at church
meetings and other gatherings. A book o f etiquette for children tells them not to
sit at the table till asked, to wait till they are offered food, to remain silent, and
not sing, hum, snigger or wriggle. In spite o f these conventions, there was much
family affection and the children had their games, passed down from one genera­
tion to another by word o f mouth. Provision was made for public schooling as
early as 1647 but it would appear that the second generation o f women and of
some o f the men was considerably less literate than the first.

“SEDITION AND H E RE SY ”

The Antinomian Controversy was much more serious because it divided church
members and became part o f a struggle between two political groups. W h en Rev.
John Cotton, tutor at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a vigorous non-con­
formist preacher, went to New England two admirers at least followed him, Anne
Hutchinson, daughter of a Church o f England minister, and her husband W illiam ,
a merchant o f Alford in Lincolnshire. He became a deputy to the General Court.
Anne began to visit women in childbirth and then to hold meetings o f women
and men in her commodious house opposite the governors house to discuss the
week’s sermons. She presided, with Vane on her right and Rev. John Cotton on
her left. This brilliant, forceful, magnetic woman became unpopular with most of
the clergy, who, she said, were preaching works not grace. The H oly Spirit dwell­
ing in the individual was more important than the outward manifestations of works
such as attending church, living according to the teachings o f the first five books
o f the Old Testament, being baptized, and being admitted to church membership.
The life o f the spirit rather than regulations and formalities! Rev. John W ilson,
pastor o f the Boston church, and most o f the ministers, supported by Governor

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W inthrop, dubbed the followers o f Anne Hutchinson and her brother-in-law,

Rev. John W heelwright, Antinomians, meaning those who believed that a spir­
itual person did not have to adhere to the written moral law and the requirements
o f the New England churches and who did not follow practices essential for salva­
tion.
Politics became mixed w ith religion. H enry Vane, son and namesake o f Charles
the First s secretary o f the Privy Council, came over in 1635 to be able to worship
according to his Puritan conscience, the king having given him licence to stay
three years. He became interested in Anne Hutchinson’s ideas o f direct guidance
from God and o f opposition to dictatorial authority. H e was elected governor at
the inexperienced age o f twenty-four by freemen w ith whom he was popular. As
governor he was to preside over the founding o f Harvard College.The Hutchinson
group supported the election o f Rev. John W heelw right as assistant pastor o f the
Boston Church, hoping that through him they m ight begin to bring about re­
form. Rev. John W ilson took this as an insult and an attempt to supplant him.
W inthrop thwarted W heelw rights election. T he community was split. A fast
day on 16 January 1637 brought no peace because in a sermon in the Boston
church John W heelw right criticized those who were bound by a covenant of
works. The magistrates charged him w ith sedition. Forty members o f the Boston
church petitioned the court to confine its judicial functions to cases of a secular
nature and not of religious persuasion and, if a trial were to go forward, to hold it
in open court. Although the text o f the sermon shows nothing seditious, the
court, supported by an advisory council o f the colony’s clergy, found him guilty by
a narrow majority. W illiam Coddington, o f the Hutchinson group, an assistant
governor and magistrate for six years from the beginning o f the colony, wrote that
the clergy argued for two days with two magistrates to win them over to a guilty
verdict. Governor Vane prepared for the upcoming election in May. The con­
servative clerical party headed by W inthrop changed the election locale o f the
general court from Boston to New Town, where the influence o f the Boston free­
men would be lessened. In fact, difficult travel kept most o f the Boston freemen
from attending. Vane was defeated and soon left for England.

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[H enry Vane entered Parliament in 1640, became its virtual leader three years
later and after the Rump of the Long Parliament had declared a republic, had
abolished the House o f Lords and had overthrown the Church o f England, he
held high posts until Cromwell expelled parliament in 1653. Two years later Sir
H enry wrote The R etired M ans Meditations, in which he criticized the arbitrary
rule o f Cromwell. W h en the Protector died, Vane returned to Parliament and
took part in ending the protectorate. A general election restored the king. A l­
though he had not been involved in the trial o f Charles the First and did not sign
the death warrant, as a republican with great influence he was, in the words of
Charles II, despite a liberal amnesty, “too dangerous to let live if we can honestly
put him out o f the way.” (Churchills history, 3: 257). An action o f twenty year’s
before gave the king cause: young Harry had purloined his father’s Privy Council
notes o f Strafford’s offer to bring an army from Ireland to quell unrest and had
taken them to John Pym, the leader o f the puritan party in the House o f Com­
mons, thus contributing to Strafford’s end. Now in 1662 Sir Harry did not sue for
mercy but defended him self w ith law and logic and, according to Churchill, “met
his death with the utmost alacrity and self-confidence”.]
After W inthrop replaced Vane as governor in 1637, the General Court purged
itself o f the Antinomians or Opinionists and banished Rev. John W heelwright,
who set off in the snow o f late spring for New Hampshire, where he and others
founded Exeter. It disfranchised and banished the leaders and the petitioners
who had not recanted.. Anne Hutchinson was brought to trial for heresy. A t New
Town she faced a court of some forty members, with W inthrop as judge and
prosecuting attorney, supported by a large number of clergy. W ithout counsel or
ju ry nor even a formal charge to answer to, it was not a court of justice but an
inquisition. For a long time this frail middle-aged woman answered the questions
adroitly and moderately and eluded their attempts to force her to confess that she
had slandered the magistrates and ministers. The fact that she was a woman did
not help, for in those times a woman was supposed to keep house and to get her
idea o f God by observing the excellences of her husband. Towards the end, like
Joan o f Arc, she spoke of receiving revelations from on high and was found guilty.
John Cotton gave way under pressure and turned against her. Rev. John W hite

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had written to Governor W inthrop cautioning him not to abuse his religious lib­
erty by binding “all men to the same tenets and practise in things which, when
they are well examined, w ill be found indifferent.” (quoted by Morison, p. 45)
The court banished Anne Hutchinson and, until she could be sent away, put her
in prison. She was now alone except for a few intimate friends, like M ary Dyer,
for her husband had taken his children to safety at his farm at M ount Wollaston.
Clergy came to converse privately with her during those three miserable months
and, without her knowing, recorded her words as evidence and arranged for her
to be tried by the Boston church, where she had had so many adherents. That
church excommunicated her 22 March 1638 for her “heretical, blasphemous and
incongruous” ideas.. She and her husband and children left for Rhode Island.
Edith Curtis, her objective biographer, sums up the effect o f the religious and
political conformity that had been fought for and won:

H enceforth Winthrop pursued the narrow path which the late disturbances
had taught him to believe w as the only road that led to the safety o f the
colony. Cotton concentrated his m ighty efforts on the establishment o f that
theocracy which was destined to benumb the intellectual life o f Massachusetts
f o r many generations, (p. 93)

In 1640 Rev. Henry Dunster, twenty-one years old, arrived in Boston and was
made president of Harvard College. Four years later the General Court passed a
law banishing anyone opposing the baptizing o f infants. In 1651 three Baptists
visiting Lynn were seized, two o f them fined and the third imprisoned and pub­
licly whipped. Perhaps moved by this event, Dunster declared that he could not
find infant baptism in the Scriptures. Forced to resign in 1654 as president of
Harvard, he became the minister of the Scituate church and died five years after­
ward. Another Baptist, Lady Deborah Moody, daughter of the Earl o f Lincoln
and niece of Lady Arbella Johnson, was an intellectual with the largest library in
the colony. W hen she announced her Baptist belief she was admonished by the
Salem church. After being excommunicated, she moved to the Dutch settlement
at Long Island to avoid further trouble. W hen a few years later she asked to come

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to Boston, John Endecott wrote to Governor W inthrop that she should be al­
lowed to do so only if she would “acknowledge her evill in opposing the Churches,
for she is a dangerous woman.” (quoted by Tapley, p. 311) In her house at Graves­
end she enheartened the company to rout the besieging Indians and she lived to
become the advisor o f legislators.
Two Friends or Quakers, the followers o f George Fox, who taught that a di­
vine light reveals the truth to the believing soul, came first to Massachusetts from
Barbados in July of 1656. News of the sects beliefs which preceded them fright­
ened and disgusted the clergy and magistrates of this frontier society. If the Bible
was not to be the ground o f religious belief and practice, there would be no m in­
isters interpreting the word o f God, no Bible commonwealth and no sacraments.
There would be government only for peace and order, no taxation for church or
war, no differences of class or dress. The two Quakers, M ary Fisher and Ann
Austin, were seized, their books examined, their bodies stripped to see whether
they were witches, imprisoned, and sent back to Barbados by Deputy Governor
Bellingham. The General Court passed a law committing any Quaker to the
workhouse and then in 1661 to banishment and, on return, death. Three men and
a woman, M ary Dyer, who was the wife o f the secretary o f Rhode Island and a
friend o f Anne Hutchinson, were hanged in Boston. In 1665 Edward Burroughs,
an English Friend, asked Charles II to stop the spilling o f innocent blood. The
king sent a letter by Samuel Shattuck, a banished Friend, to stop all proceedings
against the sect. Governor John Endecott unwillingly released twenty-eight pris­
oners but jailin g and whipping o f Quaker men and women, stripped to the waist,
continued till 1684.

RELATIONS W IT H T H E INDIANS

Facing the perils o f a strange land, the Pilgrims made a mutual-aid pact with
Massasoit, the grand chief o f the W ampanoag, which both sides kept till his death
forty years later. The Indians taught the New England settlers how to fertilize
corn by burying a fish under each seed hill, how to grow beans and pumpkins, how
to revive exhausted soil by planting beans, how to gather seafood, how to walk in
snowshoes, how to use certain plants for medicine. Growing differences between

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the Connecticut settlers and the Pequots led to murder on both sides and the
pitiless extermination o f the tribe by fire, shot and slavery. On the other hand
some gentler Puritans worked to convert the native Americans to Christianity not
by setting up missions in the forest but by bringing those dose by to churches o f
the English settlements. T hey became the nearly four thousand “praying Indians”
in M artha s Vineyard, Nantucket and along the frontier who did not take up arms
against the English.
Seventy years later on 30 June 1744, Gachradodow o f the Six Nations, speak­
ing through an interpreter, presented the case o f American natives vis-a-vis the
white man to the Commissioners o f Virginia at Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

The World a t the first w as made on the other Side o f the Great Water different
fro m w hat is on this Side, as m ay be known fro m the different Colours o f our
Skin, an d o fo u r Flesh, and that which you callJustice may not be so amongst
us;you have you r L aws an d Customs, and so have w e. The Great K in g m ight
send you o ver to conquer the Indians, but it looks to us that God d id not
approve o f it; ifh e had, he w ou ld not h a ve p laced the Sea, w here it is, as the
Limits betw een us and you. (The Honourable Cadwallader Colden, The
History of the Five Indian Nations o f Canada, \141, p a ge 125)

Generally, however, the Puritans became increasingly hostile to the Indians and
contemptuous of them. As the Puritan settlers gained in numbers and power their
governments forced the Indians to pay tribute, to submit to their arbitration, to
obtain their consent to Indian sale o f land and to accept not only English laws and
customs but also fines, whipping and confiscation o f land. Such indignities along
with an imposed hum iliating treaty caused Metacomet (whom the settlers called
King Philip and who had succeeded his late father, Massasoit, as chief of the
Wampanoags) and his allies, the Narragansetts and the Nipmucks, to take to the
warpath in 1675 and raid isolated settlements. They destroyed or emptied twenty
towns, killed a sixteenth o f the New England males (about 1,000) and not a few
women and children and cost the colonies nearly £90,000. A t last the New
Englanders, after several reverses, surrounded an Indian stronghold and massa­

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cred hundreds. Mohawks, recruited by Massachusetts, ambushed Metacomet and

presented his head to the colonial leaders in Boston. W ithout him the alliance fell
apart. Lacking food reserves for a persistent campaign and outnumbered four to
one, the Indians accepted a peace but, with the help o f the French, they raided
settlements in New Hampshire and M aine till 1678. King P hilips W ar was a
struggle about land. The growing population o f white settlers was pressing upon
the Indians’ need o f large hunting territories for sustenance while at the same time
the colonists believed that any land not being farmed by Indians was unoccupied
and therefore fit for appropriation. New Englanders died or lost their houses and
livestock in Indian raids but their governments increased hostility by executing
Indian leaders and enslaving Indian captives.
(Reference: Curtis R Nettels, The Roots o f American C ivilization; Alan Brinkley,
The Unfinished N ation )

M AIN E AND N EW H A M PSH IRE

The Council for New England made grants in 1622 o f a domain between the
M errim ack and the Kennebec Rivers to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and to Captain
John M ason, a wealthy London merchant, Anglican colonizer o f Newfoundland
and a friend o f the Duke of Buckingham, who was later assassinated at Mason’s
home in Portsmouth, Devon. Seven years later they divided their grants so that
Gorges became the sole owner o f the Province o f M aine. He tried vainly several
times to develop a feudal settlement. Upon his death in 1647 the Bay Colony
began to seek the assent o f various small settlements in M aine to come under the
jurisdiction o f Massachusetts. It sent commissioners to M aine to gain the submis­
sion o f the inhabitants. Despite strong opposition and controversy, the majority
yielded to the B ay Colony, including our pioneer ancestor Edmund Littlefield and
three o f his sons. The Restoration o f the Stuarts in 1660 rang in a period of con­
fusion until Massachusetts bought the title to M aine from the Gorges family in
1677 and then had this status confirmed by the provincial charter o f 1691. Maine
did not achieve statehood until 1820 when it was admitted as a counterbalance to
the slave state o f Missouri.

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 THE BAY COLONY

Very few o f our ancestor families lived in M aine. Richard Nason, o f Kittery,
took the oath o f allegiance to Massachusetts in 1651 and was a deputy to the
general court four years later. Lieutenant Andrew Newcomb Jr., his wife Sarah
and their seven children lived at Kittery and he did business in the Isle o f Shoals
in the 1660 s and till her death in 1674, after which the family moved to M artha’s
Vineyard. Thomas Deane and Lydia Cole left Cape Cod in the 1730’s for
Scarborough and then New Meadows, now Bath, in M aine, where he died.
The present state o f New Hampshire got its first settlements in 1623 under the
authority o f the Council for New England. David Thomson, a merchant o f P ly­
mouth, England, with his wife and nine other individuals formed a plantation
near the mouth o f the Piscataqua River, close to the present Portsmouth., and
Edward Hilton, a London dealer in fish, and his brother W illiam established one
called H ilton, now part o f Dover, seven miles up that river. The purpose o f both
was to fish and to trade w ith the Indians for fur. Captain John M ason agreed with
Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1629 to divide their Council grant so that he became
sole owner o f a tract between die Piscataqua and Merrimack Rivers sixty miles
wide from the coast to which he gave the name New Hampshire. Two Puritan
ministers from the Bay Colony, John W heelw right and Stephen Batchellor, re­
spectively settled Exeter in 1638 and Hampton in 1639. Two years later, the four
towns, with some dissent, put themselves under the jurisdiction of the Massachu­
setts Bay Colony. In 1679 New Hampshire became a royal province, which in ­
cluded those four towns.
The first o f our ancestors to settle in New Hampshire was W illiam Berry as one
o f Captain Masons planters in 1631 at Strawberry Bank. His daughter Elizabeth
married John Locke, who came there in the mid-1640’s. Visitors can now sense
somewhat the life of those early settlers, for the domestic buildings o f that heart of
early Portsmouth have been restored.

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 THE BAY COLONY

John Locke and Elizabeth Berry moved to Hampton. Joseph Austin was there
before 1645. George Parkhurst and family lived there for a time because his first
wife’s sister was the wife of the minister there, Rev. Tim othy Dalton. Jasper Blake
and his wife, Deborah Dalton, were there, where their daughter Dorothy m ar­
ried Nathaniel Locke, Captain John’s son. Richard Swain was an influential pro­
prietor there before he moved to Nantucket about 1660.
Dover was the home o f Nicholas and A bigail Follett and of our ancestors who
moved to Nantucket: Joseph Austin, Edward Starbuck, James Coffin and Joseph
Nason. The family of John M eader lived on his grant in the nearby Durham area
on a beautiful peninsula between the Piscataqua and Oyster Rivers.
Urged on by the French in Quebec, the Indians attacked the English settle­
ments in 1689 and the 1690 s during King W illiam ’s War. As a result o f Sir W illiam
Phip’s failed attack on Quebec, its Indian allies raided Haverhill and destroyed
the M aine towns ofYork and W ells. On 18 M ay 1690 the Indians attacked Wells
from all sides, burned homes and killed many. On 19 June 1692 a force of about
450 French and Indians attacked Storer’s Garrison House at W ells and its thirty-
five defenders, who successfully held out till 11 July when the enemy made a last
futile attack In August of 1693 the Sagamores in the Treaty o f Pemaquid with
Governor Phips agreed not to make war on Massachusetts but the following 18
July the French, needing the Indians’ hostility to the English as a constant buffer,
led a force o f 300 Indians in an attack on both sides o f the Oyster River in New
Hampshire. They killed John Dean and took his house, were repulsed at the
garrison houses o f Lieut. Stephen Jones, o f James Bunker and o f Stephen Smith,
set fire, which was put out, to the Davis garrison, burned the M eader garrison
house after the family had evacuated it by water, burned m any houses north and
south o f the river and killed or captured ninety-four.
A reminder! The plain ahnentafel numbers are for Fisk(e) ancestors; those
w ith L for Locke ancestors; those with a for ancestors o f A bigail Sm ith, M rs.
Amasa Fisk; those with h for the putative ancestors o f M ary Emma Sm ith, M rs
Alfred Fisk.

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 THE BAY COLONY

A ustin, A gnes1, M rs Edmund1 Littlefield 1596/7-1678 (#489L) was baptized

1 February 1596-7 at Tichfield, Hants County, the daughter of Richard and Annis
Austin. The undated will o f Richard Austin, who was buried 15 February 1622-3,
was proved 4 June 1623 with an inventory o f nearly £125. Agnes inherited a cow
and a bullock and her husband received a three-year colt. Other main bequests
were a bullock each to sons Daniel and Peter, £5 each to daughters Joan and Emlen,
a bullock each to the three children o f Edmund and Agnes Littlefield, and a sheep
each to all other grandchildren. A bride seventeen years old, Agnes Austin mar­
ried Edmund Littlefield 16 October 1614 in the parish church. She gave birth in
the next twenty-two years to twelve children, two o f whom died in infancy. In
M ay of 1638 at the age of 41, the passenger list shows 38, she brought her six
youngest children and two servants aboard the B evis to join her husband in Ex­
eter, New Hampshire. The last two years o f Annis’s life were sad ones owing to
Indian attacks. A t W ells the Indians killed several people, including her grandson
Isaac, a son o f Francis the Elder, and, a year later, Ensign John Barrett, the hus­
band of her daughter M ary, and their two sons. Annis Littlefield made her will 12
December 1677 and it was probated 2 April 1678. She gave to Hannah her bed
and bolster, to Hannah, Elizabeth and M ary equally all her “lining and wollen
New&could”, to M eribah four bushels o f wheat, to John her cow Gentle and five
bushels o f com , to her grandson Peter Cloyse two acres o f marsh and to her grand­
daughter Katherine W akefield her rug and eight bushels o f corn.
Follett, Nicholas1, died ca 1663 (#506L), and his wife. Abigail, were residents
o f Dover, New Hampshire for some years but when Nicholas Follett died about
1663 they were living in York County, M aine. They had Mary, who married W illiam
W itham ; Nicholas, Jr., a sea captain, who married H annah------; Sarah, who mar­
ried John M eader; and perhaps other children.
Follett, Sarah2, M rs John2M eader, d ca 1727 (#253L) (Nicholas1) was born to
Nicholas and his wife, A b igail------------- , probably at Dover. Sarah Follett was the
first wife o f John Meader, Jr., o f Dover, New Hampshire, and she bore him his five
children: Joseph, bom 1681; Nicholas, about 1683; Elizabeth, about 1684, Abigail,
about 1686; and Sarah, Jr., about 1688. Sarah died about 1727, nine years before
her husband.

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 THE BAYCOLONY

(References: Austin, 160 Allied Families, p. 99; “Genealogical Items Relating to

Dover, N .H .”, NEHGR, 6:38 and 9:366; John R. Ham, “Note on Follet, NEHGR,
39: 82; Pope, Pioneers o f M aine and N ew Hampshire)
Littlefield, Edm und1, 1592-1661 (#488L) was baptized 27 June 1592 at
Titchfield, on Southampton Water, Hampshire, at St. Peters Church, the tower of
which was built in 960 A . D. Edmund was the eldest child of FrancisA Littlefield,
yeoman and clothier and his first wife, M a r y ------ . Leaving an estate in 1618
worth £260, Francis in his w ill gave his wife Anne, formerly the widow W igg, the
house next to his fulling m ill, which was to belong to his son James, remembered
her two W ig g children, his sons Edward [Edmund, a clerical error?], Nicholas
and John, W inchester cathedral, the parish church, his servant maid, and the
parish poor. Being his father’s eldest son, he Edmund Littlefield probably received
a settlement at the time o f his marriage 16 October 1614 to Agnes (also called
Annis) Austin, daughter o f Richard and Annis Austin. The parish register records
that ceremony and the baptism of some of their ten children and the burial of
their first two. Edmund Littlefield was sued in 1635-36 by Stephen M arch for a
claimed debt o f £16 for eleven tods (308 pounds) of wool. Accompanied by sons
Anthony and Francis the Elder, Edmund sailed from Southampton in April of
1637 for Boston, where he soon supported the so-called Antinomians.
H ie following May, M rs. Agnes Littlefield, 38, sailed from the same port in the
150-ton B evis w ith John, 14, Elizabeth, 11, Mary, 8, the twins Thomas and Anna,
5, Francis the Younger, 2, and two servants. T hey joined Edmund in Exeter, New
Hampshire, whither he had gone with the Rev. John W heelw right, who had been
the first pastor at Braintree and who had been driven out o f the Bay Colony for his
“antinomian” views. W heelw right bought a large tract o f land from the Indians,
established the First Church o f Exeter and drew up a Christian agreement for
voluntary government, called “the combination”, as subjects o f King Charles, on 5
July 1639, which was signed by many adult males.
Edmund Littlefield received an allotment o f land but in 1641 following bitter
conflict in the church, he moved with his pastor to a large unsetded district in
M aine, where they established the town o f W ells, named for the cathedral town
near the seat o f the Gorges family. He built a saw m ill and later a grist mill, got a

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 THE BAY COLONY

grant o f land from Thomas Gorges, the deputy governor, was a land agent for
Gorges for a time, and was licensed to keep a tavern.. He was in various years a
commissioner to try small cases. The richest man in W ells, he and Annis and six
children between six and twenty years lived in a three-room house, in which the
kitchen was also the living room, where were found a table, a pewter pot, a drip­
ping pan and skillet but no crockery nor cutlery nor chair, according to Cassius
M artin, historian of the family. The two bedrooms contained beds, blankets and
chests. A plaque imbedded in a large stone reads: SIT E OF THE/ FIRST/
D W E L L IN G H O U SE / IN/ W E L L S B U IL T BY/ E D M U N D
LITTLEFIELD/ 1641
Edmund Littlefield died at the age o f seventy-one in December 1661 and left a
w ill for an estate worth the considerable sum of £588, giving to Francis the Elder,
Anthony and Elizabeth equally the whole tract o f land lying on the northeast side
of Kennebunk, £5 to Elizabeth, £10 each to Francis and John, £15 apiece to M ary
and Hannah and all his clothes to Anthony, to his wife Annis and sons Thomas
and Francis the Younger equally all upland and marsh not disposed of, the saw
mill and grist mill, “with all my houseing 6c goods, within doores 6c with out,
together with all the stocke 6c Cattle both small and Greate”, those sons to give
her corn and wheat yearly and to be helpful to her. I f they did so, they would have
her share o f the real property at her death.
Littlefield, Anthony2, 1621-62 (#244L) (Edmund1) was baptized atTitchfield
on 7 October 1621 and came to New England w ith his father and elder brother
at the age o f seventeen. He lived in that part o f W ells which is Kennebunk, where
he had a grant o f230 acres, which he sold in 1658. Anthony Littlefield is believed
to have married twice and his three children, Edmund, Samuel and Caleb, and
perhaps more, were by his second wife, M ary Page o f Saco, M aine, whom he
married about 1652 Four years later he sued John Smith for goods M ary had
brought to her indenture. Unlike his aggressive, successful brothers, Anthony lacked
energy and temperance and even education. H is father left him nothing but used
apparel. W hen in June 1662, a few months after his father, he died at the age of
forty, his corn, cattle, swine and household goods were worth about £34.

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 THE BAY COLONY

Littlefield, Edmund3, ca 1653-1718 (#122L) (Anthony2 Edmund1) was born

at W ells, M aine, about 1653, the eldest o f the three children o f Anthony Littlefield
and M ary Page. W hen young he was fortunate to become an apprentice to his
uncle, Francis the Elder. He received a grant of 200 acres on the Kennebunk
River in 1680. The next year he became the husband of a woman whose name has
not come down to us and they had three children. Soon after she died, Edmund
Littlefield moved to Braintree, Massachusetts about 1690 and was granted 200
acres near Great Pond. A t the age of 38 he married 19-year-old Elizabeth Mott,
who had been born 17 M ay 1671 to Nathaniel and Hannah M ott. Edmund built
a saw m ill on a branch of the Blue H ill River. A successful miller and farmer, he
was elected to several offices. Edmund and Elizabeth had twelve children. Eight­
een months before his death on 9 A pril 1718 he gave power o f attorney to his son
Samuel.
Littlefield, Dorcas4, M rs D avid3H orton, 1713- (#61L) (Edmund3 Anthony2
Edmund1), the youngest child o f Edmund Litdefield and Elizabeth M ott, was
born at Braintree 17 August 1713. A t the age o f seventeen, on 24 December
1730, she married David Horton, Jr., son o f David Horton and M ary Badcock.
Dorcas bore thirteen children, the twelfth o f whom was Lem uel Horton, who
(we believe without direct proof: see chapter 11) moved to Nova Scotia and through
his daughter Lydia became the grandfather o f Ann Crowell, who married Hon.
Samuel Locke.
(References: Elizabeth French, “Genealogical Research in England: Littlefield”,
N E H G R,67:343-348;Jenks and Seymour, Thomas Horton o f M ilton an d Rehoboth,
Massachusetts; M artin, Generations ofLittlefieldTracks Across A m erica ; G. Andrews
Moriarty, “Nathaniel M ott o f Scituate”, N EH G R, 67:23—26; Noyes et al, Genea­
logical D ictionary o f M aine and N ew Hampshire,; Pope, Pioneers ofM assachusetts)
M eader, John1, Sr., cl625-1715 (#504L), was at Exeter, New Hampshire, and
signed a petition o f its inhabitants on 7 September 1643. Dr. Granville MeadePs
book of 1975 states that he may have been the son o f John Meader* o f Fordington,
Dorset, who had got into trouble with the law for overpasturing his heifer on the
common moor and who evidently was cut off in the w ill o f his father, Thomas8, a
yeoman of means, with a bequest o f a Bible. That Thomas, a son o f Thomas

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 THE BAYCOLONY

Meader, Sr.c and Joan Chadwicke, married Elizabeth Wellstead. Thomas Sr. was
the son ofW illiam M eader the Elder0, who in turn was a son of Nicholas MeaderE,
a respected yeoman o f Affpuddle, Dorset. Our John1 M eader’s father, JohnA, was
the only one of the line who left no will. In 1641-42 he had signed the Dorset
Proclamation promising to uphold the Church o f England and swearing alle­
giance to Charles the First.
John1Meader, Sr., the emigrant to New Hampshire, was bom about 1625. He
likely worked as a hired man in his first years there. In 1653 in Dover he married
Abigail, daughter o f John Tuttle and Joan Antrobus, whose family had arrived in
1635 from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, in the Planter. Three years later he shared a
100-acre grant w ith W illiam Sheffield and in 1660 he bought land from Valentine
H ill near the mouth o f the Oyster River, where he and A bigail settled. This was in
a beautiful peninsula above Portsmouth between the Oyster and Piscataqua Riv­
ers. Beginning in 1660 A bigail gave birth to six children, John Jr., Joseph, Eliza­
beth, Sarah, Nathaniel and Nicholas. A bigail died in Durham before 4 April 1674.
The DoverTown Records show John M eader Sr. as a ratepayer in 1657, a jury­
man in 1659-60 and a grand juror five times between 1661 and 1693. In 1669 he
signed a petition of Oyster River to the General Court o f Massachusetts com­
plaining that eight years before, the town o f Dover had promised Oyster River a
minister and this settlement w ith a population o f 220, “mustering seventy-odd
soldiers” was religiously neglected and no doubt if it could be a town with an “able
orthodox minister” its population would soon increase. In 1684 he and others at
Oyster River were stripped o f their lands following a suit brought by a grandson
o f Captain John Mason. Because the officers of the court could not find anyone to
buy those lands and could not retain possession, those settlers soon regained their
occupancy. In 1685 he was one o f the petitioners who appointed Nathaniel W ear
of Hampton to protest to King James the arbitrary actions o f Governor Cranfield.
Two years later he was the foreman o f a coroner’s ju ry that found Elizabeth Jenkins
had “willfully destroyed herself by casting herself into the water.” On 20 February
1689 he and his sons Thomas and Joseph signed the Petition of New Hampshire
Settlers addressed to the governor and council o f Massachusetts Colony asking
for government and protection until their majesties would decide the future o f

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New Hampshire (NEHGR, 8; 234). In 1694 Indians burned John M eaders gar­
rison house after the family had escaped by boat. In that year and 1704 the Indi­
ans killed his two youngest sons, Nathaniel and Nicholas. John Meader, Sr., died
about 1715.
M eader,John2,Jr., cl66(>-1736 (#252L), (John1) was born about 1660 at Oys­
ter River, Dover, New Hampshire, to John M eader and A bigail Tuttle, John be­
came a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, which was formed in
1637 for home defence and the disciplined training of young militiamen. He
became a farmer and perhaps a weaver and went to live in the Durham area in
1676, where four years later he married Sarah Follett, daughter o f Nicholas and
Abigail Follett, of Dover. They had five children: Joseph, Abigail, Nicholas, Eliza­
beth and Sarah. In 1690 he was one of many New Hampshire residents who
signed a petition to Massachusetts for government and protection. About 1715
he returned to Oyster River and took up the lands that as the eldest son he had
inherited from his father. Sarah died in 1727 and in the nine years before his own
death he married E lizabeth----------- and then M rs. Agnes (Samuel) C lark, who
outlived him. In 1727 “Rev. Hugh Adams baptized Elizabeth, wife o f John, 60
years old, sitting lame in her chair” and the following year the “aged”John M eader
Jr.. He made his will 2 November 1736 and it was proved 17 December. To his
son John he gave h alf his real estate and to his son Nicholas sheep and lambs, etc.
To his daughters Elizabeth and A bigail he gave all his movable property not
already disposed of. The next year the widow Agnes sold some o f her late hus­
band’s land to her son-in-law Joseph M eader, now o f Nantucket.
M eader,Joseph3, 1681-1759 (#126L), (John21) was born at Dover, New Hamp­
shire, to John M eader Jr. and Sarah Follett 10 April 1681. Joseph M eader moved
to Nantucket when rather young and on 29 December 1703 married Charity Nason,
daughter of Joseph Nason and M ary Swain (see Chapter Eight).
(References: Austin, One Hundred an d Sixty A llied Families, Granville Meader,
John M eader o f Piscataqua: His Ancestors and D ependants ; Noyes et al, Genealogical
D ictionary o f M aine and N ew Hampshire)

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 THE BAYCOLONY

M ott, N athaniel1, died 1675 (#246L) was one of the pioneers o f Scituate, where
in 1643 he was listed among those males able to bear arms. Two years later he was
one of eight whom Plymouth Colony sent against the Narragansetts. Having moved
to the nearby town of Braintree, on 25 December 1656 he married Hanna, the
widow o f Peter Shooter, who had died five months before. Nathaniel M ott and his
wife had ten children.: Nathaniel (dy), John, Nathaniel, Mary, Lydia, Samuel, Eliza­
beth, Experience (dy), Edward and Ebenezer. Nathaniel seems to have been in
modest circumstances, for there are no records of his owning land, he was living
on Mr. Parker’s farm, according to the M iddlesex court records, on 22 December
1663, and he did not leave a w ill He was one of four men killed by the Indians
during a raid on the town 23 February 1675-6. John, Nathaniel, Jr. and Edward
moved to New Shoreham, Block Island, which Nathaniel later represented in the
General Assembly o f Rhode Island. John moved to Lyme, Connecticut, where
Samuel had settled. Ebenezer stayed in Scituate. Lydia “possibly” married Caleb
Littlefield and became ancestor o f the Rhode Island Littlefields.
M ott, Elizabeth3, M rs Edmund3Littlefield, 1671—(#123L) (Nathaniel1),the
fourth child o f Nathaniel M ott and Hannah Shooter, was bom 17 M ay 1671 at
Braintree. A t the age o f nineteen she became the second wife o f Edmund Littlefield
and they had twelve children. She was thus ancestor o f the Littlefields o f Bristol
and Norfolk counties.
(References: G. Andrews Moriarty, “Nathaniel M ott o f Scituate”, NEHGR,
67: 23-26; Noyes et al, G enealogical D ictionary o f M aine and N ew Hampshire)
Nason, R ichard1, died 1696 (# 508L ), a native o f Rainsford Island, England,
(according to the M em oir o f Rev. Elias Nason, NEHGR, 4 3 :2 0 ) was a yeoman
and a founder o f Kittery, M aine, who owned 200 acres at Pipe Stave Landing.
His first wife may have been Sarah Baker, a daughter o f John Baker, who was fined
in the New Hampshire court for beating Richard black and blue. One wonders
what Richard could have done to provoke such wrath: did he get Sarah with child
too soon? One of Richard’s sons was baptized Baker, an unusual first name. They
had John, Jonathan, Joseph, Richard, Benjamin, Baker and Sarah. The order of
their birth is not known. In 1647 Richard Sr. was on a coroner’s jury and on a trial
jury in 1649 and 1653. H e became an ensign in 1653 and a town commissioner

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the following year. He swore allegiance to Massachusetts in 1652 but, being an

unabashed Quaker, he was forever in trouble after the Bay Colony took jurisdic­
tion over M aine. The very next year he was disfranchised for playing host to out-
of-town Friends. Two years later, charged with blasphemy, he came near to execu­
tion but the General Court did not go so far in his case.
The people o f Kittery were more accepting of him, for they chose him to be
their deputy to the General Court but that august body refused him and censured
the town for electing him. Richard Nason would not have endeared him self to
M assachusetts by becoming a trustee for Gorges in 1662. H e was chosen a
selectman of Kittery in 1659,1667 and 1668. He was haled into court five times
between 1655 and 1675 for absence from Congregational meetings and in 1685
four o f his sons appear to have followed their father’s Friendly path to the court.
Richard’s wife, Sarah, died and some time after 1663 he married Abigail, the
widow o f Nicholas Follett, Sr. There were no children of this second marriage.
Richard Nason and Humphrey Chadborne inventoried the estate o f Thomas
Etherington, who w ith his wife was lost at sea in John Cole’s lighter in November
o f 1664 (N EH G R, 16; 163). In 1678 he was charged w ith being abusive to offic­
ers. W ith A bigails consent, he deeded land in 1694 to two o f his sons, Baker and
Benjamin. H e made his w ill on 14 July o f that year “under the infirmities o f old
age” and it was proved 22 December 1696. The codicil to his w ill identifies his
wife as A bigail, to whom he passed property that had belonged to Nicholas Follett
and also some o f his own estate. The remainder he divided among his own chil­
dren and the children o f Nicholas and A bigail Follett. [Baker, Sarah, M rs Rich­
ard Nason, died ca 1663 (#509L)]
Nason, Joseph2, married ca 1681 (#254L) (Richard1), son o f Richard Nason
and Sarah Baker (?), lived in Dover, New Hampshire. There Joseph Nason mar­
ried M ary Swain, daughter o f John Swain and granddaughter o f Richard Swain.
T hey moved to Nantucket (see chapter eight).
(References: Noyes et al, G enealogical Dictionary, Pope, Pioneers o f M aine and
N ew Hampshire)

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Page, Thom as1, bom ca 1606 (#490L), a twenty-nine-year-old tailor o f A ll

Saints Stayning, London, embarked in the Increase in April o f 1635 with his wife
Elizabeth, 28, Thomas, 2, Katherine, 1, and servants Katherine Taylor, 24, and
Edward Sparkes, 22, and arrived at Boston at the end o f July. Thomas Page paid
taxes in Saco, M aine, in September o f the next year and sued John Richmond for
trespass the year after that. In 1640 he was a trial juror and a grand juror and
drew a London bill o f exchange to pay £40 to John Hoxton o f W apping. He and
Elizabeth had four more children, M ary, Christopher, Sylvester and George, the
first three o f whom he bound out as apprentices.
Page, M ary2, M rs Anthony2 Littlefield, m 1652 (#245L) (Thomas1) was bound
as an apprentice to John Smith for five years. M ary Page married Anthony Littlefield
about 1652. After his death M ary Page Littlefield sold her interests in 200 acres at
Cape Porpoise and moved with her three young children to Saco.
Tuttle, John1, cl595-1662 (#1010L):The port authority set down on 2 April
1637 a list of passengers “to be transported to New England in the Planter , Nicholas
Trarice, master. The parties have brought certificates from the M inister o f St.
Albans, Hertfordshire and attestations from the Justices o f the peace according to
the lords order.” John Tuttell, a mercer 39, and his wife Joan 42 were there with
their four children, A bigail 6, Simon 4, Sarah 2 and John 1 along w ith Joan’s
children named Lawrence by a previous marriage, John 17, W illiam 12 and M ary
9, as well as her mother Joan Antrobus and a sixteen-year-old servant (probably
an apprentice) by the name o f Nathan H aford.They settled at Dover, New Hamp­
shire. John Tuttle signed a letter on 4 M arch 1640 from the inhabitants protest­
ing against Captain Underhills plan to bring New Hampshire under Massachu­
setts and supporting the idea o f government by their own “combination”. In 1641
he helped Captain W iggins to drive his cattle from York to Dover. The next year
the family went to live on a 20-acre grant at Dover Neck. In 1657 John Tuttle
bought land from Henry Tippets. W hen John Tuttle died without a will in 1662,
the court appointed his widow, Dorothy, 30 June 1663 to administer his estate.
Tuttle, A bigail2, M rs John1M eader, c l6 2 8 -b e f 1674 (#505L) (John1) came in
the Planter in 1635 from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, in the Planter at the age o f six
years. She married John M eader in 1653, went to live with him near the mouth o f

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the Oyster River, and they had six children. She died before 4 A pril 1674.
(References: “Dover Combination”, NEHGR, 22: 230 and 23:161—2; “Found­
ers o f New England”, NEHGR, 14:303-4; “Genealogical Items relating to Do­
ver, N .H .”, NEHGR, 8:1 3 2 -3 ; “Notes on the Field Family, N EH GR, 2 3 :1 6 1 -2 ;
Noyes et al, Genealogical D ictionary o f M aine and N ew Hampshire, p. 700)

D O RCH ESTER

No doubt John W hite was concerned that the moderately puritan colony within a
purified Church of England that he had planned for Numkeag was being con­
verted to Separatism by Endecott and his group, who had come under the influ­
ence o f their Plymouth neighbours. Although active in the Massachusetts Bay
Company but with diluted influence and while working under the umbrella of the
Company’s great migration but keeping his own counsel, John W hite commis­
sioned the M ary andJohn, 400 tons, and recruited W est Country settlers and two
ministers, Rev. John W arham and Rev. John M averick, with beliefs like his own.
John W hite in his flat cap and his black gown with white bands waved goodbye to
140 passengers, six families from Devon and the rest from west Dorset and south
Somerset, as they sailed 20 March 1630 from Plymouth. T hey arrived in Boston
Bay on 30 May. Captain Thomas Chubb (W inthiops Journal has “Capt. Squib”),
it appears, had promised to take them to Charlestown but put them ashore with
their goods at Nantasket Point. Roger Clap, then twenty, wrote an account in his
old age. He said “Capt. S q u eg.. left us to fend for ourselves in a forlorn place.” A
party of ten men borrowed a boat from the coastal trading station o f John Oldham
in order to explore. A t Charlestown they saw a house and wigwams and inside
they found a man who gave them a boiled bass to e a t . T hey went up the Charles
River and near Watertown they met a seasoned planter (probably Oldham), who
asked a band o f 300 Indians not to go near the party at night. Clap stood sentinel
that night. The following days the Indians gave them bass and Clap s men gave
them ship biscuits. T hey built a shelter for their goods. Oldham would have had
an interest in getting the newcomers “to settle at Watertown and thus give more
color to his claim on the land.” (Robinson 8c W heeler, p. 131.) Arriving at Salem
on 12 June, Governor W inthrop hastened to Boston Bay and ordered the men to

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settle south of Oldham’s claim, “to come away from that place, which was about
Watertown, unto a place now called Dorchester, because there was a neck of land
fit to keep our cattle on.” (quoted by Hodges, pp. 8-9). They named the settle­
ment in honour o f their patriarch, the Reverend John W hite.
A second shipload arrived in July of 1633 for Dorchester, which by October of
that year was paying £80 tax in contrast with £48 for Boston, an indication of
Dorchester’s size and wealth. In the spring o f 1636, however, the church and a
large part of the population moved to W indsor, Connecticut.
Three o f our early pioneers at Dorchester were John Dunham, John H ill and
Hopestill Leland, to whom may perhaps be added Richard Rocket.
(References: Hodges, Crossroads on the Charles\ Robinson and W heeler, History
o f Watertown ; Thistlethwaite, Dorset Pilgrim s )

W ATERTO W N

The founders o f W atertown, Sir Richard Saltonstall, the Reverend George Phillips
and John Oldham, tried to make sure that this new settlement would not repeat
the mistakes that had made Plymouth Colony such a loss to its financial backers
and such a hard experience for the Pilgrim s and their leaders. Evidently after the
trial o f Oldham and Lyford at Plymouth, Oldham m ay have written to stock­
holders in London because when W inslow w ent there as the Pilgrim s agent he
found them split. As a result of O ldhams criticisms, the colonists for Massachu­
setts Bay in 1630 “were promised individual ownership o f land and a voice in the
election o f every‘freeman.’
Oldham made peace w ith the Pilgrims and joined with them in suppressing
Thomas Morton at Merrymount, who was dancing around the maypole and sell­
ing muskets and ammunition to the Indians. Oldham agreed to take Morton as
prisoner to England. In January, 1629, Oldham bought from John Gorges a pat­
ent to the fertile land between the M ystic and Charles Rivers- where are now
Charlestown, Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Belmont and Watertown. John
Gorges was trying to validate his late brother Robert’s patent by establishing
possession of the land. W hen Oldham negotiated with the governor and deputies
of the Massachusetts Bay Company about trade and settlement in that area Gov­

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ernor M atthew Cradock played for time while he sent a letter by swift ship to
Endecott “to take possession o f the chief thereof”, to build a settlement at
Charlestown rather than enlarge the colony at Numkeag. After Endecott sent a
surveyor to lay out Charlestown, fifty people from Salem settled there because
King Charles had granted O ldhams claim to the Bay Company and in the con­
fusion o f grants the claimants raced to establish possession.
At Charlestown two covenants were drawn, one congregation to go with Rev.
George Phillips to W atertown and the other with Rev. John W ilson to Boston.
Sir Richard Saltonstall and about forty men, including our ancestors Isaac Stearns
and John Warren, signed the former covenant and the families moved up the
river to the settlement, which was called Saltonstall Plantation at first. The Gen­
eral Court and later the town made a free grant to each planter o f a house lot, a
well and a barn. M r. Phillips practised a religious tolerance that was unusual for
the time. A master o f arts from Caius College, Cambridge, he had been ordained
a Church o f England minister. In February o f 1632 Governor W inthrop and the
assistants levied a tax o f £60 on the twelve towns to fortify New Town, later
called Cambridge. Phillips and Elder Richard Browne assembled the people of
W atertown, who decided not to pay the tax on the grounds o f no representation.
Hence the next General Court ordered the towns to choose representatives to
confer with the Court about raising the public fund. The name o f John Oldham
was the first on the list. The Bay administration had given him the land on the
river at Watertown and admitted him as a freeman in 1631 before passing the law
that limited the privilege to church members. Watertown had the first board of
selectmen in New England, which it elected in 1634.
Those in the congregation who opposed their minister and Elder Browne be­
lieved in a closely restricted communion supervised by a synod of all the M assa­
chusetts clergy. In M ay of 1636 Phillips and the leading men of the Watertown
church attended an assembly o f the Cambridge church not as delegates but as
neighbours. The historian John Fiske saw this act as the first assertion of the right
o f congregational independence. Phillips’ nature was not disputatious like that of
Cotton or W ilson in Boston. H e did not force his opinions on others and he
expected the same courtesy from them. In his time Watertown likely had no fine

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for absence from church. He died of the cholick [a heart attack?] on 1 July 1644. Sir
Richard Saltonstall returned to England with his two daughters and youngest son
in M arch o f 1631 but he kept an interest in the Bay Colony, where two of his sons
had remained.
Watertown was the first town away from the coast in the Bay Colony and a
doorway to the valley of the Connecticut River. Its settlers were farmers who
were not interested in fishing or trading, but the large immigration brought pres­
sures westward. The thousands moving that way stopped briefly at Watertown
and took with them the more adventurous or the least content o f its first settlers.
John Oldham was in the forefront of the western movement. W ith three others
he travelled overland to Connecticut in September of 1633. W ith his knowledge
o f native languages he got along well with the sachem, who gave him beaver skins
and lodging. The next year he got gifts from the Indians of 500 bushels and an
island of 1,000 acres. In 1636 Jonathan Brewster, who had married Oldham’s
sister, tried to get word to him that the Pequots intended to rise against the
settlers. On 20 July, John Gallop saw many Indians on the deck o f Oldhams
drifting pinnace. Gallop drove them off and found Oldham’s body under an old
fishing net, his head cleft. “H e was the first o f that race o f pioneers which opened
up the W est, although it is hard to realize that Connecticut was then the W est,
and Watertown the outpost o f civilization.” (Robinson & W heeler, p. 34) H is
death brought on the Pequot W ar o f 1637. Captain John Endecott led a small
avenging force. Impatient at a delay in the surrender o f the guilty and o f a great
quantity o f wampum as indemnity, he stirred up a hornets nest by killing twenty
or more, seizing their supplies, and burning and destroying. The Pequot raged up
and down the Connecticut Valley plundering and killing. Roger W illiam s talked
the Narragansett out o f taking the field w ith the Pequots against all the English
settlements. A force o f ninety men o f Connecticut set fire at night to the Pequot
encampment near the mouth o f the M ystic River and burned alive or killed 500
men, women and children. M ilitiam en o f Connecticut and Massachusetts tracked
down the surviving Pequots, took them as slaves or sold them to the W est Indies
or turned them over to other tribes. The Reverend Thomas Shepard, pastor of
the Cambridge church, called it a “divine slaughter”.

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 THE BAY COLONY

Our early pioneers in Watertown were Ellis Barron and Grace Barron, Nathan
Fiske and Susan Fiske, Lewis Jones and A nn Jones, John W arren and M argaret
Warren, and John W hitney and Elinor W hitney. The surname o f none o f those
waves is known.
(References: Hodges; Morison; Robinson &. W heeler)

FRO M TH EO C RA C Y TO PRO VIN CE TO REVO LUTIO NARY LEA D ER

Massachusetts grew in economic strength and standard o f living as it developed a

sea-borne trade w ith the southern colonies, the W est Indies, and England and
Europe. By the Navigation A ct o f 1660 the colonies were required to collect cus­
toms but for many years they took little action because the mother country was
busy with domestic and foreign difficulties. English merchants complained in 1672
that they were unable to compete w ith overseas traders who were paying little or
no duty. The Home Government gave up being lenient and insisted on legal trad­
ing operations. The Lords of Trade sent Edward Randolph to enforce the trading
rules but he was balked in cases against eight ships by colonial juries, who even
awarded damages against him, the Collector. W hen the Lords o f Trade charged
Massachusetts with trading illegally and defeating justice, Governor Bradstreet
replied that strict inquiry could find little evidence o f such. Everlastingly foiled,
Randolph took aim at the colony’s charter, which was quashed in October o f 1684.
This was a struggle not only between a mother country and its w ilful colony but
also between the old theocratic order and the moderate party, led by Joseph Dudley,
who sought an amicable relation with England in the interests o f trade. Dudley,
the son of Thomas, who had been five times governor o f the Puritan colony, be­
came the pro-tern president.
In 1686 the Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony became part o f the Dominion
o f New England under the royal governor; Sir Edmund Andros. W h en news came
o f the invasion o f England by W illiam o f Orange, hundreds o f m ilitia took arms
in Boston and Charlestown and cannon were trained on Fort H ill, where Andros
had taken refuge, until he gave up, was imprisoned and sent home for trial and at
last freedom. D udley was treated like the Benedict Arnold o f his day and lay in
prison until the new king ordered his release and transport to England. H e re­

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 THE BAY COLONY

turned thirteen years later as a royal governor. After an anxious time the dominion
learned that King W illiam recognized its revolt as a friendly gesture towards him
and Queen Mary. He granted a new charter in 1691 to the province of Massachu­
setts, which was to include the Plymouth Colony and the M aine territory. Voters
no longer needed to be members of the Congregational churches. Although there
was to be a royal governor, the legislature had the power to levy taxes. Beginning
in the 1720’s disputes arose about the powers o f the governor and the legislature.
Massachusetts played a large part in the wars against the French and their Indian
allies. Britain, with a staggering debt of 140 million pounds and suffering a post­
war depression, felt that the lightly-taxed colonies should pay more of the cost of
their defence and administration. The presence and quartering o f British troops,
the British parliament’s blatantly irritating acts o f ascendancy over the colonial
legislatures, and other complex issues, aided by the theatrical responses of the
Patriots, led to an almost inevitable conclusion. W hen the French menace was
removed, Massachusetts, from the start o f a very independent mind, no longer
needed Britain’s protection and, fuelled by the dogged ideology of George III and
his servile government, was, with Virginia, a formidable leader in the inevitable
journey to independence o f a people who over a century and a h alf had become
different from the English in physical and mental geography and who wanted to
control their own destiny.
(References: James Truslow Adams, The Founding o f N ew England; Charles
M . Andrews, The Colonial P eriod o f American History, vol. 1; Alan Brinkley, The
Unfinished Nation; Edith Curtis, Anne Hutchinson: A Biography, John Fiske, The
Beginnings o f New England; David W . H all,ed., TheAntinomian Controversy, Albert
Bushnell Hart, ed., Commonwealth H istory o f Massachusetts:, Edmund S. Morgan,
ed., The Founding o f Massachusetts, Samuel Eliot Morison , Builders o f the Common­
w ealth ; J. R. Smith, P ilgrim s &Adventurers)

BAY CO LO N Y SE T T LE M E N T S O F OUR A N CE STO R S

Billerica, in Middlesex County, south o f Chelmsford and northwest o f Boston,

was settled in 1637. O riginally Shawsheen, the home o f the W amesit tribe and a
“praying Indian” town, it was named for Billericay, Essex. In the French and In­

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 THE BAYCOLONY

dian wars many people o f this settlement were massacred. Benjamin Bullard Jr.
married his second wife, Elizabeth Ellis, there in M ay o f 1677.
Boston : This brief history has told something about its founding and its hap­
penings as the capital and largest religious and commercial centre. Some o f our
early ancestors passed time in Boston. Nathaniel Colburne and Priscilla Clarke
came there in the W inthrop Fleet. Thomas Bayes and Ann Baker moved there
horn Dedham. Nicholas Busby and Bridget Cooke settled there in later life (1637)
and died there. John Coggeshall and M ary Coggeshall spent four years there and
moved, under threat o f banishment, in 1637 to Rhode Island. George Parkhurst
spent ten years in Boston before returning to England in 1655. Captain Andrew
Newcomb called Boston his home nearly a quarter o f a century. Jonathan1 Locke
and his wife A bigail Sm ith were probably living in Boston before moving to Nova
Scotia in 1761.
Braintree , Norfolk County, was settled in 1634 and is now part o f Greater Bos­
ton. It is closely associated with Henry Adams and two o f his descendants who
became presidents of the United States. Others o f our ancestors who were there in
the 17th century: James Covell, Edmund Littlefield, Moses Paine and the Rocket
or Rockwood family. Eventually towns such as M ilton, Quincy and Randolph
were formed from the large township o f Braintree.
Cambridge was settled as New Towne in 1630. Six years later the General Court
voted £400, equal to a year’s tax revenue, toward a college. John Harvard, a young
minister, died and left his library and h alf o f his estate, £1,700 in all, for the same
purpose. T he name o f the town was changed to honour his alma mater in Eng­
land. Our ancestor George Bower moved there for his sons’ education.
Charlestown was settled in 1630 but was early absorbed by Boston. John Crow
and Yelverton Crow were there till they moved to Cape Cod in 1638. W illiam
Learned was one o f the first proprietors there. Ralph Smith was there till he moved
to Hingham in 1633.
Dartmouth , Bristol County, in Southern Massachusetts, east o f Newport, Rhode
Island, was destroyed during King Philips W ar and rebuilt. John Dunham was
one o f the first purchasers, in 1650.

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 THEBAY COLONY

Dedham , county seat o f Norfolk and in Metropolitan Boston southwest, was

settled in 1635. Part of it became M edfield. Ancestral names associated with
Dedham for a time are Bayes, Bullard and Ellis.
D over , Norfolk County, was settled about 1635 and is now part o f Greater Bos­
ton. Joseph Austin and Edward Starbuck were early residents.
Framingham , Middlesex County, on the Sudbury River, twenty miles south­
west o f Boston, was settled about the middle o f the seventeenth century and
incorporated in 1700.
Groton is in Middlesex County northwest of Boston near the New Hampshire
border. Settled in 1655, it was destroyed and abandoned during the King Philip’s
War, was rebuilt, and was defended successfully against the Indians in 1694. Sev­
eral residents were killed and children carried off in 1707. Rev. John M iller spent
his last days there.
H averhill is in Essex County in the northeastern tip o f Massachusetts, on the
Merrimack River near the New Hampshire border. It was settled in 1640 by Rev.
John W ard and twelve followers from Haverhill, England. It was early engaged
in the fur trade, shipbuilding and commerce. The Coffin family was there in the
1640’s.
Hingham in Plymouth County was founded in 1634 by settlers from Hingham,
England, and is now a Boston suburb. Early residents were James Redway, Edmund
Hobart and Ralph Smith.
Lynn, situated in Essex County in Metropolitan Boston northeast and settled
in 1629 by five men from Salem, changed its name from Saugus for Kings Lynn
in England. The first American ironworks were established here early and by 1726
townsmen were building brigs and schooners. Before moving to Cape Cod, the
families o f H enry Collins, Thomas Dexter, James Skiff and Gabriel W helden
lived here in the 1630s.
Malden., M iddlesex County, Metropolitan Boston, was settled in 1640. Gabriel
W helden spent his last days here.
M arblehead is in Essex County on a peninsula northeast o f Boston and is in the
metropolitan area. It was settled in 1629 by Cornish and Channel Island fishermen
as a plantation o f Salem. The Richard Sears family lived there until they moved to

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 THE BAYCOLONY

Cape Cod in 1643.

M ed fiela Norfolk County in Metropolitan Boston southwest, was settled in
1651. H alf the village was burned during King Philips War. Early residents in­
cluded Henry Adams Jr. and his wife Elizabeth Paine, the Bullards, John Ellis
and Susanna Ellis, John H ill II and Hannah Johnson, the Lelands, the Partridges
and the Rockwoods.
N ewbury and Newburyport, at the northern tip of Massachusetts, was engaged
in trapping and fishing in colonial times, followed by shipbuilding, whaling and
commerce. Richard Swain and family were there in 1638, Thomas M acy and his
wife Sarah Hopcot were there in 1639 and Tristram Coffin and his wife Dionis
Stevens were residents in 1648.
Rowley, in Essex County, a little inland between Newburyport and Gloucester,
was settled in 1638. Rev. John M iller was town clerk there 1639-1641.
Roxbury, settled in the early 1630’s, was annexed to Boston in 1868. Rev. John
M iller and family were there in 1638.
Salisbury, Essex County, in northeastern Mass, on the New Hampshire border,
was settled in 1638. Settlers from Salisbury, England, and from Newbury, Mass.,
fished, made oak staves and ships. A cemetery laid out in 1639 has “w olf slabs”,
flat stones to protect the newly buried from hungry wolves. The town green fea­
tures the Quaker W hipping Stone, where M ajor Robert Pike stood up for three
Quaker women who were whipped at the tail o f an oxcart (see W h ittier’s narra­
tive poem “How the Women W ent from Dover”). Thomas Barnard and Eleanor
Barnard were married at Salisbury in 1640 and Thomas M acy and Sarah Hopcot
were wed there about 1643. Residents for a time were Tristram Coffin and Dionis
Stevens, H enry Collins and Ann Collins and John Severance and A bigail Kimball.
Sherbom , Middlesex County in Metropolitan Boston west, was settled in 1652
on the site o f a former Indian village, where many artifacts are found. Residents
included the families o f Moses Adams, John Bigelow, John2 Fiske, Benjamin
Bullard, Eleazer and Samuel Hill, Isaac Learned, Hopestill Leland III and Jonathan
W hitney.

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 THE BAY COLONY

Weymouth, Norfolk County, on the south coast o f Boston Bay, settled in 1622, is
now part o f the metropolis. In colonial days it was engaged in fishing, farming and
tanning. Hopestill Leland came to Weymouth in 1624. Other early residents in­
cluded the families of Thomas Bayes, W illiam Carpenter and Nicholas Norton
and Isaac Norton.
Woburn, in M iddlesex County, now a northern suburb o f Boston, was settled in
1640 by Charlestown residents, including W illiam Learned.
(Reference: Ray Bearse, Massachusetts: A Guide to the Pilgrim Slate)

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Massachusetts Bay Colony Ancestors

Re: ahnentafel numbers —plain ones a refo r Fisk(e) ancestors; w ith L, Locke ances­
tors; w ith a, ancestors o f Abigail Smith; w ith h, those o f M ary Emma Smith.
Adams, H enry1, 1583—1646 (#520,564): M ystery and forgery marked the search
for the origin o f H enry Adams, a farmer o f southwestern England who arrived in
Boston in 1638 with his second wife, Edith Squire, and a daughter and seven of
his eight sons and then settled in Braintree. That new settlement made a grant o f
forty acres each to him and nine other heads o f family from Boston, o f which
Braintree was a part. The fact that he became the scion o f two presidents o f the
United States quickened the search and led to the temptation to invent just a
little.
The pedigree of H enry Adams back to an ApAdam, who had come out o f the
Marches o f Wales six hundred years before, and then down through several bar­
onets was provided to the New England Historic Genealogical Society by W illiam
Downing Bruce, F.S.A., o f the M iddle Temple, London, who stated he had cop­
ied it from an ancient parchment. The R egister printed that in the January 1852
issue (7: 39-40). Then the journal told its readers several times not to rely on the
pedigree, a few of whom reproduced it as gospel just the same. In 1880 Dr. Herbert
B. Adams, professor of Johns Hopkins University, used it in his book on the
Adams family. In a notice of the book the editor of the R egister (34: 342) gave
reasons for unbelief and later asked Dr. Adams to write to Colonel Joseph L.
Chester, of London, who had declared that the claimed connection was “utterly
incorrect”. Colonel Chester’s response was printed in the issue o f April 1883 (37:
160). The original author in London had evaded a meeting and had not produced

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

documentation. Through a study o f the records o f the College o f Arms and also
wills and administrations, Colonel Chester had found the Adams pedigree cor­
rect down to Nicholas, who, it seems, was brotherless. In order to make a connec­
tion with President John Adams, it was necessary to invent a brother to Nicholas
called John, who was claimed to be the great grandfather o f H enry Adams. Colo­
nel Chester remarked: “A precisely similar thing has been done with the W ash­
ington pedigree within the last year or two.”
John Adams, the second president o f the United States (term 1797-1800), placed
a granite column in Quincy, formerly Braintree, where he and his forefathers had
lived for four generations:

IN MEMORY OF HENRY ADAMS WHO TOOK HIS fllG H T FROM DRAGON PER­
SECUTION IN DEVONSHIRE IN ENGLAND, AND ALIGHTED WITH EIGHT SONS,
NEAR MOUNT WOLLASTON. ONE OF THE SONS RETURNED TO ENGLAND, AND
AFTER TAKING TIME TO EXPLORE THE COUNTRY, FOUR REMOVED TO
MEDfiELD AND THE NEIGHBORING TOWNS; TWO TO CHELMSFORD, ONE ONLY,
JOSEPH, WHO LIES HERE AT HIS LEFT HAND, REMAINED HERE, WHO WAS AN
ORIGINAL PROPRIETOR IN THE TOWNSHIP OF BRAINTREE, INCORPORATED IN
1639.
THIS STONE AND SEVERAL OTHERS HAVE BEEN PLACED IN THIS YARD BY
A GREAT-GREAT-GRANDSON, FROM A VENERATION OF THE PIETY, HUMIL­
ITY, SIMPLICITY, PRUDENCE, PATIENCE, TEMPERANCE, INDUSTRY AND PER­
SEVERANCE OF HIS ANCESTORS IN HOPE OF RECOMMENDING AN IMITATION
OF THEIR VIRTUE TO THEIR POSTERITY.

The Reverend H. F. Fairbanks wrote in the July 1905 issue o f the R egister that
H enry Adams m ight have come from Barton St. David in Somerset, for a John
Adams made his son H enry executor there in 1603. In 1609 in a nearby parish
H enry Adams married Edith Squire. If that was the Henry Adams o f Braintree,
Edith was his second wife, because his eldest son, Henry Jr., was bom in 1604.
The early register o f the parish having been lost, the author searched wills and
bishops’ transcripts. Twenty years later, J. Gardner Bartlett wrote in volume 79 of

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

the Register. “H enry Adams, the founder of the Braintree family, was born about
1583 at Barton St. David, Somerset. A t least four generations o f his ancestors
resided there, and the Adams name is found on records in the immediate vicinity
o f that parish as far back as 1327.” In his book on the subject two years later we
learn more.
Before Henry Adams emigrated in 1638, his family had lived more than a
hundred years in Barton St. David, seven miles southeast of Glastonbury and not
far from Wells. H enry’s great grandfather, Johnc Adams, born about 1503, was a
copyholder in the manor, owning land o f a yearly income between £10 and 20,
and his wife was Alice--------. Their son and our Henry’s grandfather, born about
1531, lived during the Reformation, the dissolution of the abbeys and the expul­
sion of the abbots, friars and nuns. W hen that Henry8 Adams was eight the
premier abbot o f England was hanged, beheaded and quartered for refusing to
give up the conventual plate o f the abbey o f Glastonbury, his head placed on the
abbey gate as a warning and his quarters sent to the abbey towns in the area. That
Henry Adams lived also when Edward VI introduced the new prayer book, when
Bloody M ary tried to turn back the tide and when Puritanism arose during the
reign o f Protestant Elizabeth. H enry became a tax gatherer o f die Anglican par­
ish with the power of constable. H is son JohnA, our Henry’s father, born about
1555, was a husbandman who married Agnes [?]Stone. Bishops transcripts sup­
ply information for fourteen years between 1598 and 1638 to compensate a little
for the loss of the parish registers up to 1713.
Next to the Essex counties in the number of Puritans were the West Country
counties o f Somerset, Devon and Dorset. Although the vicars o f Barton St. David
and neighbouring Kingweston were not Puritan, a number of Somerset clergy
were. In 1637 Archbishop Laud stimulated further emigration by increasing per­
secution o f puritan vicars for non-conformity but there is no reference in local
history o f persecution in the three parishes where the Adams family had lived,
and certainly not o f laym en, nor o f “dragon persecution” that the romantic,
highblown inscription asserted he had flown from. M yth is often more powerful
than fact.

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Born about 1583, Henry Adams must have lived on the ancestral copyhold
farm. The earliest English record of him was his father’s will, in which he ap­
peared as executor and a joint legatee. On record also is his marriage to his second
wife, Edith Squire, daughter o f Henry Squire, husbandman and blacksmith o f
Charlton Mackrell. Recorded also are the baptisms of three o f their children.
Henry was a yeoman and a maltser. He was executor o f his brother John’s w ill of
1609. Before 1622 the family moved to the adjoining parish o f Kingweston, where
his seventh child, John, was baptized and it was probably from there that the
family emigrated when the father was fifty-five.
The earliest mention o f H enry Adams in New England was the granting o f a
lot o f forty acres to him at Braintree on 24 February 1639—1640 for a family o f ten
after payment of six pounds. It appears that Jonathan had remained in England
and came later and that the eight children were H enry Jr., Thomas, Samuel, Peter,
John, Joseph, Edward and Ursula. Extant is an original but damaged parchment
bond as surety on a marriage licence with his signature in round Italian writing,
then coming into use, which seems to show that he had a fair amount o f school­
ing.
Henry Adam’s will o f 1646 did not mention H enry Jr., his eldest son. Peter,
John and Ursula were to have the upland and meadows and the acre in the m ill
fields. “M y bookes shall be divided amongst all m y Children.” “M y wife shall have
and enjoy all other Goods so Longe as shee liveth unmarried.” I f she married,
Joseph, Edward and Ursula were to have the house lot, houses, fruit trees and
movables. They and their mother were to pay Samuel for the land the testator had
bought from him for them. Sons Peter, John, Joseph and Edward were then to
have an equal share o f the movables. Henry Adams was buried 8 October 1646 at
the age o f sixty-three. O f his eight sons three are o f interest to us: Joseph because
he was the great grandfather o f the second American president and o f Samuel
Adams, “the Patriot”; Jonathan because he was our ancestor; H enry Jr. because he
was an ancestor not only o f us but also o f Hannah Adams (1755—1832), the first
professional woman author o f the United States.

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Adams, Henry2Jr., died 1676 (#260) (Henry1): There is some dispute whether
Henry Jr. was born in 1604 to the first wife of his father or in 1610 to Edith
Squire. In Braintree on 17 October 1643 a marriage took place between him and
Elizabeth Paine, daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Paine. The birth of three chil­
dren is shown in the Braintree Records: Eleazer, 5. 6.1644 (August); Jasper,
23.4.1647 (June); Elizabeth, 11.9.1649 (November). In 1645 Henry Adams Jr.
was one o f thirty-two petitioners o f Braintree about a land grant. Shortly after
his father died in 1646 he was appointed clerk of the writs at Braintree. About
1650 he was a founder o f Medfield, where he held many town offices, was a lieu­
tenant o f the militia and a deputy to the General Court in various years. Children
born in Sherborn, from which M edfield separated off, were John in 1652, Henry
in 1652 d.y., Moses on 26 October 1654, another H enry in 1657 and Samuel in
1661. A t about the age o f 71 H enry was killed in his doorway during an Indian
attack on Medfield on 21 February 1675-6. His wife Elizabeth was very ill in bed
in the house of minister-physician John W ilson. Captain John Jacob, commander
of the garrison at the W ilson house, accidentally discharged his musket into the
ceiling and the ball caused her death.
Adams, Moses3, bom 1654 (#130) (Henry21) was bom to Henry Adams Jr.
and Elizabeth Paine on 6 October 1654 in Sherborn. M oses Adams married
Lydia W hitney, daughter o f Jonathan W hitney and Lydia Jones, on 15 A pril
1681.
Adams, Lydia4, M rs John3Fiske, 1684—(#65) (Moses3H enry21) was born to
Moses Adams and Lydia W hitney on 2 February 1684. Lydia Adams married at
Sherborn on 13 Ju ly 1730 John Fiske I, son o f Nathaniel Fiske and M ary (W ar­
ren) Child.
Adams, Jonathan2 Sr., cl614-169 0 (#282) (Henry1), the third son o f Henry
Adams Sr., was born about 1614 probably at Barton St. David, Somerset. W hen
the fam ily left for New England he stayed in England and lived on a farm in
Baltonsborough owned by Henry Squire, his mother’s father. H e married there
on 7 February 1638—9 Joane Close, by whom he had three children, o f whom one
died young and another, Jonathan Jr. (1643—1661), he brought to M edfield.
Jonathan Adams Sr. likely emigrated when his brother John returned to New

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

England in 1651 and he settled in M edfield, where his mother and his brothers
Henry, Peter and Edward were living. Court files and land records show him to be
a brother o f Peter and Edward. Jonathan Sr. married again about 1665 in the Bay
Colony, Elizabeth Fussell, daughter o f John and M ary Fussell Their first child was
our ancestor Elizabeth Adams and they had five more children, two of whom died
young. In King Phillips War, 1676, the Indians burned their house. The Medfield
Vital Records (p. 190) show his death there 28 July 1690
Adams, Elizabeth3, M rsJohn2Partridge, 1666- (#141) (Jonathan2Henry1) was
born in Medfield 18 M arch 1665-6 to Jonathan Adams and Elizabeth Fussell.
Elizabeth Adams became the second wife of John Partridge, son of John Partridge
and M agdalen Bullard, and she had three sons and two daughters by him. She
died 14 August 1719. Elizabeth Adams Partridge was a great grandmother of
Sarah H ill, the first wife o f John Fiske III..
(References: Abstract of H enry Adams W ill, NEHGR, 7: 35; Andrew N.
Adams, A G enealogical History o f H enry Adams o f Braintree', Thomas W . Baldwin,
Vital Records o f Sherbom, Mass.', J. Gardner Bartlett, H enry Adams o f Somersetshire
and Braintree;Ba.rt\ett, “Notes: The English Home of H enry Adams o f Braintree”,
NEHGR, 79: 217; Braintree Records, NEHGR, v. 36; W illiam Downing Bruce,
“Pedigree of the Adams Fam ily.. NEHGR, 7: 39—45; Joseph L. Chester, “The
Forgery in the Adams Pedigree", NEHGR, 37:159-160; Vital Records o f Medfield,
Mass.)
Badcock, David1, church mem. 1640 (#530,968L) was a member of the church
of Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1640 and, according to W . S. Appleton, was
probably the father o f George and Robert Badcock and also o f Margaret Badcock,
the wife of Henry Leland (#264), o f Sherbom
Badcock, George2,died 1671 (#484L) (David?1), according to W . S. Appleton,
was probably the son o f David Badcock and was o f record about 1650 in that part
of Dorchester that became M ilton in 1662. H e was supervisor o f highways in
1657. He and his wife M ary had eleven children between 1650 and 1670. George
Badcock died in 1671, leaving a detailed w ill, which was proved at Boston 2
February 1672. His wife, Mary, was to have “the use and profit of all upland and
meadowe in Milton and Elswhere for her owne maytenance and to bring up the

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Children.” She was to get £100 in movables if she married but most of the estate
was to remain intact till the children came o f age. If she were to have children of
that marriage, she should return fifty pounds but if she had no child by it, the
hundred pounds should be divided equally at her death among his children. He
left various pieces o f land in M ilton and Dorchester to his eldest son, Benjamin;
a m ill w ith house and land at Dartmouth to his second son, Return; other lands
to George and Joseph; £35 eventually to each o f his five daughters. A t M arys
marriage or death, Benjamin and Enoch were to have the refusing of purchase of
all his housing and lands in M ilton and Dorchester at the inventory price. If
Enoch succeeded in learning his trade, he should have only half o f that bequest
and then M ary would divide the other h alf among her grandchildren. George
named his wife and Benjamin to execute this complicated will.
Badcock, Enoch3, bom 1654 (#242L) (George2 David?1), born in 1654, mar­
ried Susanna, whose maiden name was probably Gregory, for in her account of
administration o f the estate in 1711 she mentions her mother Gregory, who was
probably the Elizabeth Gregory who was made a member of the M ilton church
on 6 M ay 1694. Enoch Badcock, a shipwright, and Susanna had one son and four
daughters, one o f whom was Mary.
Badcock, M ary4, M rs David2Horton, m 1702 (#121L) (Enoch3George2David?1
) married David Horton, Sr. of M ilton, 10 September 1702. They had twelve
children, the eldest o f whom, David Jr., and his wife, Dorcas Littlefield, were
probably the parents of the Lemuel Horton who came to Barrington Township
and married Sarah Swain.
(References: W . S. Appleton, “Fam ily o f Badcock o f Milton, M ass.”, NEHGR,
19:215-219; Appleton, The Badcock Family o f Massachusetts, pp. 4-11; Milton Vital
Records)
Barker, M ary1, M rs Isaac1Steam s, d 1677 (#571) was a daughter of John Barker
and M argaret Walter, o f Nayland, Suffolk. H er father, JohnA, was a “householder”,
that is, he was o f such an economic and social status as to be entitled to the fran­
chise. A t Stoke Nayland on 29 June 1585 he married Margaret Walter, whose
father, Richard, was a beer brewer, a householder, who left all his messuages, houses,
buildings, stables, yards and gardens to his second wife, Margaret. M ary’s grand­

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

father, John8 Barker, son of Richardc, was a cloth maker and householder who
married M argaret M aull, both of whom left wills with bequests of houses and
lands. M ary Barker married Isaac Stearns there on 20 M ay 1622 and they had
three children before arriving at the Bay Colony in the W inthrop Fleet in 1630.
She had five more children at Watertown. She and others were summoned on 23
M ay 1665 to a town meeting for being absent from their appointed seats in the
meeting house. She died, a widow, 23 April 1677.
(Reference: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 3:1747-1750; John Brooks
Threlfall, “The Ancestry of M ary Barker, W ife of Isaac Stearns”, F ifty Great
M igration Colonists to N ew E ngland)
Barron, E llis1, died 1676 (#518) married in England about 1628 Grace, maiden
name unknown, who was probably the mother o f all his children. The couple
likely brought three or four children from the old country. A proprietor and also
a freeman as o f 2 June 1641 in Watertown, Ellis also bought meadowland in
Cambridge in 1653. In December o f that year, Grace having died, he married
Hannah, the widow o f Timothy Hawkins. Ellis Barron was constable in 1658
and a selectman ten years later. His children were: M ary; Ellis Jr., born about
1653, married Hannah Hawkins Jr. and then Lydia, the widow o f Jonas Fairbanks;
Susanna, born about 1635, married Stephen Randall; Hannah, bom about 1637,
married Simon Coolidge; John, 1639, married Elizabeth H unt; Sarah, born 24
Ju ly 1640, married Phesant Eastwick; M oses, 1 M arch 1643, married M ary
Learned. Ellis Barron made his will four days before he died on 30 October 1676.
The inventory with a total of £139 included “barbaren instruments” and “tools to
draw teeth with”. He left £10 to his eldest son and £5 each to the two other sons.
“M y seven children to each an equal share” “the agrement that was upon mariage
betwen my wife and I be paid.” The following April, Ellis Jr. as executor conveyed
land to Moses, to the widower Simon Coolidge, and to Susanna Randall and
Sarah Eastwick. The widow Hannah died nine years later.
Barron, M ary2, M rs Daniel2W arren, c l6 3 1-1716 (#259) (Ellis1) was born about
1631 in England to Ellis and Grace Barron. M ary Barron married Daniel Warren
at Watertown 10 December 1650. They had five daughters and two sons. M ary
died 13 February 1715-6 at about the age o f eighty-four.

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(References: Eugene D. Buchanan,TAG 30:135-136; Pope, Pioneers o f Massa­

chusetts, 35; Savage, 1 :126)
Bigelow, John1, 1617-1703 (#286), son o f Randall and Jane Beageley, was bap­
tized 16 February 1617 in Wrentham, Suffolk, England, by the Rev. John Phillips,
who later emigrated to Dedham in the Bay Colony. Randall, it seems, had moved
with his wife and two children from Ollerton, Cheshire, in western England to
W rentham, where they had five more children, the youngest being John. Randall’s
father was Robert, who got half of the estate o f Ollerton H all from his father,
Randall Sr., whose father, Ralph de Baguley, died in 1540. Family genealogists
have not been able to document a link with Richard, lord o f Baguley, of the 13th
century.
John Biglo appears to have come to Watertown in 1632 at the age o f fifteen,
probably with Elizabeth, his sister or first cousin, the second wife of Deacon R i­
chard Butler. No passenger list records their passage. John Biglo was one of the
militia from Watertown who served in the Pequot W ar of 1636. The first marriage
set down in the Watertown Records states: “1642-30-8 [Oct.] John Bigulah and
M ary W arin joyned in mariag before Mr. Nowell.” Evidently he had learned a
trade, for a town record of 4 March 1651 allows John Biglo ten trees, in return for
which he undertakes to set up a blacksmiths forge within a twelvemonth, failing
which he is to pay die town twelve shillings for the trees. John Biggalough was
listed in 1652 as having taken the oath o f fidelity and later on we find John Bigolo
as a freeman. He was elected to various offices: surveyor o f highways twice, con­
stable once and one o f the seven selectmen in 1665,1670 and 1671.
Now to family matters. Bond lists twelve children o f John Bigelow and M ary
Warren but Howe says they had thirteen. M ary died 19 October 1691. Three
years later John married Sarah Bemis. H e made his w ill 4 January 1703 and died
at age 86 on 14 July, his w ill proved nine days later w ith an inventory of£627. He
gave to his wife Sarah the lands and movables she brought to their marriage,
along with two sheep, flax, grain, butter and cheese to make up her third o f the

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

estate. He gave £25 to each of his children or in the case o f M artha, deceased, to
her children, and to his son Joshua two parcels o f land. Funeral expenses included
black gloves, twenty gallons o f wine, and horses and men to carry the wine to the
funeral and to inform relatives in Billerica and Sherborn.
Bigelow, Sarah2, M rs Isaac2Learned 1659—(#143) (John1) was born to John
Bigelow and M ary Warren on 29 June 1659 at Watertown. Sarah Bigelow mar­
ried there Isaac Learned on 23 Ju ly 1679 and went to live in his home town of
Framingham, where they had eleven children.
References: Bigelow Society, The B igelow Family Genealogy, Bonds Watertown;
Gilman Bigelow Howe, Genealogy o f the B igelow Family)
Bullard, Benjam in1, Sr., to W atertown 1630 (#268) was probably among the
English planters who came to Watertown in 1630 and his name appears in the
town records in the first division o f public lands in 1637. H e received more land in
1644 so that he came to own about 100 acres and a dwelling on the west side of
Fresh Pond. Savage says Benjamin Bullard Sr. married a daughter o f Henry Thorpe,
and Morse says her name was probably Sarah. Sarah Thorpe gave birth to Sarah
and also Benjamin Jr., who inherited all the real estate.
Bullard, Benjamin2, Jr., d 1689 (#134) (Benjamin1), a minor when his father
died, was brought up by an uncle in Dedham. We can judge that he must have
completed a probation, had a good character and attained the age o f twenty-one
in order to be admitted as a townsman on 1 January 1655. Soon after his marriage
to M artha Fairbanks, he and his brother-in-law George Fairbanks bought from
the estate of Captain George Kayne, o f Boston, a good fraction of an 1100 acre
grant at Pawsett H ill while two others, H ill and Breck, bought another portion.
They with the Wood, Leland, Holbrook, Rockwood and Daniels families formed
the new community of Sherborn. There among open fields they built a garrison
house about 65 feet long and two stories high faced w ith stone brought over the
ice from a quarry a mile away. It had two rows o f port holes all around, which were
lined with oak that flared inward to prevent garrison members from being ex­
posed. W hen King Phillip’s men tried to fire the fort by running a cart of blazing
flax down a declivity, it luckily jammed on a rock and the place was saved. M artha
died on 4 January 1676-7, leaving five children between the ages of six months

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

and twelve years. On 1 M ay 1677 Benjamin Bullard Jr. o f M edw ay married Eliza­
beth Ellis, daughter o f Richard Ellis and Elizabeth French. T hey had five chil­
dren, including M ary, our ancestor. Benjamin Jr. was active w ith nine other own­
ers in buying out the Indian claims to this land o f 14,000 acres and because he
paid the highest taxes for this purpose he and his heirs drew large shares in Sherborn
and Medway. H e died at Sherborn 27 September 1689.
Bullard, M ary3, M rs Hopestill4Leland, 1683- (#67) was born at Sherborn 20
February 1683 to Benjamin Bullard Jr. and Elizabeth Ellis. There M ary Bullard
married Hopestill Leland Jr on 24 February 1701-2 and they had ten children.
M ary and Hopestill were grandparents o f the John Fisk who emigrated to Nova
Scotia.
(References: Rev. Abner M orse, The Genealogy o f the Descendants o f Several
Ancient Puritans, pp. 10-15; Vital Records o f Billerica)
Busby, N icholas', d 1660 (#914L, 1202, 1326a&h), a weaver o f worsted, ar­
rived at Boston 20 June 1637 in one o f the three ships that brought 360 passen­
gers from Ipswich, England. W ith him were his wife Bridget Cocke and four
children, Nicholas, John, Abraham and Sarah. W hen the Commons, citing ex­
amples, impeached Dr. M atthew W ren, Bishop o f Norwich and a Puritan-op­
posing follower o f Archbishop Laud, for driving 3,000 subjects beyond the seas,
he named Nicholas Busby in his list of “poor weavers” who had emigrated for
poverty and not religions sake (N EH GR, 86: 256). The Busby family went with
some o f the passengers to Newbury but soon moved to Watertown. Nicholas
became a freeman in M arch 1637-8, got a grant o f land there 9 April 1638 and
was chosen selectman in 1640 and 1644. In 1642 the town allotted the Busby
family 86 acres. In August o f 1646 he bought a house and garden in Boston and
settled there. In M arch 1647—8 he was chosen constable. He was one o f three men
appointed to demark the boundary between Plymouth Colony and the Bay Colony.
Nicholas Busby died on 28 August 1657 and left a w ill that made his wife execu­
tor and his son Abraham and his sons-in-law John Grout and W illiam Nickerson
her assistants. His estate, large for the time, was inventoried at nearly £975. His
wife, Bridget, was to have the house in Boston and other property in Watertown.
John, who had returned to Norwich, England, as the eldest surviving son, Nicholas

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Jr. having died, received £100, his father’s books on physic and Pliny’s N a tu r a l
History, and, if he would come to live in New England, a loom. Abraham got the
other loom, £60, his father’s books on divinity and at his mother’s death the house.
Nicholas Busby provided for his daughters: £50 to Anne Nickerson, £40 to
Catherine Savory, who had remained in Norwich, England, besides his gift of the
year before, and £65 to Sarah Grout. Nicholas Jr.’s son Joseph received £20. The
w ill also mentioned Bibles, one for each daughter, plate, and books on history. An
educated man, Nicholas Busby not only wove worsteds but, it appears, practised
the medicine o f the day and preached.
In M ay o f 1659 Bridget Busby deeded almost all of her estate to her children
and grandchildren and died shortly before 3 July 1660, when the inventory was
taken and administration granted to Abraham. [Cocke, Bridget, died 1660 (#915L,
1 2 0 3 ,1327a-h) ]
Busby, Anne2, M rs W m .1Nickerson, m 1625 (#457L, 601,663a&h), (Nicholas1
), the eldest daughter o f Nicholas Busby and Bridget Cocke, married W illiam
Nickerson on 24 June 1625 at St. M ary’s Church in Norwich, England, and gave
birth to four children in that city before they sailed twelve years later for Boston.
Anne had five more children in the New W orld. On 1 March 1657 she and her
husband moved to Boston and bought a house so that she might care for her
parents in their old age and they remained there till after her mother died. Anne
died after 18 M a y 1686 at Monomoit (Chatham), Cape Cod, at the age of sev­
enty-five.
(Reference: Jam es W . Hawes, “Busby”, and “Nickerson”, Cape Cod Library
No. 100 and No. 102)
Chickering, Francis1, 1606—58 (#794L), son of HenryA Chickering and most
likely his first wife, E lizabeth----------, was baptized at Darsham on the Norfolk
border in the northeast corner o f Suffolk, England, on 14 A pril 1606. The
Chickering fam ily had lived and held land for some time in this area between
Beccles and W rentham , within a few miles o f the North Sea. In H enry VUI’s
reign Thomas8 Chickering o f W ymondham died, leaving his wife Clare with
three children. T he eldest of these was HenryA,who became the father o f two
daughters and five sons. Francis was named executor in his father’s w ill o f 1627.

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About 1630 he married Anne Fiske, daughter o f John Fiske and Anne Lawter. In
1637 Francis and Anne Chickering and their two little girls, Anne and Mary,
emigrated with a coalition o f families numbering sixty people from the area that
was led by her brother, Rev. John Fiske, the founder o f Chelmsford and Wenham,
and by Rev. John Allen. T hat group included Francis’ elder brother Henry and his
nephew Nathaniel and a large Fiske component with the families o f David, Nathan,
W illiam and Phineas. T hey settled in Dedham.
H aving been made freeman 13 M ay 1640, Francis Chickering became an en­
sign in the m ilitia, an early member o f the Ancient and Honourable Artillery
Company, a selectman and a deputy to the General Court. Francis was one o f five
trustees w ith power o f taxation to support a free school in Dedham, founded in
1640. Francis and Anne had more children: Elizabeth in 1638, who died at the
age o f four; Bathsheba, 23 December 1640, who married Samuel Newman and
became the mother o f the unfortunate M ary Newman (see Daniel Smith, Jr. in
chapter two); Esther, 4 November 1643, who married D aniel Smith Sr.; John, 19
April 1646, died at two years; and Mercy, born 10 A pril 1648. Eighteen months
after Anne died at Dedham on 5 December 1649, Francis Chickering married
Sarah, the widow o f John Sibley. Francis died intestate at Dedham on 2 October
1658 at about the age of forty-four, survived by his wife and five daughters. His
estate amounted to the large sum, for those times, o f £ 1 8 5 8 .1 8 .0 8 , according to
the inventory made 17 October by C aptain Eleazer Lusher, E lder H enry
Chickering, John Haward and Peter Woodward, for besides his house and land in
Dedham, he owned property at Charlestown and also at Henstead, England.
“The Court Considering the good report o f die pious and prudent behavior of
Sarah the Relict of Francis Chickering, & bring up the Children o f the said Francis,
6cc doe order that she be allowed out o f this Estate as her portion (including the
£150. contracted for before marriage, as a prthereof) the some o f £350. The rest
o f the houses, lands, debts and goods to be divided between the 5 dau*.” The
married ones were M ary (John) M etcalf; Ann (Stephen) Paine; Bethia (Samuel)
Newman; and Esther (Daniel) Smith. The widow Sarah became the third wife of
John Bowles.

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(References: “Abstracts of Early W ills”, NEHGR, 9 (1855): 346; George W .

Chamberlain, “The English Ancestry o f the Chickerings o f New England”,
NEHGR, 69:226-229; Rev. W illiam Franklin Cheney, “The Chickering-Alleyne
Family”; Jevons, Descendants o f Richard Fiske ofLaxfield, 26—38; Pope, Pioneers o f
Mass., 97; Savage, 1: 376; Roger Thompson, “Social Cohesion in Early New
England”, NEHGR, 146: 235-253)
Chickering, Esther2, M rs D aniePSm ith 1643-87 (#397L), (Francis1) was bom
at Dedham, Bay Colony, on 4 November 1643 to Francis Chickering and Anne
Fiske. Death took her mother when she was six and her father when she was
fifteen. A t Rehoboth on 20 October 1659, a few days short o f her sixteenth birth­
day, Esther Chickering married Daniel Smith, Sr., son o f H enry Smith and Judith
Cooper. There between 19 November 1660 and 26 A pril 1680 she gave birth to
twelve children. She was buried there 6 June 1687 at age forty-three.
(References: Jevons, pp. 34-35; Vital Records of Rehoboth)
Collins, H enry1, 1606-81 (#376a, 648a&h, 696aSch, 760h), a starch maker of
29 years, embarked on 17 June 1635 in the Abigail with his wife Anne, whose
maiden name we do not know and who was then thirty Both o f them were from
Ireland. W ith them were four servants and their children, Henry, 5, John, 3, and
Margery, 2, according to the London Customs record. To pass the legal barriers
to emigration, H enry Collins had presented a certificate from the minister of
Stepney parish that he conformed to the Church o f England and was not a “sub­
sidy man”. He and his family settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he was made
a freeman on 9 March 1637. He was a member o f the Salem Court in 1639. He
died on 20 February 1681.
(References: “Founders o f New England”, N EH G R, 14: 318; Freeman's His­
tory o f Cape Cod.; Savage’s D ictionary)
Dexter, Thomas1, died 1686 (#748a), whom we have met in chapter three, spent
about two creative and vexatious decades in Lynn after coming in 1630 to the Bay
Colony with several servants and his wife and four children, M ary, about 11 years;

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Thomas, about 6; Frances, about 4, and W illiam , about 2. H e employed many on

his farm o f 800 acres and built a w eir across the Saugus River for taking bass and
alewives, which his establishment dried, smoked and shipped. He built a bridge
across the river, then a m ill and later an iron works.
In M arch o f 1631 Thomas Dexter had a quarrel with John Endecott and then
complained to the G eneral Court that M agistrate Endecott had struck him.
Endecott explained: “But i f you had seen the manner o f his carriage, with such
daring o f me, w ith his arms akimbo, it would have provoked a very patient man.”
The Court awarded M r. Dexter 40 shillings damages. Two years later, Thomas
was fined £40, disfranchised, and set in the bilboes “for speaking reproachful and
seditious words against the government”. Three-fourths o f this fine were remitted
after four years. In 1637 Thomas Dexter bought from the Indians a peninsula
called Nahant and twenty years later he brought and lost an action against the
people o f Lynn over the ownership. The next year he gave a “mansion house”,
water m ill and 600 acres to his son Thomas, who was eventually to pay £100 each
to his sisters M ary and Frances. Thomas, Sr. had his financial difficulties. He
mortgaged an 800-acre farm and later assigned 600 acres to pay a £500 judgment
in favour o f W illiam Hooke, merchant. Anderson describes father and son as
hard masters. In 1646 Thomas Jenner, o f Saco, wrote to ask John W inthrop to
look into the poor condition o f an A llin boy apprenticed to Thomas Dexter, Sr.
Even in his relatively quiet semi-retired last years in Barnstable, he could not
resist controversy and lawsuits with his neighbours. Amos Otis describes him as
educated and public-spirited “but it must be admitted that his energy o f charac­
ter bordered on stubbornness, and his independence of thought, on indiscretion
and self-will.” (p. 315)
(Reference: Amos Otis Papers, 315-325; Anderson, The Great M igration Be­
gins, 1 :540-545; W illiam A . Warden & Robert L. Dexter, Genealogy o f the Dexter
Family in America)
Ellis, Richard1, married 1650 (#270), a wheelwright, settled in Dedham, where
he was admitted to the church on 5 January 1643. According to the Dedham
records, he married Elizabeth French 19. 9. 1650 [November]. Savage thinks
that his wife may have been a daughter of Lambert Genery, who in his w ill calls

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Richard Ellis his son-in-law. Their children were: Elizabeth, born 23 Ju ly 1651;
Sarah, born 23 January 1652; M ary, born 3 February 1654; John, 31 January
1656; Anna, 15 M arch 1659; Rebecca, 30 April 1661; Elezer, 10 January 1663;
Joseph, October 1666; A bigail, 5 Ju ly 1669. Richard was a lieutenant.
Ellis, Elizabeth2, M rs Benjam in2Bullard, 1651- (#135) (Richard1) was bom
23 July 1651 to Lieut. Richard Ellis and Elizabeth French at Dedham. Elizabeth
Ellis married Benjamin Bullard in Billerica on 1 M ay 1667. Their granddaughter
M ary Bullard was a grandmother o f the John Fiske who came to Nova Scotia.
(References: Charles H enry Pope, Pioneers o f M assachusetts ; James A. Savage,
Genealogical D ictionary ; V ital Records o f Dedham)
Ellis, Jo h n 1, died 1697 (#278), a pioneer o f Dedham in 1636, was admitted to
the church 17 Ju ly 1640 and made freeman 2 June 1641. He moved with his wife
Susanna and John Jr. to M edfield, where M rs. Ellis, maiden name unknown, gave
birth to H annah on 2 A pril 1651. Susanna died in 1656. John Ellis married 26
June 1656 Joan, the widow o f John Clap o f Dorchester, who had died without
issue 14 Ju ly 1655. H is w ill o f 24 September 1690, proved 24 June 1697, made
bequests to his wife Joan, to his eldest son John and to Joseph and Eleazer and
passed on to his daughters Susanna Evans and Hannah Rocket articles that had
belonged to their mother, his first wife Susanna.
E llis, H annah2, M rs Sam uel3 Rockwood, 1651—1717 (#139), was bom at
Medfield to John and Susanna Ellis 2 A pril 1651. Hannah Ellis married on 15
December 1671 Samuel Rockwood and they were both members o f the church,
o f which he became deacon. T hey had eight children, five o f whom died in their
early years. Hannah died 7 M ay 1717.
(References: John Farmer, A Genealogical R egister o f the First Settlers o f N ew
England.', Rev. Abner Morse, Genealogy; Pope, p. 155))
Fiske, N athan1, ca 1615-76 (#256) was born about 1615 at South Elham, Suf­
folk, England, and may have emigrated to Watertown as early as 1637. About four
years later he married Susan or Susanna, whose maiden name is not known. He
appears in the records as early as 1642 but he was not then on the list o f proprie­
tors. He was admitted freeman 10 M ay 1643. The next year he owned one lot of
nine acres, his homestall. Nathan Fiske appeared again in the town records in

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1661 when he received a bounty o f £1 3s. for killing a w olf and three foxes that
were threatening the livestock and once more in 1673 when he was chosen to be
a selectman. His wall was dated 19 June 1676 and he died two days later. His wife
must have died before him , for she is not mentioned in his will, which was proved
in October of 1676.
Fiske, N athaniel2, 1653-1734 (#128) (Nathan1) was born 12 Ju ly 1653 at
W atertown and, after learning his trade as a weaver, Nathaniel Fiske married
there on 13 April 1677 M ary (Warren) Child, who was a widow and a daughter
of Daniel W arren and M ary Barron. They had eight children, one of whom was
our ancestor, the first o f four successive John Fiske’s.
Fiske, John3, 1 , 1682-1730 (#64) (Nathaniel2Nathan1) was born in Watertown
on 17 M ay 1682 but moved to Sherborn with his brother Nathaniel when he was
nearly twenty-one. There on 31 July 1706 John Fiske I, a weaver, married his
cousin Lydia Adams, daughter o f Moses Adams and Lydia W hitney o f that place.
He died on 8 M ay 1730 at the of forty-nine. They had eight children, three of
whom died young.
Fiske,John4, II, 1709-61 (#32) (John3NathaniePNathan1) was borninSherbom
on 8 M ay 1709. There on 21 September 1731 he married Abigail Babcock, nee
Leland, widow o f Ebenezer Babcock. They had eight children. John Fiske II went
to Boston on business, became ill and after returning home died suddenly o f the
“great Holliston fever” on 7 M arch 1761 at the age o f fifty-one, leaving seven
children, the oldest o f whom was nineteen.
F iske,Jo h n 5, III, 1738-1817 (#16) (John4 3Nathaniel2 Nathan1) was born 16
M arch 1738 at Sherborn, where he married Sarah H ill on 25 October 1764.
They had seven children, the last o f whom, Sally, was born in 1783. Pierce incor­
rectly states that Sarah died at Sherborn on 27 December 1813 and then he
married A b ig a il_____ . It is more likely that Sarah died in 1783, perhaps after
Sally’s birth, because it would appear that John Fiske III and Abigail moved to
Nova Scotia about the end o f the American W ar o f Independence. Pierce does
not mention the removal to Nova Scotia and places John’s death in Sherborn on
20 November 1817.

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A fuller account w ill be given in Chapter Nine o f the Fiske family in Waterford
and Sherborn, as well as its origins in England and John Fiske I ll’s settling in
Nova Scotia.
(References: Jack Owen Jevons, Descendants o f Richard Fiske ofLaxfield, pp. 5 6 -
57; Moriarty, NEHGR, vols. 86, 87, 8 8 ,9 2 ; Frederick Clifton Pierce, Fiske and
Fiske Family)
Now we come to another Fiske fam ily descended from Robert Fiske and Sibilla
Gold o f South Elmham. W hereas Nathan Fiske o f Watertown was a grandson of
Jeffrey, son o f Robert and Sibilla, Anne Fiske, who married Francis Chickering
and settled at Dedham, was a granddaughter o f W illiam , Jeffrey’s brother. Nathan
Fiske, ancestor o f Amasa Homer Fiske, and Anne Fiske, ancestor o f Ellen Locke
(Mrs. A . H. Fiske), were great grandchildren o f Robert and Sibilla and were,
therefore, third cousins.
Richard DFiske o f the Broadgates in Laxfield, born about 1480, was the great-
great-grandfather of Matthias Candlei; who prepared a family pedigree but without
naming Richard’s father and mother. Unknown are Richards w ife’s name, the
details of his life and the date of his death. The Candler pedigree credits Richard
with eleven sons but names only seven o f them.
Fiske, Robert0 (Richard D), born about 1518 in Fressingfield, Suffolk, became a
wheelwright. In 1556 Robert Fiske fled to St. Jam es, South Elmham, according
to the Candler Manuscripts, “for religion in Qjueen] M aries dayes.” He married
first Mrs Sibilla Barbour nee Gold, who was buried 30 April 1571, and second
Joan (surname unknown), who was buried 3 August 1587. His sons Jeffery and
Eliezar, his executors, proved his w ill in 1602 at Metfield, Suffolk. He devised his
copyhold tenement to his eldest son W illiam and a life estate in his freehold
lands to his son Eliezar, as w ell as sums o f money to his daughter Elizabeth, son
Thomas, grandchildren and the poor.
Fiske, W illiam 8( Robert0 Richard0) was born to Robert Fiske and Sibilla (Gold)
Barbour about 1548 probably at Fressingfield, Suffolk, England. The eldest son,
W illiam Fiske inherited Hoves, a copyhold tenement, with all its lands in St.
James parish at South Elmham. His first wife was Anna, daughter ofW alter Austye
ofTibbenham, Norfolk, and she was the mother o f all his children: John; Hannah,

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

who married W illiam Candler, whose immediate descendants included several

Masters o f Arts; Eunice; Nathaniel; Esther; and Eleazer. Anna was buried on 13
February 1600-1 at St. James. Seven and a h alf years later W illiam Fiske married
Alice T ighe. He was buried on 15 M ay 1623 at Ditchlngham in Norfolk, having
on 25 November 1616 made his w ill, which was proved at Norwich two days after
his burial. H e gave all his land to his eldest son and executor, John, who was to pay
an annuity o f £3 to his stepmother, Alice, £40 to his brother Nathaniel, £20 to his
sister Hester and £60 to his brother Eliezer. W illiam Fiske left 20 shillings apiece
to three servants and the same to his grandchildren at their majority: M athias,
John and M ary Candler (Hannahs children); John, Anne and M artha Fiske (Johns
children); and Nathaniel and Eliezer Fiske (Nathaniels children). To his widowed
daughter Hannah Candler he gave a cow and to his son Eliezer a gelding. He
remembered the poor o f three parishes: St. James, 10 shillings, Bungay, 20 and
Ditchingham, 20. The residue of his estate W illiam Fiske bequeathed to his widow,
Alice.
Fiske, JohnA(W illiam 8 Robert0 Richard0 ) was born about 1580 at St. James,
South Elmham, Suffolk, to W illiam Fiske and Anna Austye. He married his
second cousin Anne Lawter, daughter o f Robert Lawter and M ary Fiske, a grand­
daughter of Richard Fiske.
Anne’s father was killed by her brother, Joseph Lawter, who was probably an­
gry that, though an only son, he was not to inherit his father’s lands, which were
to be sold, and was to receive £5 a year whereas his brothers-in-law John and
Eleazar Fiske were to get a legacy of £150 each. The wording of the w ill o f 15
September 1616 suggests that Joseph may not have been well when his father
drew it, “if it shall please god that he do outlive his mother”. Joseph was executed
at Bury St. Edmunds. The records o f the trial have not survived.
John Fiske inherited Hoves in the parish o f St. James from his father and a
large legacy from his father-in-law. He and Anne had five children, at St. James:
(Rev.) John, baptized 20 March 1607; Anne, baptized 1 A pril 1610; Nathaniel,
born about 1612 (died young); M artha, born about 1614; and W illiam , baptized
18 M arch 1618-9. John Fiske was buried at St. James 14 M ay 1633. His widow,
Anne, died in 1637 on the voyage to New England.

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Fiske, A nne1, 1610-49 (#795L) (JohnAW illiam 8Robert0 Richard0 ), daughter

o f John Fiske and Anne Lawter, was baptized on 1 A pril 1610 in the parish o f St.
James, South Elmham, Suffolk. A t about the age o f twenty Anne Fiske married
Francis Chickering, son o f H enry Chickering and probably E lizabeth----------. In
England, Anne had two children, Anne and M ary, born about 1631 and 1632.
Her brother John, a Cambridge-educated minister and physician, formed in 1636-
7 a group of emigrants for New England which included his mother, Anne (Lawter)
Fiske, who died at sea, Francis and Anne Chickering and their two little girls, his
sister M artha and brother W illiam , both o f whom soon married in Salem. At
Dedham, where Anne and Francis settled, she gave birth to Elizabeth, who died
young, Bathsheba, Esther and Mercy. Anne died at the age o f thirty-nine at
Dedham and was buried 5 December 1649, leaving six children between the age
o f twenty months and fifteen years.
(References: Richard LeBaron Bowen, Early Rehoboth: D ocumented Historical
Studies o f Families and E ventsy vol. 2, p. 114; Jack Owen Jevons, Descendants o f
Richard Fiske ofLaxfield, pp. 1 -3 ,8 -1 0 ,2 0 -2 3 ,2 6 -2 7 ,3 4 -3 8 ; G. Andrews Moriarty,
“The Fiske Family”, NEHGR, vols. 8 6 ,87, 88,92)
Fussell, John1came 1630s (#566) was probably the father o f Elizabeth Fussell
who married Jonathan Adams. On 28 September 1640 Richard Silvester sold his
house and six-acre home lot in Weymouth to John Fussell “in consideration of
threescore pownds”. John Fussell moved to M edfield about 1651. A long w ith John
and W illiam Partridge and many male householders, he signed the M edfield
M emorial of 1664, decrying criticism of the Massachusetts Bay government said
to have been made to King Charles the Second and testifying their unanimous
satisfaction.
Fussell, Elizabeth2, M rs Jonathan2Adam s, m abt 1665 (#283), (John1), daughter
of John and M ary Fussell, married Jonathan Adams Sr. about 1665, most likely in
Medfield. Elizabeth Fussell Adams had six children, two o f whom died young. In
1676 during King Philip’s W ar the Indians burned the home o f Jonathan and
Elizabeth Adams. Their eldest, Elizabeth Adams, married John Partridge, Jr.

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

(References: Andrew N. Adams, A G e n e a lo g ic a l H is to r y o f H e n r y A d a m s a n d H is

D e s c e n d a n t s ; George H. Partridge, “John Partridge, of M edfield, M ass., and His
Descendants”, NEHGR, 57: 50-58+; Pope, P io n e e r s o f M a ssa ch u setts, p. 179; Suf­
folk Deeds, 1:16)
H ill, John1,1 , ca 1602-80 (#272), was born about 1602, possibly in Somerset in
the vicinity o f Chard, eight miles north of Lyme Regis. He married Frances------
------ , who was bom about 1608. T hey came to New England, likely with little
John, who was born about 1630. John H ill I held land in Dorchester as early as
1633 and received three grants between 1636 and 1638. H e seems not to have
been a church member and therefore neither a freeman nor an office holder. After
1644 he resided in that part o f Dorchester that was set off as M ilton. He and
Frances H ill, maiden name unknown, had thirteen children. The patriarch died
31 M ay 1664, leaving an estate valued at £287, the bulk of which he left to Frances,
after whose death the nine youngest children would inherit. The will mentions
John, the eldest. Long a member of the Dorchester church, Frances died before
1680.
H ill, John2, II, ca 1630-1718 (#136)_, (John1) was born about 1630, probably
in Somerset, to John and Frances H ill. About 1653 he married Hannah [?]Johnson,
who received a bequest from Abraham M artin o f Rehoboth. T hey had nine chil­
dren. In 1657 John H ill II was one o f a group who bought a large tract in an area
that became the town o f Sherborn. Here he developed a big farm and was active
in civic affairs. Hannah died in November o f 1690, two or three years after which
John married the widow o f Benjamin Bullard, Elizabeth, by whom he had one
child, Abigail. H e died 23 January 1717-8 at about 87 years o f age. Having al­
ready deeded one h alf o f his estate to his daughter Abigail and her husband, he
mentioned his other offspring in his w ill.
H ill,John3, III, 1660-1738 (#68), (John21), born 14 M arch 1660-1, lived and
farmed on part o f his father’s land at Sherborn. About 1693 John H ill III married
Hannah Rockwood, daughter o f Deacon Rockwood and his wife, Hannah Ellis,
o f M edfield, and they had six children. Hannah died 7 February 1729—30 and her
husband died 29 June 1738. Because there was no w ill, the five surviving children
signed an agreement o f settlement.

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

H ill, Sam uel-1,1 7 1 0 -b ef 1697 (#34) (John3'1), a housewright of Sherborn, was

born 11 August 1710. On 30 M ay 1738 he married Elizabeth Partridge, nearly
eighteen, daughter of Jonathan Partridge and Elizabeth Learned, of M edway
and Sherborn.They had six children, all daughters, On the town alarm list Samuel
H ill was enrolled in Captain Joseph Perrys Company. He died 8 M ay 1761 w ith­
out a will. The heirs in the settlement o f the estate were his widow, Elizabeth,
and their five surviving daughters. Sarah bought out her sisters’ shares and thus
took over the homestead. H er mother married Joseph Daniel ten years later and
died before 1797. In January o f that year Elizabeth’s daughter M ary and her
husband, Jonas Fiske, and Samuel Hinds, daughter o f Elizabeth’s dead daughter
Ede, “conveyed to John Fiske real estate in Sherborn set off to the widow Eliza­
beth H ill, deceased, as dower o f her husband Samuel H ill, Housewright, de­
ceased.”
H ill, Sarah5, M rsJohn5Fiske ,1741-1783 (#17) (Samuel4John3'1) was born 24
October 1741 at Sherborn to Samuel H ill and Elizabeth Partridge. Sarah H ill
married John Fiske III o f that town on 25 October 1764 and they had six chil­
dren. Grandparents o f Alfred and Amasa Fiske Sr., Sarah died at Sherborn about
1783 and John died at Barrington, Nova Scotia 20 November 1817 at the age o f
seventy-nine (see chapter ten).
(Reference: J. Gardner Bartlett, “John H ill o f Dorchester, M ass., and H is De­
scendants”, N EHGR, 5 8 :1 5 7 -1 6 8 and 237-246)
H ill, Joseph1,1 6 0 0 ’s (#266) we know little about Joseph H ill and Ellen, M rs.
Joseph H ill (maiden name unknown), who were residents o f Boston.
H ill, A bigail2, M rs HopestilF Leland, 1664-89 (#133) (Joseph1)was bom to
Joseph and E llen H ill, o f Boston, on 5 February 1664. Abigail H ill married
Hopestill Leland on 5 November 1678 in Medfield and had four children. She
died 5 October 1689 at the age o f 25.
(Reference: Savage; Sherman Leland, The Leland M agazine )
Hobart, Edmund1, cl575-1646 (#766a,938L, 1310a, 1406a),born in Hingham,
Norfolk, England, about 1575, married M argaret Dewey there on 7 September
1600 and they had ten children, at least two o f whom died in infancy and all of
whom were baptized at H ingham between 1601 and 1617. Cotton Mather, who

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

had been minister there, wrote later about Edmund and M argaret Hobart in his
M agnalia: “They were eminent for piety and feared God above many. There were
but three or four in the whole town that minded serious religion, and these were
sufficiently maligned for their Puritanism.” (quoted by Titus, p. 1) Probably their
religion moved them in their older age—he was sixty—to uproot themselves for
the new land o f Zion. T hey and their three youngest, Rebecca, Joshua and Sarah,
and their servant, H enry Gibbs, took ship in M arch o f 1633 and arrived on M ay
third at Charlestown, where three months later he was accepted as a member of
the Congregational Church. Soon Mehetable and Elizabeth, Edmund Jr. and his
wife, and Thomas, his wife and three children joined them, followed in 1635 by
Rev. Peter, his wife and four children. Nazareth and her husband, John Beale, and
Alice and her husband, Thomas Chubbuck, also came over to add to the Hobart
circle. M argaret died at Charlestown in September o f 1633. On 10 October 1634
Edmund Hobart married Sarah, the widow o f Rev. John Lyford. The following
September the Hobart clan moved to Bare Cove and called the new settlement
Hingham . A sad event for two families was recorded on 5 June 1638, when
“Edmond Hubbert, Senior, was fined 40s. for leaving a pit open, in which a child
was drowned.” W ith an above-average education, he held various positions o f
trust and represented Hingham from 1639 to 1642 in the General Court. Rev.
Peter Hobart, a graduate of M agdalen College in 1625, became the minister at
the new Hingham and was so for forty-one years. He kept a careful diary of bap­
tisms, admissions and local history. On 8 March 1646 he wrote “father Hubbard
dyed” and on 23 June 1649 “mother Hubbard dyed.”The name was usually Hubbard
in England. [Dewey, M argaret, died 1649, (#767a, 939L, 1311a, 1407a) ]
H obart, Elizabeth2, M rs Ralph1 Smith, cl612-aft 1655 (#469L), (Edmund1)
was born to Edmund Hobart and Margaret Dewey about 1612 at Hingham, county
Norfolk, England, and came to New England with an older brother in 1633. A l­
though no record has been found of the ceremony, she is said to have married
Ralph Smyth, who also came from the English Hingham. Their first child, born
about 1639, died 15 February 1640. Between July 1641 and M arch 1654 Eliza­
beth gave birth to six Smith children: Samuel, John, Daniel, Elizabeth, Thomas
and Deborah. She died in the period 1655-1660.

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Hobart, Rebecca2, M rs Edward1Bangs, 1611—(#383a, 655a, 703a) (Edmund1),

daughter o f Edmund Hobart and M argaret Dewey, was baptized 29 December
1611 at the English Hingham and became a member o f the Charlestown church
in 1633. She moved with the family to Hingham in 1635. Rebecca Hobart be­
came the third wife o f Edward Bangs, o f Eastham, and is our ancestor through
her daughters Hannah and Apphia.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, II: 958-960; Robert C.
Neibling. “Hubbart Families o f America”, pp. 8—10; Percy Hobart Titus, Hobart
Family in America ; Clarence Almon Torrey, “Edmund Hobart o f Hingham, M as­
sachusetts”, TAG 27: 94-95)
Horton, Thom as1, cl641~bef 1716 (#240L), was born in England or W ales
about 1641 and is o f public record first as a taxpayer o f M ilton, Massachusetts in
1662, when it separated from Dorchester. No record has been found o f his mar­
riage to Sarah, possibly a daughter o f Nathaniel Harmon and M ary Bliss, o f
Braintree. They had six children. On 15 November 1674 she was made a full
member of the First Church o f Braintree, now Quincy, and their first five were
baptized there. She was received into the First Church o f M ilton on 5 M arch
1681-2. She may have died when her son Jonathan and her daughter Rachel were
struck down in a smallpox epidemic in 1689-90. Thomas Horton married Sarah,
the widow of John Keney 25 December 1693 and then at Rehoboth on 6 June
1700 Katherine Harion. Thomas was a weaver and an owner o f a house and 25
acres. He was active in the Milton church and was town constable and a surveyor
of roads. He moved to Rehoboth in 1604, perhaps for religious reasons. H e died
before 8 M arch 1715-16, when the court ordered an inventory o f his estate, which
was valued at £342, o f which £265 was in cash and bonds, and which included the
worth of his looms and weaving tackling.
Horton, David2, Sr. (1679-1752, #120L), (Thomas1), their fifth child, was born
at M ilton on 14 October 1679. He lived there all his life and practised the trade of
weaving. On 10 September 1702 he married M ary Badcock, daughter of Enoch
Badcock and Susannah Gregory, of Milton. David and M ary had twelve children
from 1703 to 1728, David Jr., Mary, Rachel, Elizabeth, Enoch, Benjamin, Ebenezer,
Joseph, Thankful, M artha, Ruth, Susannah. M ary Badcock Horton may have died

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in 1740, for her name does not appear when her husband deeded five acres o f their
homestead to their son Joseph. David Horton, Sr. died before 1 M arch 1752,
when an inventory was taken o f his estate, which was administered by his eldest
son, David Jr.
Horton, David3, Jr., bom 1702 (#60L), (David2Thom as1) was bom 10 Sep­
tember 1702 at M ilton and became a full member o f the church 30 January 1731—
2.. H e married Dorcas Littlefield, daughter o f Edmund Littlefield, 24 December
1730, and they had thirteen children, the twelfth o f whom was Lemuel Horton.
Horton, Lemuel4, 1752-1814 (#30L), (David3^Thom as1) was bom at Milton
on 8 June 1752. H e m ay have married FanneyFamum at Boston 9 February 1774.
I f he did, die vital records o f Boston and o f m any towns, especially in the M ilton-
Rehoboth area show no trace of a child o f that marriage. This may also have been
the Lemuel (sometimes recorded as Samuel) who served at various times in the
Continental A rm y in the period 1777-1780. According to some circumstantial
evidence, he may have moved to Barrington Township in Nova Scotia and mar­
ried Sarah Swain (see chapter eleven).
(References: Jenks and Seymour, Thomas Horton o f M ilton andRehoboth; Milton
Church Records, N EH G R:259-267 and 440-447; M ilton Records, 1662— 1843)
Jones, Lewis1, ca 1615-84 (#526), was born in England about 1615 and came
to America at the age of twenty in the Amitie, George Downes master. H e is said
to have married Anne Stone, daughter o f Deacon Simon Stone (the paragraph
later on about Ann Stone poses questions). A Lewis Jones married Ann Leavitt,
daughter of Ezra Leavitt, in Roxbury in 1636. Lewis Jones and his whoever wife
settled in Roxbury and he became a member of Rev. John E liot’s church in 1640.
They had three children, Lydia (date unknown), Josiah in 1643 and Phebe in
1644-5, who, according to the church records, died 6 Ju ly 1650 “by a scald”. That
year they moved to Watertown, where Lewis had a number o f commercial trans­
actions, including the buying and selling o f real estate. On 1 Ju ly 1651 Shubael,
was born with some physical or mental handicap. In 1679 Lewis Jones sold to
Justinian Holden three acres o f land “and the great Fresh Pond surrounding the
same.” “Considering the weak and helpless condition o f my dear wife, Ann Jones,
and of my son, Suball Jones,” he left his whole estate to them by a w ill made the

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7th day of the 11th month (February) 1678. According to the inscription on the
stone in the old burying ground in W atertown, quoted by Trask, “Here lyeth the
body o f Ann Jones, aged 78 years, dyed the 1 o f May, 1680. Upon the death o f that
pious, holy, godly life-being now escaped free from hate and strife.” H er husband
signed with his mark a codicil on 19 A pril 1682, appointing Simon Stone Jr. and
John Stone, Deacon Simon Stone’s sons and Ann Stone’s brothers, as guardians of
Suball and empowering them to sell any part of the house and lands for his care.
Lewis Jones died on 11 A pril 1684 and in December his son Josiah as executor
sold a house, orchard and ten acres to Sergeant John Coolidge, o f Watertown.
John Coolidge, an ancestor o f President Calvin Coolidge, was one of the three
appraisers o f the estate.
Jones, Lydia2, M rsJonathan2W hitn ey, 1633- (#263), (Lewis1) was born prob­
ably in England in 1633. Lydia Jones married Jonathan W hitney and had eleven
children. They moved to Sherborn as early as 1679.Through their daughter Lydia
they became ancestors of Alfred and Amasa Fiske.
(References: Dr. H enry Bond, Genealogies . . . o f Watertown\ Fred E. Crowell,
“Jones”, #4; W illiam Blake Trask, Some o fth e Descendants o f L ewis an d Ann Jones )
Kimball, Richard1, cl596-1675 (#1246), 39, a wheelwright, with his wife Ursula
Scott, six children and a servant, sailed in the schooner Elizabeth out o f Ipswich,
Captain Andrews, master, on 30 April 1634. The children were Henry, 15, Rich­
ard, 11, Mary, 9, M artha, 5, John, 3, and Thomas, 1, and the servant was John
Laverick, 15. Also aboard were Richard’s elder brother Henry and his family and
Ursula’s mother M artha, 60, and brother Thomas, 40, and his family. Ursulas
father, H enry Scott, yeoman of Rattlesden, Suffolk, had died in 1624. They set­
tled at W atertown, where Richard Kimball was made a freeman the next year and
was listed as a proprietor in 1636-7. Three years later he was invited as a compe­
tent wheelwright to move to Ipswich and he received a house lot and forty acres
with liberty to pasture two cows on common land. Richard Kimball was listed in
1648 for giving three shillings as a yearly subscription toward the town’s gratuity
o f £24 7s to M ajor Denison as commander o f their company but the town meet­
ing on 19 December decided to fund the gratuity henceforth by a tax on all
inhabitants (NEHGR. 2: 50). He had a deed of land and cattle from his son-in­

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law Joseph Fowler in 1650 and was one o f the executors o f his brother-in-law
Thomas Scott. H e and Ursula had three more children, Elizabeth, Caleb and
Sarah. After Ursula died, Richard, 66, married on 23 October 1661 Margaret,
the widow of H enry Dow. Having given his children money or land when they
married, Richard with an estate of £737 wrote a will, probated 28 September
1675, that made bequests to his wife M argaret in fulfilment of the marriage con­
tract, to his children and their children, to his son-in-law John Severans and to
M argaret’s three Dow children.
The family Kembold had lived in the vicinity o f Rattlesden, Suffolk, for some
time. It is likely that H enry Kembold was his great grandfather, he whose will
was proved 10 March 1558 and who left the house and lands to his wife Sysley,
which would go to son H enry at her death; to sons Thomas and Richard amounts
to be paid from their twenty-first birthday, and to daughters Agnes and M argaret
33 shillings on the wedding day and the same five years later.
Kimball, A bigail2, M rs John1 Severans, 1617-58 (#623), (Richard1), born 5
November 1617, at the age of seventeen married John Severans before her family
left for the Bay Colony. A bigail Kimball and her husband, o f Ipswich, came as
passengers in the Elizabeth in 1637. She had twelve children, five o f whom died
young, including her last, a daughter, two days after whose birth A bigail died 17
June 1658.
(References: John O. A ustin, One H undred an d Sixty Allied Families, 206-207;
H enry P. and Agnes Severance Fieler, Severance-Fieler Families in America, 1630-
1682\ “Genealogical Gleanings in England”, NEHGR, 52: 247-248; Pope’s Pio­
neers o f Massachusetts,269—270; Savage, III, 22; Rev. John F. Severance, The Severans
G enealogical History )
Learned, W illiam 1, cl581-164 6 (#568), progenitor o f the Learned fam ily in
North Am erica, came from Bermondsey, Surrey, England. Born about 1581, he
married Goodith Gilman at Southwark St. Olave 22 A pril 1606. T hey had six
children in Bermondsey between 1607 and 1623, Sarah, Bethia, M ary (died at 10
years), A bigail, Elizabeth and Isaac. Sarah had married Thomas Blossom in
Bermondsey before em igrating. T he fam ily landed in Charlestown in 1630.
W illiam and Goodith Learned were admitted to the church there on 6 Decem­

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ber 1632 and he was made freeman 14 M ay 1634. He was chosen selectman twice
and was a member of a committee to propose a body of laws to the General Court.
He signed a petition remonstrating against the banishment o f Rev. John W h eel­
wright but later asked that his name be erased from the “seditious writing”. In
1640 the family moved to Woburn, where he became one o f the seven founders of
the First Church and also constable and selectman. A t dates unknown Goodith
died and W illiam Learned married Jan e------ . He died at Woburn 1 March 1645-
6 and his widow lived another fifteen years. [Gilman, Goodith, married 1606
(#569) ]
Learned, Isaac3, Sr., 1624-57 (#284), (W illiam 1), son o f W illiam Learned and
Goodith Gilman, was baptized 25 February 1623-4 at Bermondsey. He married
M ary Stearns on 9 July 1646 at Woburn. On 2 April 1652 Isaac Learned Sr. sold
his house and lands and moved to Chelmsford, where he was chosen selectman
and where he died 27 November 1657 at the age of thirty-three, leaving five chil­
dren between ten and two (M ary, Hannah, W illiam , Sarah and Isaac) and a child
born two days after his father’s death and named Benoni.The inventory was £188.
After four and a half years M ary married John Burg but died soon after, leaving an
estate o f £222, h alf o f which the court awarded to John Burg and the other h alf to
her Learned children.
Learned, Isaac3, Jr.,1655-1737 (#142), (Isaac3W illiam 1) was born 16 Septem­
ber 1655 to Isaac Learned and M ary Steams. He married Sarah Bigelow, daugh­
ter o f John Bigelow and M ary W arren on 23 Ju ly 1679 and they settled in
Framingham. A soldier in Captain Davenport’s company, Isaac Learned Jr. was
wounded at the battle o f Narragansett in King Philip’s W ar and then served in
C aptain S ill’s company. H e was a member o f a com m ittee to incorporate
Framingham and a selectman in various years. He and Sarah had eleven children.
Isaac Learned died 15 September 1737.
Learned, Elizabeth4, M rs Jonathan3Partridge, 1696- (#71), (Isaac33W illiam 1)
was bom to Isaac Learned and M ary Bigelow on 27 July 1696. Elizabeth Learned
married Jonathan Partridge 13 November 1717.

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, II: 1164-1166; Austin, p.

156; Eugenia Learned James, The L earned Family in America; Charles Henry Pope,
The Pioneers o f Massachusetts, Avis Steams VanWagenen, Genealogy and M emoirs
o f Isaac Steams an d His D escendants )
Leland, H opestilP, 1580-1655 (#528): T his surname is written Layland,
Leyland, Lealand, Leeland, Leylonde and L a Lande. A scholar and prolific writer
in Henry VHFs time was John Leland. T he American patriarch o f this family,
Hopestill Leland, came to W eymouth in 1624. H e had only one son, Henry, a
daughter Experience and perhaps others. H e died at Medfield in 1655 at the age
o f seventy-five.
Leland, Henry2, 1625-80 (#264), (Hopestill1) was perhaps born at Weymouth
in 1625. H e married M argaret Badcock, probably a daughter o f David Badcock,
of Dorchester. H enry and M argaret lived in that part o f Medfield that is now
Sherborn, where H enry died on 4 A pril 1680. H is w ill o f 27 M arch made his
wife M argaret and son Hopestill executors and brother-in-law Robert Badcock
supervisor. Henry Leland left to his wife M argaret, as long as she remained a
widow, h alf o f the house, use o f the bam , two acres o f tillage land, six acres of
meadow, and half the upland and meadow “on the lower side o f the way as w ell as
the fruit o f half the orchard.” He gave his youngest son Eleazer the other h alf of
those lands and on M argarets passing the whole o f them as w ell as 67 acres of
upland, 5 acres o f meadow, a pair o f oxen and a colt. He bequeathed 200 acres of
land with the new house and all other buildings thereon as well as a colt to his
eldest son Hopestill, who was to pay his sister Experience, wife o f John Colburne,
and Henry’s five grandchildren 40 shillings apiece.The w ill mentions a third son,
Ebenezer, and a granddaughter Bethia Twitchell, whose mother must have died.
Badcock, M argaret1, died after 1680 (#265) (David?1)
Leland, Hopestill3, Sr., 1655-1729 (#132) (Henry2Hopestill1), “sonne o f Henry
Lealand and M argaret his wife was borne 3.9.55”, according to “Boston Records:
Births at Meadfield” and his sister Experience was bom 16.3.56 (NEH GR, 13:
216). He and his two brothers are described as industrious farmers interested in
the civil and religious welfare o f Sherborn.. Hopestill Leland Sr. had two wives:
Abigail H ill, daughter o f Joseph and Ellen H ill, who married him 5 November

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

1678, had four children, Henry, Hopestill, A bigail and John, and died 5 October
1689; and then Patience Holbrook who gave birth to five sons and a daughter. In
his w ill made the day before he died on 19 August 1729, Hopestill Sr. remem­
bered the children o f his first family but had made sufficient advances to them
earlier and therefore he provided mainly for his second fam ily as long as Isaac and
Joshua would care for their mother, keep for her some cows, a gentle horse, and
the house room she desired and provide for her in health and sickness.
Leland, H opestill4,Jr., bom 1681 (#66), (Hopestill3Henry2Hopestill1), the son
o f Hopestill Sr. and A bigail H ill, was born 4 August 1681 at Sherborn. There on
24 February 1701 Hopestill Leland Jr. married M ary Bullard, daughter of Benjamin
Bullard Jr. and Elizabeth Ellis. They had ten children, all born on the farm.
Leland, A bigail5, M rsJohn4Fiske, 1704—(#33), (Hopestill4"3Henry2Hopestill1)
was born in 1704 at Sherborn to Hopestill Leland Jr. and M ary Bullard. Abigail
Leland married first Ebenezer Babcock and then John Fiske on 21 September
1731. She and John had eight children before he died suddenly at the age o f fifty-
one.
(References: Sherman Leland, Leland Magazine", Savage’s D ictionary)
Lewis, Edm und1, ca 1600-50 (#732a), and M a r y ----------are the parents of
Nathaniel Lewis and the grandparents o f M ary Lewis, who appeared in chapter
two because they were living at Swansea in Plymouth Colony. On 10 A pril 1634
Edmund Lewis, 33, his wife M ary, 32, son John, 3, and son Thomas, 9 months,
went aboard the Elizabeth at Ipswich. T hey settled at Watertown and he amassed
150 acres by grnts and purchases. M ade freeman in 1636 and a selectman two
years later, he was also on a committee to lay out farms near the Dedham line
according to the town order. Some time between 1639 and 1643 he moved to
Lynn and in January o f 1650 he died. H is w ill gave his eldest son, John, the usual
double portion and then equal parts to the five other children after reserving a
third for his deare and lovinge wife”, who was also to receive a cow from John and
h alf o f Thomas’s flock o f sheep.
(References: Bonds Genealogy, George Harlan Lewis, Edmund Lewis o f Lynn
and Some o f His Ancestors:, Savage’s D ictionary )

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Long, Robert1, Sr., born 1590 (#1248), probably belonged to a family of

innholders in the London area. He was born in 1590, very probably to JohnA
Longe, a sidesman at St. Alban’s Cathedral, according to Hallock Long. On 5
October 1614 Robert married nineteen-year-old Sarah Taylor, daughter of John
Taylor and M argaret W illim ote. After bearing probably nine children she died in
1631. Robert Long, Sr. married Elizabeth, her surname and the date of marriage
unknown. In 1635 he got a certificate from his minister and a justice of the peace
at Dunstable, Bedfordshire, containing a list o f his wife, his ten children ranging
in age from nine months to twenty years and his servant, all of whom sailed for
the Bay Colony on 7 Ju ly of that year in the Defense. The next year at Charestown
Robert Long, Sr. opened the Three Cranes Inn or Grand Ordinary, which he and
then his descendants ran for almost a hundred years. Later the Great House was
used as a town hall until evacuating British troops put the torch to it during their
evacuation in 1777. In 1636 Robert and Elizabeth Long were admitted to the
Charlestown church and he was made a freeman. They had three daughters..
Long, Robert2, Jr., 1619-48 (#624), (Robert1), son o f Robert Long and Sarah
Taylor, was born 17 January 1619 at St. Albans, England, and came with his
father and stepmother to Boston at the age o f sixteen. H e married Elizabeth
Hawkins, daughter o f Captain (possibly Abraham) and Elizabeth Hawkins, o f
Charlestown, and settled in M alden. A braham and his brother Robert, o f
Charlestown, may have been sons o f John Hawkins, gentleman o f Braintree, Es­
sex, England, whose w ill probated 18 October 1633 left lands and tenements to
his sons Abraham and Robert (Genealogical Gleanings, NEHGR, 44:390). Eliza­
beth Hawkins was admitted to the First Church o f Charlestown 15 November
1641 (NEHGR, 23: 280) and she married about 1646. Robert Long Jr. died in
1648 at the age o f twenty-nineat Barbados, leaving one child, Samuel. [Hawkins,
Elizabeth, married ca 1646, (#625) ]
Long, Samuel3, 1647-71 (#312), (Robert2"1) was born 23 June 1647 to Robert
Long and Elizabeth Hawkins, and in his youth learned the trade of blacksmith.
On 20 January 1669 Samuel Long married Elizabeth Pinkham, who gave birth
to two sons, Robert and then Samuel, who was born seven months after his father
had died on 15 September 1671. [Pinkham , Elizabeth, married 1669 (#313) ]

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Long, Robert^ 1669-1736 (#156), (Samuel3 Robert2 Robert1) was born 9 De­
cember 1669 at Charlestown to Samuel Long and Elizabeth Pinkham. Because
he became a resident landowner in Nantucket he is sketched in chapter eight.
(References: Hallock P. Long, A L o n g G e n e a lo g y , pp. 5 -9 ; H. P. Long, “Settlers
Surnamed Long to New England Before 1700,” NEHGR, 104: 36—40)
M iller, Rev. John1, 1604-63 (#38a) was baptized 21 October 1604 at Ashford,
Kent, and graduated from Gaius College, Cambridge in 1627. He and his wife
Lydia Coombs and their son John came over in 1634 and settled first in Dorchester,
where he was a proprietor, and then in Roxbury, where he was an elder in the
church. From 1639 he was town clerk and assistant to Rev. Ezekiel Rogers at
Rowley. In 1641 he receive a call to the Woburn church but his minister, Mr.
Rogers, prevailed on him to stay. Owing to illness he declined a missionary visit
to Virginia with a group of ministers. In 1646 Rev. John M iller went to Yar­
mouth, Plymouth Colony, as its minister and two years later the General Court
gave an order for his accommodation there. H e was proposed for freeman in
1650 but at the session o f the Plymouth Court on 2 June 1651 he was called to
answer for remarks he had made in a sermon, which caused the General Court in
1652 to instruct a ju ry to make due inquiry to vindicate the government. Lydia
died in Boston in 1658 at the house o f Thomas and Susanna Bumstead. Mr.
M iller was called by Groton to become its first minister and he died there on 12
June 1663. John and Lydia had a son and seven daughters, two o f whom married
Coombs cousins. “H e is said to have been a man o f high literary attainments.”
(Edes, p. 70) [Coombs, Lydia, died 1658 (#739) ]
M iller, M ehitable2, M rs John2 Crow, 1638-1715 (#369a) (John1), daughter o f
Rev.John M iller and Lydia Coombs, was born 12 July 1638 at Roxbury. Mehitable
M iller married John Crow Jr., son of John and Elishua Crow, and they had eight
children. She died in 1715 at Yarmouth, Cape Cod.
(References: C o n n e c tic u t N u t m e g g e r , “M iller”, 7:3 (Dec. 1974); H. H. Edes,
“Pembroke M arriages,” NEHGR, 31: 69-70; Frederick Freeman, H is to r y o f C a p e
C od, 1: 249— 250 ; Pope, P io n e e r s o f M a ss a ch u se tts , 314;)

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Newcomb, Andrew1, Sr., died 1686 (#668a) came to the New W orld as the
captain o f a ship, first perhaps to Barbados, then Virginia and later farther north,
where the first record in Boston is in 1663, when he married his second wife,
G race----------, widow ofW illiam Ricks, by whom she had had five children. Bom
in Boston to Andrew and Grace Newcomb were Elisha, M ary, John, Thomas and
Ezekiel. On 28 February 1666—7 John Page shipped cattle to Virginia in a ketch
o f which Andrew Newcomb Sr. was the master. On 28 August 1679 he was the
captain o f a sloop Edmund an d Martha, then in the port o f New York bound for
Boston, probably originating in Virginia because tobacco was part o f his cargo.
He built a new house in 1681 and lived there till his death in 1686, his will being
probate on 8 December.
Newcomb, Andrew2, Jr., ca 1640-bef 1708 (#334a) (Andrew*) was bom about
1640 to Capt. Andrew Newcomb and his first wife, whose name has not been
found. The name o f his wife, S a ra h ----------- , whom he married about 1661, is
found only once in die records when she consented to a sale on H og Island in
1673. Andrew attended a meeting in July o f 1666 at the Isle of Shoals or Appledore,
nine miles off the coast o f Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at which merchants and
fishermen set the price o f fish. The family was living at nearby Kittery, Maine,
where he paid £58 for a house. Andrew Newcomb Jr. held the ofice o f constable at
the Shoals. Sarah, Mrs Andrew Newcomb Jr. gave birth to seven children and
died before 7 July 1674. Andrew moved with his young children to a safer place,
anticipatig King Philip’s War, which broke out in 1675. He settled in Edgartown,
M artha’s Vineyard. We shall pick up the story there (see chapter seven).
(References: Banks, History o f Martha's Vineyard, vol. 3, 84-85; John Bearse
Newcomb, Genealogical M em oir o f the Newcomb F am ily )
Paine, M oses1, died 1643 (#522) was baptized along with his sister Tabitha in
Frittenden church in Kent on 23 April 1581, according to the parish register,
which records the baptism of the ten other children of Nicholas* Payne as well as
the early death and the burial o f five of them. Moses’ ancestors had long lived in
Frittenden and vicinity. From Moses Paine one could go back five generations to
JohnE Payn, bom about 1420, and before that to a chamberlain o f the Bishop of
St. David’s in the reign of H enry IV (1412-1422). JohnE, a man of considerable

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property, died in his early forties in 1463 and left a w ill in Latin providing for all
eventualities for his wife Joane and his sons Edmund and Stephen. Stephen0 was
born about 1450, married a daughter o f John Webb, who left goods to his three
grandchildren, one o f whom was Johnc Paine, born about 1483, who inherited
some o f his father’s lands, which had been swelled because Uncle Edmund had
died without issue. Stephen0 Payn had named Sir W illiam Ketchden as the over­
seer o f his will. John c Payne made no w ill but his daughter Elizabeth did at the
age o f eighteen, making S ir Nicholas Jackson her executor. Through it we leam
the name o f her brother John8 and her sister Johane but not the name o f her
mother. Moses’ grandfather John8 Payne, ca 1510-1550, married Jane Coucheman,
daughter o f Robert, a clothier, and left a w ill providing for her and their five chil­
dren, including his third child, Nicholas'*, born about 1539. Nicholas was married
three times but his first wife, Agnes Crofton, was the mother o f Moses, who was
the tenth o f eleven children and one o f the six who survived. Nicholas provided in
his w ill o f 10 M ay 1617 for all members o f his fam ily and left the residue o f his
estate to Moses, his executor.
Among the marriage licences o f Canterbury appears: “Moses Paine o f Frittenden
and Mar. Benison of Tenterden, virgin. At Tenterden. Hope[still] Tilden o f Sand­
wich, grosser, bondsman. Dated Oct. 12,1615.” M ary was buried 6 M arch 1617,
four months after the birth o f John, who probably died young. About 1619 Moses
married Elizabeth (Sheafe) Collier, daughter o f Richard Sheafe and M argery
Roberts and the widow of Tim othy Collier and the mother of his three children.
Elizabeth and Moses had four children, Elizabeth, M argaret, d.y., Moses and
Stephen. Elizabeth the wife was buried in Frittenden 11 October 1632. By this
time her Collier children were in their teens. [Sheafe, Elizabeth, M rs Moses
Paine,1589-1632 (#523)]
Elizabeth came from a long line o f clothiers going back to the time when
Edward I l l ’s queen, Philippa, a Fleming, brought men from Flanders to teach
the English the weaving o f fine woollens. T hey found ideal conditions for the
industry in Cranbrook, Kent, where over time the master manufacturers built
broadcloth halls, in which they lived and kept their stock. Elizabeth’s great grand­
father Richard Sheffin his w ill, proved 24 September 1557, wished to be buried

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beside his father, Richard, in St. Thomas’s Chancel o f the church and made these
bequests: a house and garden, twenty loads o f good wood a year,£200 and a silver
goblet to his wife Elizabeth; a silver goblet to his married daughter Joan; £50 to
each o f his five young unmarried daughters, whom son Thomas was to be charged
with bringing up; his marsh lands in Ivechurch, Kent, and £400 to son W illiam ;
and all his properties and lands in Cranbrook to Thomas. This Thomas, who
married M ary Harman and had fifteen children, left his principal messuage to his
eldest son Richard, the father o f Elizabeth, who married Moses Paine but died
six years before the family left for New England.
Moses Paine came with immigrants from Kent in the Castle in 1638 w ith his
surviving children, Elizabeth, Moses and Stephen. They settled in Braintree, where
he became a freeman. About 1642 he married a third time, Judith (Pares) Quincy,
the widow of Edmund Quincy. During the five years in the colony before his
death he bought several properties w ith the capital he had brought with him.
The w ill o f Moses Paine, gent., dated 17 June 1643, gave son Moses half o f die
goods and lands in Braintree, Cambridge, Concord and Piscataway and half of
“goods or debts in Ould England if they may be recovered.” Moses was to be the
guardian of Stephen and to put him to school for three or six months “for the
bettering o f his reading & w riting” and to give him a quarter o f the estate at age
twenty-three. H enry Adams Sr. was one o f the witnesses to a codicil, dated three
days after the w ill, providing for the widow Judith, who incidentally, remarried in
1643, the year Moses died: “I Moses Paine bequeath to my wife, Judith Paine,
twenty shillings, to be paid within the space o f ten yeares o f my decease.”
Paine, Elizabeth2, M rs Henry2A dam s, 1620-76 (#261), (M oses1) was baptized
23 July 1620 as the daughter o f Moses Paine and Elizabeth Sheafe. A t the age of
eighteen she emigrated with her father and two brothers. She inherited from her
father a quarter o f all his properties in New England and o f his goods or debts in
England if recoverable, as well as a chest o f fine linen “except two paire o f fine &.
strong sheetes” apiece for her two brothers. Three months after her father died
Elizabeth Paine married Henry Adams Jr. at Braintree on 17 October 1643. They
moved to Sherborn and had at least four children. Elizabeth died in 1676 at the
age of fifty-six, accidentally shot during an Indian attack.

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(References: “Abstracts o f the Earliest W ills Upon Record in the County of

Suffok”, N E H G R ,2:263-264; Elizabeth French, “Genealogical Research in Eng­
land: Paine", N EHGR, 65: 290-291; M ary Lovering Holman, “Moses Paine of
Braintree, Massachusetts, and His Ancestry in England”,TAG, 21:181-189 (1945);
W alter K. W atkins, “Sheafe Family o f Guilford, Conn.”, NEHGR, 55: 208-219)
Parkhurst, George1, 1588-1675 (#582), born about 1588 in Ipswich, Suffolk,
England, married about 1611—12 Phebe Leete, daughter of Robert Leete and
Alice Grundy and granddaughter o f John Leete and his wife, Ellen Burgoyne, of
Eversden, Cambridgeshire. [Leete, Phebe, died bef 1638 (#583)] Baptized in Ips­
wich were the nine children o f George and Phebe Parkhurst, three of whom died
young. The date o f the family’s emigration to New England is not known but it
must have been some time before Deborahs marriage ca. 1638. Five offspring
between the ages of nine and twenty-three years must have been with him, for the
eldest, Phebe, was already married and probably came later when her husband
died soon after. W hether Phebe, George’s wife and the mother o f them all, had
died or came with them is not known; she may have died soon after coming. The
first record surviving of George’s presence is a W atertown order for laying a high­
way to his house on the homestall lot o f 16 acres 10 M ay 1642, when he was
granted a farm of 56 acres. In 1644 at age fifty-six George Parkhurst married
Susanna, widow o f John Simson and mother o f five children between the ages of
two and ten years. Over the next eight years George and Susanna added five
Parkhursts to the family. To keep this onerous household George sold off piece
after piece o f the Simson real estate during the next eleven years.The family moved
to Boston in 1645. In 1655 he petitioned the General Court to allow him to sell
the last twelve acres because he, nearly sixty-seven, and his wife were destitute and
he needed the money to go to help her, who had gone with the six youngest o f her
children to London but had found that her mother and siblings were unable to
assist. T he Court approved but retained two-thirds o f the sum for the two Simson
sons upon their majority. M ost likely he was the “Old George Parkhurst” who was
buried 19 June 1675 at St. Lawrence, Ipswich; if so, he was about eighty-seven
when he died. The children whom Susanna took back to England remained there,
except Benjamin, who emigrated to New Jersey. She died in London at age eighty.

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George Parkhurst, a clothier, seems to have been less effectual or less fortunate
than his forebears o f three generations. No doubt he was swamped by having in
his sixties to support so many children in a strange land. The son ofJohnAParkhurst,
a clothier o f Ipswich, and Sarah (surname unknown), George inherited from his
father in 1611 all his books, shopstuff, implements o f trade, and the rest o f goods
and stock, movables and immovables; his mother and his six siblings receiving
goodly sums. H is grandfather, Christopher® Parkhurst, was first of Guildford,
Surrey, and then o f Ipswich, where he was appointed keeper o f the Bishops Pal­
ace by his brother, M ost Rev. John Parkhurst, B A ., D.D., classical scholar and
translator and newly made Bishop o f Norwich. Christopher had his son John by
his first wife, whose name is unknown. George’s great grandfather, the father of
Christopher, was George0 o f Guildford, who was one o f the two hallwardens of
the G uild H all, an associate to the mayor, a member o f the local militia w ith suit
o f armour and pike, and finally mayor o f Guildford. The earliest Parkhurst found
in Surrey is on a 1464 record in the village o f Parkhurst.
Parkhurst, Deborah2, M rs Jo h n 1Sm ith, 1619—86 (#291) ^George1), daughter
of George Parkhurst and Phebe Leete, was baptized on 1 August 1619 at Ipswich,
Suffolk. Deborah Parkhurst married John Smith of Watertown about 1638 and
two o f their children were bom there. They moved about 1644 to Hampton, New
Hampshire, where her mother’s sister Ruth, the wife of Rev. Timothy Dalton, was
living. A unt Ruth returned to England and, being a widow whose children had
died, she left legacies to Deborah and other children o f Phebe Leete Parkhurst.
Deborah had one more child there. They moved to Edgartown by 1654 and she
had two children there, the last being Abigail Smith. See the next chapter.
(References: Edson Salisbury Jones, “The Family of George Parkhurst of
Watertown and Boton, M ass.”, N EHGR, 68: 370-375; Peter G. Parkhurst, un­
published notes, 1991; John Plummer, “The Ancestry o f George Parkhurst 6c
Phebe Leete”, in John Brooks Threlfell, F ifty Great M igration Colonists to New
England: Their O rigins , 256-288)
Partridge, John1, Sr., cl620-1706 (#280) and his brother W illiam probably
came from Essex with their sister Margery. They settled first in Dedham and
shared on 17 M arch 1652 in the division of 500 acres. They moved to Medfield

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the next year and took up their lots on Bachelors Row. They signed the proprie­
tors’ agreement, which most likely was drawn by Ralph W heelock, the founder
o f Medfield. They both became freemen and served as selectmen, in addition to
which John was elected clerk o f the market in 1672. John Partridge married
Magdalen Bullard, daughter o f John Bullard and M agdalen M artyn. John and
M agdalen had five boys and five girls, the last a few months after the Indian
burning o f Medfield in 1676, when they lost their house, barn, store o f grain and
several head ofcatde. M agdalen died 27 December 1677. Almost thirty years later
John died at Medfield 28 M ay 1706. He made bequests in his w ill, which was
proved 25 June 1707 (Suffolk Co., 16 :1 5 8 -9 ), to sons John, Eleazer, Samuel and
Zachariah, daughter Rachel C lark and grandchildren Hannah Rockwood and
Eleazer and Obadiah Adams.
Partridge, John2, Jr., bom 1656 (#140) (John1) was born in Medfield 21 Sep­
tember 1656 to John Partridge and M agdalen Bullard. A t the age o f twenty-two
he married Elizabeth Rockwood on 24 December 1678 and they had four chil­
dren, Elizabeth, Mary, John and Benoni, over the next nine years but their mother
died in 1688. John married Elizabeth Adams, ten years younger than he, daugh­
ter of Jonathan Adams and Elizabeth Fussell. T hey had six children, Jonathan,
Hannah, Deborah, James, Sarah and Stephen. John Partridge was a deacon o f the
M edway church and became the master o f a school for children living in the
western part. Elizabeth Adams died in 1719, Almost two years later John mar­
ried Hannah Sheffield, 58. John Partridge died at M edway 9 December 1743 at
the age o f eghty-seven and left a w ill, proved 4 September the following year
(Suffolk Co., 37:121), in which he made bequests to all his children. H e left the
homestead to Stephen, but because he did not revise his w ill when Stephen had
died before him, the property went to Stephens widow, who became M rs. Abner
Ellis.
Partridge, Jonathan3, 1693-cl758 (#70) (John21) was born to John Partridge
and Elizabeth Adams at Medfield, now M illis, on 25 November 1693. There in
1713 he drew land, his farm being a mile north o f the village. Jonathan Partridge
married Elizabeth Learned, daughter o f Isaac Learned, Jr. and Sarah Bigelow, on
13 November 1717. Elizabeth died 23 A pril 1738, nine months after the birth of

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her tenth child. Jonathans second marriage, to Anne Phips, a granddaughter of

Sir W illiam Phips, gave him six more children but ended after ten years with her
early death in 1749 at Sherborn, where they had moved in 1742. W ith so many
children to look after, Jonathan Partridge married A bigail Lovet ten months later
and had four more children. About 1752 they moved to Barre, Rutland Disrict,
where he died about six years later. A n order o f estate administration refers to
eighteen living children and lists their names on the back (Worcester Co., case
45567).
Partridge, Elizabeth4, M rs Samuel4H ill, 1720-bef1797 (#35) (Jonathan3John2'
!) was born to Jonathan Partridge and Elizabeth Learned at M edway 17 August
1720. Elizabeth Partridge married Samuel H ill, son o f John H ill and Hannah
Rockwood, on M ay 30 1738 and they had six children, all daughters Ten years
after Samuel died in 1761, Elizabeth married Joseph Daniels, o f Needham. Her
daughter Sarah H ill married John Fiske.
(References: J. Gardner Bartlett, “John H ill o f Dorchester, M ass., and H is De­
scendants”, NEHGR, 58:157—168 S c237-246; George H. Partridge, “John Par­
tridge o f Medfield, M ass, and H is Descendants”, NEHGR, 57: 50-8, and Par­
tridge G enealogy: Descendants o f John Partridge o f M edfield, Mass.; Savage, 3: 367)
Preston,W illiam 1, cl590-1647 (#1592L) was baptized at Giggleswick, West
R iding, Yorkshire, 28 January 1 5 90-1, a son o f Adam PrestonAand Isabel
Braithwhett. Adam and Isabel were married 2 June 1583 in the Gigglesworth
Church and had Margaret, Thomas, Janet, Katherine, then W illiam and finally
Richard. As a young man W illiam Preston settled at Chesham in Buckingham­
shire, where on 11 October 1613 he married Elizabeth Sale, daughter o f Edward
Sale and Elizabeth Gifford. It is likely that Elizabeth died during or soon after
the birth o f her eighth child, for she was buried at Chesham 22 February 1633-4
and her baby, John, was baptized on the fourth o f March. W illiam Preston mar­
ried M a r y ----------and early in 1635 they planned to emigrate to New England
with some o f the youngr children. His age then was given as 44, hers as 34 and the
children: Elizabeth, 11; Sarah, 8; M arie, 6; and John, 3. T hey came in September
in the Truelove, which Savage describes as “the latest o f seventeen ships from Lon­
don to Boston in that year”. W illiam bought property in Dorchester but moved

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his family to New Haven, where he was among the first to subscribe to the com­
pact in 1639. Savage deduces that W illiam Preston was widowed a second time
and married a daughter o f Robert Seabrook, and that she gave birth tojehiel, who
was baptized 14 June 1640, the twins Hackaliah and Eliasaph 9 April 1647 and
Joseph 24 Jan 1647-48, for Seabrook bequeathed his home lot to his grandsons
Jehiel Preston and Thomas Fairchild. Certainly if M ary was 34 in 1635, she would
have been 46 or 47 when Joseph was born. W illiam Preston died at New Haven,
having made his w ill 9 July 1647, in which he writes o f his children o f his first and
second wives but does not identify the mother o f any one of them and in which he
includes his share o f the house and land and other goods that his father had left to
him and his elder brother at Giggleswick in Yorkshire.
Preston, Daniel2, 1622-1707 (#796L) (W illiam 1), son o fW illiam Preston and
Elizabeth Sale, was baptized 3 M arch 1621-2 in the Chesham Church in Buck­
inghamshire. A t the age o f fourteen Daniel Preston sailed from London in April
of 1635 in the Elizabeth a n d A n n with his Uncle Edward Sale in the knowledge
that his father, stepmother and younger siblings would arrive a few months later.
He became a husbandman in Dorchester, was often chosen a selectman and be­
came a deacon o f the Congregational church. About 1645 Daniel Preston mar­
ried M a r y ----------, with whom he had M ary Jr., baptized 15 February 1645-6,
Daniel Jr., 7 October 1649, John, 14 September 1651—2 and Elizabeth in 1653.
M ary died at Dorchester 5 October 1695 at age 75 and Daniel died there 10
November 1707 at age eighty-five. T he court granted administration o f the estate
to his son Daniel Jr. on 18 M arch 1707-8.
Preston, D aniel, Jr.3, 1649-1723 (#398L) (Daniel2W illiam 1), son o f Daniel
and M ary Preston, was baptized at Dorchester on 7 October 1649. H e and his
wife, A b ig a il----------, had Mary, born 1 September 1675, Remember, Abigail,
Deliverance, Elizabeth, Daniel (dy), R elief (dy) and Daniel again, 15 August 1689.
Daniel Preston Jr. and his wife A bigail were admitted to the First Church on 2
November 1676 and their children Abigail, M ary and John were baptized there

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on the 28th.The father Daniel Preston,Jr. became the ruling elder of the Dorchester
church.. He died 13 March 1726 at the age o f seventy-six. His widow, Abigail,
married John Jackson o f Cambridge and died 24 A pril 1723 at the age o f seventy-
five.
(References: “Parentage o f W illiam Preston o f New Haven, Conn.”, TAG 14:
134-137 (1937); Charles Henry Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts, 373; Records of
the First Church o f Dorchester; James A . Savage, G enealogical Dictionary, 3:483)
Rockwood, Richard1, died 1660 (#552) came to Dorchester, when and how is
not known. Early historians o f this family, such as Rev. Abner Morse and Tho­
mas Temple Rockwood, were satisfied that Richard was married in England and
brought a child, Nicholas, with him but there is no direct proof. The first extant
record (the first book o f Dorchester records was burnt in 1657) is dated 3 Decem­
ber 1633 and indicates that to compensate for allowing a road to go through his
home lot he was to have an additional acre. In the next two years he was granted
fourteen acres more. He may have left Dorchester when so many went to Con­
necticut. Evidently Richard Rockwood or Rocket stopped at Weymouth and mar­
ried in 1636 or 1637 Agnes Bicknell, whose husband, Zachary, had died within a
year or so of their emigrating from Weymouth, England, w ith their eleven-year-
old son, John. A daughter Lydia was most likely born to Richard and Agnes about
1637 although the birth is not recorded. There is a record of the birth to them in
December o f 1641 o f John Rockwood at M ount Wollaston (Braintree), where the
family had moved and received a grant of land.. Agnes died 9 July 1643. W hen he
died in 1660, the inventory was signed by Anne Rockwood, evidently his widow.
His will provided £4 13s. “to satisfy for a cow” killed by his son John accidentally.
Rockwood, Nicholas2, 1628-80 (#276), (Richard1?) was born about 1628, prob­
ably in England. Some members o f the family believe that Nicholas was not re­
lated to Richard and that he was really a Rookwood. Actually Rockwood is a
variant o f that name. T ill proof is shown it seems safer to follow the genealogists
who were closer in time to the pioneers. The first record of Nicholas Rockwood is
as an early newcomer and grantee of Medfield in 1651 and the next year as a
proprietor worth £100. In addition to the home lot he had grants of nearly 100
acres by the end of the decade. He became a member of the church and a free­

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

man. He married Jane Adams, who had Samuel, Benjamin andjosiah, and died
15 December 1654. He married on 16 July 1656 M argaret Holbrook, who had
Elizabeth, Joseph, John and Nathaniel., and died 23 A pril 1670. On 21 February
1675-6 Indians in King Philips W ar attacked the town and in spite of the resist­
ance o f a hundred soldiers burned half the houses and barns but all except seven­
teen o f the population survived by taking shelter in garrison houses. So poor were
the people afterwards that in 1677 they, including Nicholas, petitioned the Gen­
eral Court for an abatement of the colonial tax. His third wife, Silence, died in
November of that year, four months after the birth of her child, who also died.
Nicholas died on 26 January 1680. [Adams, Jane, died 1654 (#277)
Rockwood, Samuel3, ca 1650-1728 (#138) (Nicholas2Richard1?) was probably
born at Braintree about 1649-50 and his parents were Nicholas Rockwood and
Jane Adams. He married on 15 December 1671 Hannah Ellis, daughter o f John
Ellis and Susanna Ellis. They had eight children, of whom five died young. The
family lived on the 85-acre farm that he inherited from his father. Hannah died
on 7 M ay 1717 and he married S a ra h ----------. At his death on 17 December
1728 Deacon Samuel Rockwood assigned the farm to his daughter Hannah.
Rockwood, H annah4, M rs John3H ill, 1673—1730 (#69) (Samuel3 Nicholas2
Richard1 ?) was born on 1 October 1673 at Medfield to Samuel Rockwood and
Hannah Ellis. Hannah Rockwood married John3 H ill III, son ofjohn2 H ill II and
Hannah [?]Johnson, at M edfield about 1693. She had six children and died 7
February 1729-30.
(References: Ancestry o f Benjamin Rockwood o f Grafton; Rev. Abner Morse,
“Rockwood”, The Genealogy o f the Descendants o f Several Ancient Puritans, pp. 103-
109)
Scott, Ursula1, c l5 9 9 -c l6 6 0 (#1247) was bom about 1599 to 1lenry'3 Skott,
yeoman o f Rattlesden, Suffolk and his wife, M artha W hotlock, whose brother
Robert mentions her as M artha Skott in his w ill o f 20 September 1622, proved 8
October. H enry Skott died between 24 September 1623, the date o f his w ill, and
10 January 1624, the date o f its probate. H e left his house and property to his
wife M artha and after her death to his son Roger, and five pounds to his son
Thomas. At the age o f twenty-one his four Kimball grandchildren were to re­

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

ceive money, Abigail 40 shillings and Henry, Elizabeth and Richard 20 shillings
each. On the last o f April, 1634 Ursula, her husband, Richard Kimball, and six of
their children, Henry, Richard, M ary, M artha, John and Thomas, from age fifteen
to one, sailed for New England in the Elizabeth o f Ipswich. T hey had three more
children. Ursula died at Ipswich, Essex County, some time before 23 October
1661, when Richard married again.
(References: see those o f Kimball, Richard)
Severance,John1, died 1682 (#622) married seventeen-year-old Abigail Kimball,
daughter o f Richard Kimball and Ursula Scott, in Ipswich, England, just before
her family left for America in 1634. The next year John Severans was captain o f
the schooner Elizabeth that brought more settlers to Boston. In 1637 this same
ship returned and among the passengers were John and Abigail. T hey brought
two cows, the transport o f which was expensive. He was admitted freeman in that
year and he was a member in 1640 o f the Ancient &. Honorable Artillery. He and
Abigail probably lived with her mother’s brother, Robert Scott, a merchant with a
house, garden and orchard on Washington Street. John Severance was one o f a
Company that petitioned the General Court to begin plantation at Merrimack,
the name of which was changed to Salisbury in 1640. In 1639 and 1640 he was
granted 29 acres when he moved his family from Boston. H e performed various
public offices such as selectman, surveyor and roadbuilder and, having opened an
ordinary, was known as a “victualler and vintner”. He and three others were fined
12 pence at a general meeting of the freemen o f Salisbury for disorderly talking in
the meeting. He and Edward French were to contract for the repair and enlarge­
ment o f the old meeting house. The records o f the church at Salisbury, 1639-
1687, have been lost. A bigail died 19 June 1658, two days after the birth o f her
twelfth child. John Severance married Susanna, the widow o f H enry Ambrose, on
2 October 1663. The town records o f 1672 show that he bought “a bright bay
stone horse w ith a black maine and tayle, a white blaze down the forehead—
about fower years old.” In his will dated 7 April 1682 he gave Susanna h alf the
household goods and the use o f h alf the house during her widowhood and also the
best bed and the third bed, her choice o f a cow, the best swine and h alf the com

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

and other provisions. He gave John only ten shillings because he had been pro­
vided for already and the rest o f the children £5. To M ary’s husband, James Coffin,
he gave four acres in return for the wine he had got from James four years before.
The brief note on M ary Severance w ill be found in chapter eight, in Nantucket.
(References: John O. Austin, One H undred an d Sixty A llied Families, pp. 2 0 6-
207; Henry P. Fieler, Severance-Fieler Families in America', Rev. John F. Severance,
The Severans G enealogical H istory)
Squire, Edith1, born 1587 (#565) was the second wife o f Henry Adams, Sr.,
whom she married at Charlton M ackrell, Somerset, on 19 October 1609. She
had been baptized there on 29 M ay 1587, one o f the five children o f H en ry1
Squire, yeoman and blacksmith, and his wife, whose name has not come down to
us. Henry, born about 1563, was a son o f Rev. William® Squire, the rector of
Charlton M ackrell. In 1638, at about the age o f fifty Edith came with her hus­
band and eight o f his children to New England and settled at Braintree. There is
some dispute whether she or Henry’s first wife was the mother o f Henry Jr., his
eldest. C ertainly die eight other offspring were hers. She is our ancestor for sure
through her son Jonathan. Some time after her husband died in the autumn of
1646 Edith married John Frissell, o f W eymouth and Medfield.
Stearns, Isaac1, ca 1600-71 (#570) was born about 1600 in Hingham, Suffolk.
Having learned the trade o f tailor, he married M ary Barker o f Nayland, daughter
of John Barker and M argaret Walter, on 20 M ay 1622. W ith their three children,
Mary, Anna and John, all born in Nayland, they embarked at Yarmouth in one of
the ships of the W inthrop Fleet in the spring o f 1630. W illard Stearns and Avis
Van Wagenen state that the Stearns came in the flagship Arbella but apart from a
few notables it is not known in which of those ships most passengers made the
voyage. The Steams were one o f the families who landed at Salem, moved south
to Charlestown at W inthrop’s order and then went with Rev. George Philips and
Sir Richard Saltonstall to Watertown, where the Steams and the Warrens were
neighbours, having known one another back home in Nayland. Isaac Stearns was
admitted freeman 18 M ay 1631. A t the Quarter Court in Boston in 1638 he and
John Page were fined five shillings each for changing the course of the highway.
He was chosen a selectman twice and served as a fence viewer, tax assessor, land

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

viewer, constable and surveyor o f highways. In 1647 he and a settler by the name
o f Biscoe were appointed to work out how a bridge at W atertown over the Charles
River should be built and to agree w ith workmen to do it. H e received four
landgrants consisting o f 72 acres and a farm o f 259 acres.
Isaac and M ary Steam s had eight children, two in Nayland, John in England
or aboard ship, and then five in Watertown: Mary, bp. 6 Jan uaryl625-6, m. W illiam
Learned; Anna, bp. 5 October 1628, m. Samuel Freeman; John, aboutl630, m.
Sarah M ixer and then M ary Lothrop; Isaac, Jr. born 6 January 1632—3, m. Sarah
Beers; Sarah, bom 22 September 1635, m. Gregory Stone; Samuel, born 24 April
1638, m. Hannah M anning; Elizabeth, about 1644, m. Samuel M anning; Abigail,
about 1646; m. John Morse.
Isaac Stearns died 19 June 1671 and his w ill was proved in October. The inven­
tory amounting to £524 shows that he was well off for his tim e, owning as he did
526 acres, horses, oxen, cows and sheep. M ary was to enjoy the whole estate as
long as she remained a widow but if she married she would have her dower rights.
To each o f his children, he bequeathed an amount to “make up his (or her) por­
tion”, adding £80 to what he had already given: to the children o f his dead son
John; to Isaac £70; to Samuel £40 (Isaac had deeded a house and land to Samuel
in 1664); to die children o f M ary Learned, deceased, £35; to Sarah Stone £40; to
Elizabeth M anning £20; and to A bigail Morse £40 and five acres.
Steam s, M ary2, M rs Isaac2 Learned, 1626-63 (#285) (Isaac1) was bom at
Nayland, Suffolk, on 6 January 1626 to Isaac Stearns and M ary Barker. At the age
o f four she came to the Bay Colony with them and at the age o f eighteen on 9 July
1646 at Woburn M ary Steams married Isaac Learned, son o f W illiam Learned
and Sarah Learned, maiden name unknown. They moved in 1652 to Chelmsford,
where he died five years later, leaving five children between two and ten years. She
married John Burg in 1662 and died a year later, leaving an estate o f £222 but die
court gave only h alf o f it to her children, after awarding h alf to Burg.
(References: Eugenia Learned Jam es, The L earned Family in America'., W illard
E. Stearns, M emoranda o f the Steam s Family, John Brooks Threlfall, F ifty Great
M igration Colonists to N ew E ngland , pp.433-450; Avis Stearns VanWagenen, Ge­
nealogy and M emoirs o f Isaac Stearns and His D escendants )

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

Stone, Sim on1, 1585-1665 (#1054) at fifty years of age embarked at London
15 April 1635 in the Increase, Robert L ea master, with his wife Joan, 38, and their
children: Frances, 16; Ann, 11; Simon Jr., 4, and John, five weeks. A son of David
and Ursula Stone, Simon Stone was born at Great Bromley, county Essex in
England, and was baptized there 9 February 1585-6. He married Joan Clark there
on 5 August 1616. They moved to Boxted in 1622. The Watertown records show
the baptism of John 15 Ju ly 1635 and the birth of Elizabeth 5 April 1639. Having
been made a freeman there 25 M ay 1636, Simon Stone was chosen to be a selectman
during seven various years in the period 1637 to 1656 and he was also deacon of
the church. Joan died before 1654, for about that year Deacon Simon Stone mar­
ried Sarah, the widow o f Richard Lumpkin, of Ipswich, who also had come from
Boxted. Sarah died some time between the signing of her w ill 25 M arch 1663 and
its probate 6 October, leaving an estate o f£578. Simon died 22 September 1665 at
the age o f eighty. His will of 7 September 1665, proved 3 October, left legacies to
his sons Simon and John; his daughters M ary and Frances, wife o f Rev. Henry
Green, his grandchildren Joanna and Nathaniel Green, his brothers Hayward Stone
and Deacon Gregory Stone of Cambridge. The will did not mention his daughter
Ann.
Stone, A nn2, died 1680? (#527) (Simon1): Henry Bond strongly presumed that
she married Lewis Jones, Fred E. Crowell flatly named her as Jones’s wife, and
relatives o f a recent generation have registered such unverified data in the Interna­
tional Genealogical Index. The Memoir o f M att Bushnell Jones, A B ., LLB, Litt.D,
mentions that his ancestor Lewis Jones “married Ann [?Stone]”.W e are often w ith­
out dates and those we have do not fit easily together. Ann Stone, who was listed
as eleven years old when the family took ship in A pril o f 1635, must have been
born about 1623 or 1624. W e do not have the date o f the Jones marriage but the
daughter Lydia Jones married Jonathan W hitney 30 October 1656. If Ann Stone
married at age sixteen, had Lydia in 1640, who then married at age sixteen, the
suppositions would ju st fit. The question remains: why did Deacon Simon Stone
fail to mention Ann in his w ill if she was still alive? “The Old Almanac o f Rev.
Nathan Stone” (N EH G R, 10: 229) has this: “M y great grandfather was Simon
Stone whose wife was Joan, daughter o f Mr. W illiam C lark.” “M y grandfather

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Simon Stone had three sisters who m. Messrs Sterns, Greene Sc Orne. The last
died young.” Those were the children o f Simon1. David H . Brown refers to this
and lists among the Stone children “Ann, b. 1624; probably m. John Ome o f Salem,
for his second wife.” Certainly, Ann Stone was not the second wife o f John Orne,
Sr.(who was bom about 1602), for that woman was the Frances Orne who was
admitted to the Salem church 30 March 1656. Could Ann Stone have been the
second wife o f John Orne, Jr.? Ann Jones’s gravestone has her death at 78 in 1680,
meaning she had been born in 1602, twenty some years before Ann Stone, who
would have been 56 or 57 in 1680. A gravestone is not always a reliable record of
the age o f the deceased but such a discrepancy is hard to explain. Add to those
doubts the marriage o f a Lewis Jones at Roxbury in 1636 to Ann Leavitt, who was
born to Ezra Leavitt about 1606 (ref: IGI), which would make her eleven years
older than our Lewis Jones and about 74 in 1680. There is no trace o f Ezra Leavitt
in Savage or Pope or the NEHGR. No doubt there was a close tie between Lewis
Jones and the Stone family because by his will two o f them were made guardians
o f his handicapped son, Shubael.
(Other References: Bond, Genealogies o f Watertown; David H . Brown, “Dea.
Simon Stone of Watertown, M ass., and Some o f H is Descendants, NEHGR, July
1899, 453: 345-350; F E. Crowell, N ew Englanders in Nova Scotia ; W . B. Trask,
Descendants o f L ewis and Ann Jones, 5—11)
Thorpe, H enry1, died 1672 (#538) was first recorded in W atertown in 1642
and was made a freeman 6 M ay 1646. In his old age he became a charge to the
town although he owned a house and land. Towards the maintenance o f the old
man the selectmen ofWatertown leased his property to Goodman W hitticar. W hen
Henry Thorpe died 21 M ay 1672, the town billed his son-in-law Benjamin Bullard,
who now claimed die Thorpe house and land.
Thorpe, Sarah2, M rs Benj.1Bullard, m. c l6 3 0 (#269), (Henry1), daughter of
H enry Thorpe, married Benjamin Bullard, ofW atertown. Sarah Thorpe Bullard
had two children, Benjamin Jr. and Sarah.. She and her husband may have died
early because Benjamin Jr. was brought up by an uncle in Dedham.
(Reference: H enry Bond, Genealogies . .. c f Watertown )

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

W arren,John1, 1585-1667 (#516,574) was baptized 1 August 1585 at Nayland,

Suffolk, England. His father, JohnA, was a cardmaker who was born there about
1555 and who married on 4 October 1584 Elizabeth, daughter of John Scarlett.
The grandfather, also John8 W arren, lived from about 1525 to 23 April 1576 but
his wife’s name is unknown. The great grandfather was Robert1-W arren, of W iston
(W issington), born about 1485. His will of 29 October 1544 left to his wife
Margaret, whose maiden name is unknown, the house “with all the lands, groves,
woods, meadows, and pastures belonging.” Our John Warren came to the Bay
Colony in 1630 at the age o f forty-five with M argaret W arren (maiden name
unknown) and their four young children, their first three having died young. This
family was of the congregation going to Watertown with Rev. George Phillips.
John was made a freeman 18 M ay 1631. In 1635 he and Abraham Browne were
appointed to lay out roads and see to their repair. He was chosen selectman twice
and he served on a committee to divide land. His homestall was next to Isaac
Stearne’s and he had grants o f ten parcels of land totalling 130 acres and with
purchases owned 300 acres in all.
In 1651 John W arren was fined 20 shillings for contravening the laws o f bap­
tism and seven years later the authorities wanted to warn him for absence from the
meeting but could not find “old Warren” in town. In 1654 he was fined the whop­
ping sum o f £3 10s. for neglect o f public worship on fourteen sabbaths at five
shillings each. In 1661 an order went out to search his house for Quakers. Margaret,
M rs John W arren died 6 November 1662 and he died 13 December 1667 at the
age o f eighty-two.
John Warren’s will o f November 30 o f that year mentions the four offspring, all
baptized in Nayland, who emigrated w ith their parents: John, bp. 12 M ay 1622,
married M rs. M ichal (Jennison) Bloise; M ary, bp. 12 September 1624, m. John
Bigelow; Daniel, bp. 25 February 1626-7, m. M ary Barron; and Elizabeth, bp. 21
July 1629, m. James Knopp. John W arren divided most o f the land between his
two sons, the larger portion going to John, and he confirmed gifts o f land already
made to his daughters. H e made John, Jr. his executor, who was to have the
residue o f the estate. H e left Daniel his “best flock bed”, a green rug and two
pewter platters, Daniel’s wife a pewter porringer and Daniel, Jr. a cow. H e gave

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 MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY ANCESTORS

his daughter M ary a small pewter dish and her daughter M ary a lined box that
was his wife’s. He bequeathed to his daughter Elizabeth The Plaine M ans Path­
w ay to H eaven and to her daughter M ichal a pewter plate. A ll the grandchildren
were to have 2/6 apiece. The inventory included a musket, a sword and a halberd.
W arren, M ary2, M rs John1Bigelow, 1624—91 (#287) (John1), daughter o f John
and M argaret W arren, was baptized in Nayland in 1624. M ary Warren married
John Bigelow at W atertown on 30 October 1642. She had twelve or thirteen
children and died 19 October 1691.
W arren, D aniel2, born 1627 (#258) (John1) was baptized in Nayland 25 Febru­
ary 1626-7 and he crossed the ocean at the age o f four with his parents, John and
Margaret. H e married M ary Barron, daughter o f Ellis Barron and Grace Barron
(maiden name unknown) on 10 December 1650 at Watertown. T hey had seven
children. Daniel W arren took the oath o f fidelity in 1652 and was a selectman
from 1682 to 1698.
W arren, M ary3, M rs N athaniel2Fiske, 1651—(#129) (Daniel2John1) was born
29 November 1651 to Daniel W arren and M ary Banon. A t the age of sixteen
M ary Warren wed John Child, who died in the eighth year o f their marriage, and
after six months as a widow she married Nathaniel Fiske.
(References: Anderson, Great M igration Begins, 3: 1932-1934; H enry Bond,
Genealogies... o f Watertown; Robert Roos, Warren R elated F am ilies )
W hitney, John1, 1593-1673 (#524), 35, Elinor W h itn ey (maiden name un­
known) and their five sons between one and nine years joined in the Great Emi­
gration, embarking in the Elizabeth &Ann, Roger Cooper master, at Ipswich in
April of 1635 after taking the oath of allegiance to the king and o f the supremacy
of the Church of England. H enry M elville, M .A ., LL .B ., published in 1896 his
research into the ancestry of John W h itn ey in the parish of W hitney, county
Hereford, showing that his father was Thomas W hitney, a gentleman o f W est­
minster, London, who was a grandson of Sir Robert W hitney,, knighted by M ary
I and o f royal descent. According to M elville, when the royalist Sir Thomas, Sir
Robert’s grandson, died without issue, the last of a 500-year-old knightly line, his

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nearest male relative was John W hitney, his second cousin, who would normally
have succeeded to the baronetcy, but was performing the duties o f a selectman of
a pioneer village three thousand miles away. Jacobus in 1933 cast doubt on the
pedigree and Paul Reed in 1994 has shown conclusively that the claim is false.
Our John W hitney married Elinor, whose surname is unknown to us, and they
located at Isleworth-on-the-Thames. M ary was bom there in 1619, John Jr. in
1621 and Richard in 1624. T h ey appear to have moved to Bow Lane. A t St. M ary
Aldermary, the little girl M ary was buried 15 February 1626 and Thomas was
baptized 10 December 1627, the year in which Nathaniel was bom. W hether
they were Puritans or w hy they decided on the great separation from kin and
country is not known. M elville assumes they were Puritans. The names o f the
fam ily are on the passenger list o f the Elizabeth & Ann but the ages given are
wrong. John Sr. was actually 43, although his age was given as 35; Eleanor, 36, was
debited with six fewer years; and some o f the children s ages were underestimated.
The ship sailed in M ay o f 1635 and arrived at Boston about Ju ly first.
John W hitney was made a freeman o f Watertown a few months after his arrival
and then a selectman within three years. He had a homestall o f sixteen acres and a
grant of fifty acres and by 1642 he owned eight more lots totalling 212 acres. In
1641 and ensuing years he carried the tall black staff of town constable with the
duties o f collecting taxes and levies, paying amounts owed by the town to its resi­
dents, and supplying the town w ith weights and measures. He was chosen a
selectman for several years in the period 1638-1655 and was town clerk in 1655.
Elinor, M rs John W hitney, having had six children in England, bore three in
Watertown: She was great with child during the crossing, for she gave birth to
Joshua 15 July 1635, about a month after her arrival in Watertown. Then came
Caleb, who died young, and Benjamin in Ju ly of 1643, now eight sons in all. She
died 11 M ay 1659 at the age o f sixty. Less than five months later, John W hitney
married Judah (Judith) Clement, who died before him. He died on 1 June 1673
at the age o f eighty. His will was made two months before and probated 17 June.

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That the inventory lists only fifty-five acres in all shows that he must have distrib­
uted most o f his estate to his sons some time before. The will mentions John,
Richard, Thomas, Jonathan, Joshua and Benjamin but not Nathaniel, who must
have died before his father.
O f the children who survived, all sons, Jonathan was our ancestor; John and his
wife, Ruth Reynolds, are the ancestors o f Eli W hitney, the inventor o f the cotton
gin; Richard and his wife, M artha Coldham, were the ancestors o f two generals,
two professors, a legislator, etc. by the end o f the 19th century; Thomas married
M ary Kendall; Joshua married three times, to Lydia, M ary, and Abigail, whose
maiden names the records do not disclose; the same can be said for Jane and
Mary, the wives o f Benjamin W hitney.
W hitney, Jonathan2, cl633-170 2 (#262) (John1) was bom in London about
1633 or 1634 and was one or two when the fam ily emigrated to Watertown. He
took the oath of fidelity in 1652. H e and Lydia Jones, the daughter o f Lewis Jones
and Ann Jones, were married in W atertown on 30 October 1656. About 1659 his
father gave him thirty-nine acres, which he and Lydia sold for £40 five years later.
Bond says that the children o f Lydia and Jonathan W h itn ey were all bom in
Watertown, four girls and seven boys, one o f whom died young: Lydia, the eldest,
our ancestor; Jonathan, Anna, John, Josiah, Elinor, Jam es, Isaac, Joseph, Abigail
and Benjamin. The father Jonathan in 1679 was a freeman o f Sherborn and in
1681 was a member of a committee for redividing the common lands and was a
signatory to building a school. H is w ill is dated 12 January 1702 and he died in
that year. He and Lydia are ancestors o f Asa W hitney, the inventor o f corrugated
and annealed car wheels and a president in his tim e o f Reading Railroad.
W hitney, Lydia3, M rs M oses3Adam s, 1657- (#131) (Jonathan2John1) was bom
3 July 1657 at Watertown. A t Sherborn on 15 April 1681 she married Moses
Adams, son o f H enry Adams Jr. and grandson o f H enry Adams Sr., the pioneer.
Their daughter Lydia Adams married John Fiske I.
(References: Bonds Genealogies o f Watertown ; Donald Lines Jacobus, “John
W hitney o f Watertown, M ass.”, TAG, 10: 84-88; H enry M elville, The Ancestry
o f John W hitney; Frederick C . Pierce, The Descendants o f John W hitney; Paul
C . Reed, “W h itn ey Origins Revisited”, TAG, 69: 9-15)

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 VII
Marthas Vineyard

PO LIT IC A L

arthas Vineyard is an island, a glacial moraine, five miles south o f the heel
M o f Cape Cod. A t most, nineteen miles long and nine miles wide, it is one-
sixteenth the size of Prince Edward Island. The Indians called it Noepe, “amid the
waters”. It seems to appear in Icelandic saga by a name that is translated as Stream
Island, while Cape Cod was Keel Nose. The explorer Bartholomew Gosnold seems
to have called it after his wife or a woman friend, although it was sometimes
referred to as M artin’s Vineyard.
Captain Gosnold is the first European known to have landed there in more
recent times (1602); H is journalist described the Indians and the fauna and flora.
In 1614 Captain Hunt kidnapped twenty natives on the mainland and took them
to England, one of whom was Epenow, of this island, who escaped upon the
ship’s return to New England. Five years later the Indians of the island wounded
Capt. Thomas Dermer, who had gone ashore to trade, and killed many of his
men.
The man who was to establish the colony of Martha’s Vineyard was Thomas
Mayhew, o f Tisbury, W iltshire, merchant at Southampton, and then a business
agent in New England o f M atthew Cradock, a great merchant o f London with
an interest in overseas trade and colonization. At Medford, Thomas became a
freeman and a deputy to the General Court. He built a mill for Cradock and
became a half owner, but Cradock, dissatisfied, sent out a new factor in 1637.
M ayhew moved to Watertown, where he became a selectman, a deputy to the
General Court and a local magistrate.

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The Earl o f Stirling, Charles the First’s secretary o f state for Scotland in 1640,
was able to get a good share o f the territory o f the New England Council, includ­
ing Long Island, Nantucket and M arthas Vineyard. H is agent, M r. Jam es Forrett,
talked with Thomas Mayhew, who was in his fiftieth year and in much financial
difficulty, about the advantages o f colonizing the latter two islands. Forrett ex­
ecuted deeds on 13 and 23 October 1641,givingThomas and Matthew, his twenty-
year-old son, and their associates full title and power over the two islands—the
price forty pounds. Hearing o f the transaction, Mr. Richard Vines, the steward
general o f Sir Ferdinando Gorges, informed Thomas M ayhew that these islands
were within “his M asters Pattent and his Power”. W hereupon for an undisclosed
sum Richard Vines gave him the same authority “to plant and to Inhabit upon
the islands”. Thomas then visited the Vineyard to “obtain the Indian right o f
them”. The next year M atthew and some others settled at the east end o f the
island. A few families from Watertown and the elder M ayhew went over. After a
while the population grew to one hundred.
The government was largely feudal and autocratic. Thomas M ayhew, with the
help o f his sons and close relatives, was the government. On 23 December 1661,
being dissatisfied with the form of government, the freemen drew up a submission
to the patentees. Eighteen signed, including our ancestors Nicholas Norton and
James Skiff: the adherents o f Thomas M ayhew through family connections did
not sign. Not much changed. The island was independent till 1665, when Charles
the First included it in a large grant to his brother, James Duke ofYork. In 1671
Thomas and his son M atthew went to New York for a conference w ith the gover­
nor and the Council members, who made him governor for life and ordained a
General Court for the island.
In 1673 the Dutch recaptured New York and renamed it New Amsterdam.
This provided an opportunity for Mayhew’s enemies to act, for Governor Lovelace’s
authority no longer pertained to M artha’s Vineyard. The men had been chafing
for years under the M ayhew family rule because all posts from the governor down
were held by its members, a narrow nepotism. Twenty leading inhabitants, in­
cluding our ancestors Nicholas Norton, his sons Isaac and Joseph, Thomas Bayes

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and James Skiff, demanded his abdication. W hen the aged governor refused they
appealed to Massachusetts by petition. The Bay Colony declined to interfere. The
dissidents started a separate government. Nantucket also rose in this “Dutch Re­
bellion*.
W hen the Treaty o f W estm inster returned New York to the English, Sir
Edmund Andros as governor resumed authority o f the province on behalf o f the
Duke o f York. Now 81 years old, Thomas ruled his family and the Vineyard,
brooking no disobedience. Captain John Gardner o f Nantucket related the vio­
lent passion o f the man who when eighty-five years old upbraided Gardner for
having been to New York to undermine him, although Gardner said he was wholly
innocent. M ayhew instituted reprisals. James Skiff apologized to avoid paying a
heavy fine. Nicholas Norton was tried, convicted and fined £51 but on making
two humble apologies he was excused the fine. Quiet was finally restored with the
old magistrate in the saddle and this continued till he died at the age o f eighty-
nine.
H is son M atthew having been lost w ith all hands on a voyage to England,
Thomas was succeeded by his grandson M ajor M atthew M ayhew, who adminis­
tered the Vineyard w ith the same nepotism from 1682 to 1692. The Massachu­
setts Charter o f 1692 made M artha’s Vineyard and Nantucket part o f the prov­
ince o f Massachusetts but three of the family were installed as magistrates. Again
a petition by fourteen men, including four Nortons and Thomas Bayes. The
Mayhews finally accepted the new order and M ajor M atthew had him self elected
as representative for Edgartown in the General Court.
The three thousand Indians on M artha’s Vineyard were at first hostile and sus­
picious but gradually came to trust M atthew and the peaceful settlers. Beginning
with that high-minded young man, the M ayhew family provided five missionaries
over three generations for the education of the Indians, a few o f whom went to
Harvard and became pastors and teachers. Financed by the Society for the Propa­
gation o f the Gospel, eight teachers, of whom Peter Folger was one, taught Indian
children.

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At the end of the 17th century about 400 people were living in Dukes County,
which included the Vineyard and the small Elizabeth Islands. By 1760, when a
few families emigrated to Nova Scotia, the population was about 2,700, the main
centres being, as now, Edgartown, Chilm ark and Tisbury. The families made
their living by fishing, farming and whaling.

SO CIAL

W h at was life like in colonial times? To get to the mainland an islander had to
await some coastwise vessel happening by, until 1700, when a ferryman was ap­
pointed. The first road followed an old Indian trail and then a narrow cart road
was staked off and cleared, The early ordinary or tavern probably consisted o f a
spare room or two for transient guests and a lean-to for serving drinks.
The islanders adapted to their new surroundings English customs and ideals as
influenced by M osaic law and morals. Banks says that “there was little display on
the Vineyard o f that extreme kind of intolerance which was peculiar to the Puri­
tan of Massachusetts.” (History, I: 469) In both the Bay Colony and the Vineyard
a justice o f the peace or magistrate performed the marriage ceremony. To make
sure that no just impediment existed, a couple had to give the town clerk notice of
intention to marry, which was posted, and to see that banns were read in the
meeting-house on successive Sundays. The father o f the bride gave her a dower,
usually a homestall or lot o f land, which was considered to be her portion o f the
estate. Sometimes the son was given the same kind o f start. In the Vineyard and
in other parts o f New England until the start o f the 19th century, a “shift” or
“smock” marriage was used for a dowerless widow, in order to relieve her new
husband o f any debts o f her late one. To get to her wedding she had to cross the
highway naked except for a chemise.
Birth and baptism had their customs. A midwife, helped by women neigh­
bours, presided over a birth. Usually a child was brought to be baptized within a
week o f birth but only if the parents were covenanted members o f the church. If
only one parent was, the infant was christened as the child o f that parent only.
The older divines believed that only the children o f the “visible saints” should be
baptized, a practice that resulted in leaving most children unbaptized. The

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Chilm ark church in 1715 had only two male members. As soon as parents were
admitted as members, they brought all their children, some in their teens, for
christening. The synod o f 1662 recognized the half-way covenant, which ac­
cepted for baptism the children o f parents who had been admitted in their m i­
nority but not covenanted in adulthood. Some of the churches followed this half­
way measure and some did not and liberal and orthodox Puritans disagreed a
century over it. People who were not members went to church just the same.
Girls grew into women knowing that their place was different than mens. For
a long time in Puritan society they were excluded from government and largely
from education, in Bradford’s words, “as both reason and nature teacheth they
should be.” One o f the objections to the Society of Friends was that its women
were free to lead and preach. That is not to say the Puritan women were discon­
tent or unhappy. The role ordained for them was to sweep, spin, make and wash
clothes, cook, and bear many children, to whom they would teach morals, frugal­
ity and the work ethic. The Bible told them so. They found comfort in the close
relations o f family and neighbours. Rarely did they turn aside from the way. H av­
ing left her little boy in Leyden pleading to go with his parents, and confronted
with a terrifying wilderness, Dorothy Bradford “fell” from the deck o f the M ayflower
into die shore water, never to be mentioned by her husband again. Elizabeth Skiff
left her husband Jam es, formerly o f Sandwich, and ran off with a man to Roanoke,
Virginia, whereupon the General Court o f the Vineyard granted its first divorce
and Elizabeth and James married new spouses. Several times the pioneer mother
suffered the loss o f young ones, which we can now attribute to drafty houses, poor
diet, primitive medical knowledge and too frequent childbirth. The death o f young
wives nearby reminded her that she might meet the same end, if God so willed.
M eanwhile she gave neighbourly help and used her knowledge, gained from the
Indians, o f healing roots and herbs.
The man s world had its distinctions. The eldest son got a double portion o f his
father’s estate. Because the Mayhews came from a cadet branch o f a family hav­
ing a coat o f arms, Thomas as the head was Esquire and as governor was W or­
shipful. The next in rank was called Master, a prefix restricted to a man o f gentle
birth, learning or politics. After him came Goodman So-and-so and finally plain

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Eleazer Hopcot. Sharing the social degree o f her husband, a woman was Mistress,
Goodwife or Goody, or plain Deliverance Domuch. The clergy ranked high by
reason o f their education and calling. These strata continued until the American
W ar o f Independence.
The Puritans were quick and plain in laying their loved ones to rest. W ithin
twenty-four hours a simple pine coffin was made by the village carpenter, was
charged with the body and put on a wooden bier, was carried to the grave at the
appointed time on the shoulders o f four bearers, and was lowered and covered
with earth without religious service or even a prayer. This was a complete revul­
sion from the rites and ceremonies o f the Church o f England and from “Popery”.
The house, furnishings and utensils o f die early Puritans were as plain as their
funerals. A t first it was a hut w ith clay-daubed chinks, mud and straw chimneys
and salt-hay thatch. Once a village had attracted a carpenter, it got hewed shin­
gles. W hen a smith came on the scene, it got wrought-iron nails, bolts, hinges
and latches. A brick factory soon made for better chimneys, especially as the
house was heated by a fireplace. The windows at first were o f oiled paper or bleached
linen cloth. Later, small glass panes were imported from England and set, leaded,
within a wooden sash. The poster feather bed was prized in the early years o f
settlement and was often mentioned in wills. The kitchen had brass kettles, cop­
per pots and iron skillets. The platters, porringers, saucers and mugs were o f pew­
ter although better-off people m ight have crockery from England.
Tim e was roughly measured and pastimes were few. The hour was told by hour
glass or, if the sun was shining, by sundial or by notches cut on windows and
doorsills on the south side of the house so as to mark noon or several other times
of day. Until 1752 the New Year began on 25 March. Because the Puritans dis­
liked the pagan names o f the months, they used a system o f numbering: 2 April
was the second day o f the second month and 27 December was the 27th day of
the tenth month. A s to amusements, cards and dice were forbidden, although
some o f the settlers indulged in card-playing. The outdoor games o f Old Eng­
land were not played here and the maypole was not danced around. Drinking
beer and spirits was an acceptable amusement even with the clergy, as long as it
was kept in moderation.

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(Reference: Charles Edward Banks, History o f Martha's Vineyard)

VINEYARD A N CE STO RS

Baker, A nne1, M rs Thom as1Bayes, m. 1639 (#779L) was a maid servant who was
admitted to the church in June o f 1639, says Pope. Anne Baker married Thomas
Bayes on 26 December in Dedham and moved with him to Boston and then to
the Vineyard. She had one son, Thomas, who died a young man and five daugh­
ters, one o f whom, Ruth Bayes, is our ancestor. Anne inherited her husband’s
whole estate during her widowhood. W hen or where she died is not recorded. She
was living in August o f 1681 but must have died before M arch 1696-7 (NEHGR,
53:130).
(Reference: Banks, History o f M artha’s Vineyard 3:38-41; Pope, Pioneers o f Mas­
sachusetts )
Bayes,Thom as1, 1615-80 (#778L) was born in 1615, possibly in Norfolk, Eng­
land, because in 1646 he appointed an attorney to obtain his legacy from his grand­
father, ----------W isem an, of Barrow Apton (no will has been found). Thomas
Bayes probably emigrated at age twenty-one, for he was first o f record in New
England in 1636 when he signed the town covenant. H e became a selectman at an
early age in 1638 and the next year on 26 October he married Anne Baker in
Dedham. In 1643 he was contacted o f “mutinos and turbulent speaches” and was
bound over to next Quarter Court “to bee o f good behaviour the meane while.”
The fam ily in 1645 was living in Boston when Thomas,Jr. was born on the first of
March and the father was earning his living as a carpenter. In 1648 he was prob­
ably a shipwright and a shipper, for in that year his attorney was collecting all
monies owed to him “by all persons in Barbadoes, Christophers and any o f the
Carribee Ids.” Before 1658 the fam ily moved to M arthas Vineyard but he was
certainly a proprietor in Green Harbor in 1652 when he was chosen hog reeve. He
held several other offices, constable, long-tim e captain o f the militia and finally
selectman. Thomas and Anne had one son, Thomas, who died without issue in
1669 and five daughters, A bigail, who died before her father; Hannah, who mar­
ried a Bridges; A nna, who married Andrew Newcomb; and M ary and Ruth who
married the Norton Brothers, Joseph and Isaac. Thomas made his wall on 4 Feb­

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ruary 1679-80 and the inventor)7amounted to £214 on 31 May. He left his vari­
ous lots of land and the movables to his wife and made most other bequests pend­
ing her death or remarriage: to Hannah £20, to M ary and Anna, in addition to
what they had received from him and from their brothers estate, £50 each. The
rest of the estate was to be divided equally among all the daughters and Abigail’s
children.
Bayes, Ruth2, M rs Isaac2Norton, 1643- (#389) (Thomas1), daughter of Tho­
mas Bayes and Anne Baker, was born on 2 July 1643 and baptized twelve days
later. A t the age of nineteen Ruth Bayes married Isaac Norton, son of Nicholas
and Elizabeth. She gave birth to five daughters and six sons. Her father made an
immediate bequest to her o f £5 “in Bibles and bringing up the children in reading
and Education” and she was to get an equal share of the estate when her mother
died.
(Reference: C . E. Banks, History o f M artha’s Vineyard, pp. 39-41)
C ovelljJam es1! , came 1636 (#288) :T h e Coveil families of M artha’s Vineyard
and Cape Cod are tied in to the Fiske side. M atilda Coville and John Fiske were
the parents of Alfred and Amasa Fiske. Spelled variously, the name is said to be a
corruption o f Colville, a village in Normandy {col, mountain pass) and it appears
in the Doomsday Book. Jam es Coveil I came in the Abigail in 1636, probably with
his brother Ezra. T hey settled first in Braintree and then went to Edgartown. The
first record o f his being there is dated 1651, when he was granted a homestall of
ten acres. James was accepted as an owner o f a h alf share in 1660 and he became a
drummer o f the training band and a juror. His name was often in the records in
the drawing o f lots, the last o f which was for twenty acres in 1687. He was one of
the nineteen prominent men o f M artha’s Vineyard who did not sign the petition
to the government o f Massachusetts for its protection; nine o f the nineteen were
either Mayhews or in-laws. In other words, he did not take part in the Dutch
Rebellion and was, therefore, not threatened with loss o f lands and a charge of
treason. James1Coveil s wife, name unknown, bore four sons, Philip, James, Joseph
and Ezra, who died o f Smallpox in his teens.

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Covell, Jam es IF , c l6 6 0 -b e f 1749 (#144) (Jam es1) was born about 1660 at
Edgartown, where he farmed all his adult life. James Coveil II married Abigail
Smith, daughter o f John Smith and Deborah Parkhurst. James and Abigail had
three children: Lydia, bom 1685; James, 1687; Bethia, 1689. One should add that
Banks in his H istory o f M arthas Vineyard says James married “A B IG A IL---------
who m ay have been A bigail Sm ith.” (I ll: 116) On the other hand Fred E. Crowell
wrote in N ew Englanders in N ova S cotia:

He m arried Abigail Smith, daughter o f John Smith ofHampton, N ew Hamp­

shire, an d M arthas Vineyard, w ho w as bom in 1595 in Dorking, England,
a n d Deborah Parkhurst, daughter o f George Parkhurst, o f Watertown, Mas­
sachusetts. Jam es C ovell (2) d ied before 1749.

Covell, Jam es3 III, 1687—(#72) (James21) was bom at Edgartown in 1687 and,
like his father, became a former. On 22 July 1713 James Covell Illm arried M ary
Dunham, daughter o f Gershom Dunham and M ary Dunham, maiden name un­
known. James and M ary had three daughters and eight sons: James, bom 1714;
M ary, 1716; Elizabeth, 1718; Hannah, 1720; M icajah, 1723;Jethro, 1724; Phillip,
1726; Eliphalet, 1728; Timothy, 1730; Joseph, 1735.
Covell, Tim othy4 Sr., 1730-1812 (#36) (James5' 1) was born at Edgartown in
1730. The last record o f his living in M arthas Vineyard is dated 1757. On 26
February of that year Thankful W helden, o f Yarmouth, Cape Cod, entered in­
tentions to marry Tim othy Covell, o f Edgartown. Their son Tim othy Jr. was bom
on 6 M arch 1765 at Yarmouth. Tim othy Covell Sr. and family emigrated to Nova
Scotia and Lydia was born at Barrington 22 Ju ly 1775. The fam ily settled on
Cape Islan d .
(References: Charles E. Banks, H istory o f Martha's Vineyard, 3: 62-62, 116—
117; Fred E. Crowell, “Covell,” N ew Englanders in Nova Scotia )
D unham,Jonathan2, 1632—1717 (#292) (John1) was bom at Plymouth in 1631—
2 to John Dunham, whose sketch appeared in chapter two. Jonathan was one of
the eight children o f A bigail Barlow, who married John in Leyden, Holland. A l­
though he did not come to M arthas Vineyard till age fifty-two, he spent the last

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last thirty-three years o f his life ministering at Edgartown and is therefore placed
in this chapter. Jonathan Dunham married M ary Delano at Plymouth 29 No­
vember 1655 but she died very soon and he married on 3 June 1657 eighteen-
year-old M ary Cobb, daughter o f Henry Cobb and Patience Hurst. The next year
his father deeded him eighteen acres of land and within the following five years he
received two land grants from the town. He evidently moved to his grant in
Middleboro about 1665 and got more grants. He was an inspector o f ordinaries
in 1671, a deputy in 1674-5 and a selectman in 1674-5. He became a lay preacher
at Falmouth and was then approached by M atthew M ayhew as the agent of
Edgartown to become the religious teacher there at £30 the first year and then
£40. This post he held for ten years, after which he was ordained and served as
the pastor till his death 18 December 1717. In his w ill dated 28 June he wrote
that he had already given his sons Jonathan, Eleazer, Gershom and Samuel land
by deed; to his only daughter, Hannah Parker, widow, he gave a pair o f oxen or
£6; to his son Daniel and his wife he bequeathed the house and all the movables.
D unham, Gershom3, cl664-1739 (#146) (Jonathan2John1) was bom about
1664-5. He married at Edgartown some time before 1694. H e was on the list for
half shares in the division o f the tract called the Woodland in the northwest part
o f Edgartown. A Plymouth deed o f 29 January 1701 shows that he and his brother
Jonathan disposed of all their lands that their father had given them in Middleboro.
Gershom Dunham died at Edgartown at a date near 2 November 1739, having
made his w ill on 3 M arch 1738, in which he names his wife, M ary Dunham, and
eight children: Gershom, Jethro, Seth, Paul, Mary, Deborah, Zervian and David.
We do not know the maiden name o f Mary, M rs. Gershom Dunham.
D unham, M ary4, M rs Jam es3Coveil, 1694-(# 73) (Gershom3Jonathan2John1)
was born at Edgartown about 1694 to Gershom and M ary Dunham. She mar­
ried James Covell III on 17July 1713 at Edgartown and she had eleven children.
She survived her husband but the date o f her death is not known. H er son Tim o­
thy moved to Nova Scotia.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 1:392-395; Banks’ History ,
II: 151—152 and III: 62-63 and 116-117; M rs John E. Barclay, “Notes on the
Dunham Family of Plymouth, Mass.”, TAG, 30,143-146 and “Jonathan Dunham

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o f Plymouth and Edgartown, M ass.”, TAG, 36: 243-249)

Newcomb, Andrew3Jr., c a l6 4 0 -b e f 22 Oct 1708 (#334a) (Andrew1): In chap­
ter six we left Lieut. Andrew just as he had moved with his seven young children
to Edgartown about 1675 when King Philips W ar was breaking out. H is first wife,
Sarah Newcomb, maiden name unknown, had died before 7 Ju ly 1674. A propri­
etor and a recipient o f land grants, especially at Jobs Neck, Andrew Newcomb Jr.
served as juror, grand ju ry foreman, constable, committeeman to set the gover­
nor’s tax rate, tithingman, selectman, lieutenant o f militia and overseer. H e was
called Master. His second wife, Anna, a daughter o f Captain Thomas Bayes,
whom he married about 1676, gave him eight more children. H e and she inher­
ited from her father the Bayes lot on M ain Street and there they made their
home. He was proposed for chief justice when M artha’s Vineyard became part of
Massachusetts in 1692 but the M ayhew faction preferred otherwise. H e died
before 22 October 1708.
Newcomb, Sarah3, M rs Joshua3 C onant, c l6 7 0 - (#1167) (Andrew21), bom
about 1670 at Kittery, M aine, to Lieut. Andrew and his wife Sarah, became the
second wife o f Joshua Conant Jr., son o f Joshua Conant and Seeth Gardner, on 9
January 1690-1 at Salem. Sarah Newcomb Conant had four children, Kezia, Caleb,
Sarah and John. They moved to the northern part o f Eastham, now Truro, prob­
ably in 1700. After Joshua died she married W illiam Eldredge, son o f Robert
Eldredge and Elizabeth Nickerson, o f Truro.
(References: Charles E. Banks, H istory o f M arthas Vineyard, 3: 84—85; John
Bearse Newcomb, Genealogical M em oir o f the N ewcomb Family)
T he Norton Fam ily o f M artha’s Vineyard is related to us because M ary Norton
was the mother o f “Dr.” Jonathan Locke, who came to Nova Scotia in 1761, and
therefore an ancestor o f the Lockes o f the South Shore and widening circles
beyond. The Norton family in England were in Somerset a long time and the
name is to be found in wills and deeds as far back as 1400. Sixteenth-century
documents o f this kind show a Norton family who were tanners living at W hite
Lackington. W illiam 8 is our first identifiable ancestor. H e had a brother Robert
who kept an inn in the cathedral city o f W ells and died childless in 1590, leaving
two watermills to his widow and two to W illiam , as w ell as valuable property to

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 MARTHA’S VINEYARD

W illiam ’s sons, Nicholas'* and W illiam Jr. Robert made W illiam Jr. executor. Evi­
dently father W illiam and brother Nicholas thought that W illiam Jr. had cheated
them in his administration of uncle Robert’s will. Poor Nicholas, the father of our
pioneer, sued his brother in the Star Chamber twenty-two years until in 1616 at
the age of fifty-four years, according to his son John, he “sickened and died with
great greife and anguishe o f minde leavinge behinde him a poor widdowe and 8
children... but not one penny towards their reliefe and maintenance... [from his
share] worth at least two hundred marks.” Nicholas must have had some status in
the Anglican parish of Broadway, for he was a church warden of St. Aldhelm.
Norton, Nicholas1, 1610-90 (#776) , our pioneer ancestor, was six years old
when his father, Nicholas Sr., died. Evidently he got a fair amount o f schooling.
Banks finds some reason to infer that Nicholas was one of a group of colonists,
twenty families in all, brought by Rev. John H ull from the Broadway area in
Somerset to New England in 1635. The records of Weymouth show him there
two years later, then with Elizabeth, M rs Nicholas Norton, maiden name un­
known, and living there twenty years. In 1651 he shared in the division o f lands
and eight years later he was a constable, an office o f some importance because it
included the collection o f taxes. The town chose him as a referee to represent it in
its controversy w ith John Daggett about his farm at Oak Bluffs. That he and
Elizabeth had a servant implies a social or financial status somewhat above the
average. The General Court called on him to answer some “miscarriages” com­
mitted by his servant and then made forfeit his bond because he and the w it­
nesses for the defence had not appeared at the appointed time. Upon his plea of
ignorance o f court proceedings, the Court rescinded the forfeiture provided he
bring his servant to the bar.
Nicholas and Elizabeth moved to Edgartown just after their ninth child was
born in 1659. On 22 August Goodman Norton received two grants from the
town, forty acres o f land, and the right “to make use o f any pond about the Ox
Pond for his trade, except the Great Ponds. H e seems to have been a tanner. The
next year was one o f lawsuits. H e had to pay five shillings in a case about the “cure”
o f H enry Goss’s child - whatever that was —h alf in wampum and h alf in com and
five shillings more to the constable for the trial.

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On the other hand, Nicholas Norton was one of a committee to buy lands, and
his fence was legislated as the pattern and standard of boundary fences. The
owners of a fish weir at M attakeesett Creek found that his purchase from an In­
dian sachem was contrary to their patent and forbade him to take any fish on pain
of £5 yearly. In 1673 he was part o f the Dutch Rebellion and after its collapse he
was tried, convicted and fined £51. To get the fine commuted he had to grovel to
the Mayhew-controlled court w ith its commission from Sir Edmond Andros,
Governor of New York. The record states:"... he acknowledgeth that he is ashamed
and Sorry in his heart that he was M isled therein and hopes he shall be more
careful for the future.” A t the age o f 75 he was one o f a committee “to make the
Governor s Rate”. W hen he died five years later he made Elizabeth executor and
left her all his livestock, a meadow and all the household goods. He divided his
lands among his sons and sons-in-law. Elizabeth died a few months later and
bequeathed her considerable property equally among her sons and daughters.
Norton, Isaac2,1 6 4 1 -c l7 2 3 (#388L) (Nicholas1), the eldest child o f Nicholas
and Elizabeth, was born on 3 M ay 1641 at Weymouth. A t the age o f twenty-one
he married nineteen-year-old Ruth Bayes, daughter o f Thomas Bayes and Ann
Baker. They had five daughters and six sons, o f whom Samuel is our forebear. A
farmer o f Edgartown, Isaac Norton joined his father, father-in-law and neigh­
bours in the Dutch Rebellion against the autocracy and nepotism o f Thomas
Mayhew. Isaac died about 1723, leaving an estate of about seventy-five pounds.
Norton, Samuel3, 1674-1760 (#194) Isaac2 Nicholas1) was born at Edgartown
in 1674 and farmed and traded there. Samuel Norton went to live for some time
in Newport, Rhode Island, where he married Content Coggeshall, daughter of
John Coggeshall and Patience Throckmorton.They had two sons and six daugh­
ters, including Mary. Samuel died at Chilmark 16 August 1760, twenty-one years
after Content had passed away.
N orton,M ary4,M rs Jonathan3Locke, 1 7 0 8 -(#97L) (Samuel3Isaac3Nicholas1),
the second child o f Samuel Norton and Content Coggeshall, was born in New­
port, Rhode Island, in 1708. Jonathan3 Locke, who had been born at Hampton,
New Hampshire, in 1705, spent some time at Newport and may have met M ary
Norton there and followed her to Chilmark, where they were married on 1 Janu­

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ary 1729-30. He died probably the next year, for she was administrator o f his
estate in October of 1731. Her son Jonathan, who emigrated to Nova Scotia, was
brought up in Chilmark and Tisbury. The widow M ary married M atthias King
more than five years after her young husband died.
(Reference: Banks, H is to r y o f M a r t h a ’s V in eyard , 3: 85-90; 341-346)
Skiff, Jam es2Jr., 1638-1724 (#250, 314) (James1) was born in Sandwich on 12
September 1638 to James and M ary Skiff. He married Elizabeth Cooper 18
November 1659. There is some dispute about her surname. Torrey has Nabor/
Neighbor/Tabor. She departed with another man for Roanoke, Virginia, and 1670
recorded the first divorce decree of the Court of M artha’s Vineyard, where James
had moved from Sandwich. Years later, in M arch o f 1677, James married Sarah
Barnard, daughter o f Robert Barnard and Joanna Harvey. T hey lived for some
time in Nantucket and had at least six children. Their son Nathan, perhaps their
only one, was killed by pirates while w haling south of the island. Rev. W illiam
Homes, of Chilmark, in his diary refers to him as Deacon Skiff and records his
death on 6 June 1724 (NEHGR, 50:157 ,159 ).
Skiff, Patience3, M rs John1 “England” Swam , c l6 8 6 - (#125) (James21) was
born in Nantucket about 1686 to James Skiff, Jr. and Sarah Barnard. She married
John “England” Swain there, probably in 1705. She had six children: Dinah;
Chapman (born 13 Ju ly 1708, who married Sarah M eader); Deborah, Hannah;
Anne; and Oliver.
Skiff, Sarah3, M rs Robert3Long, cl6 7 8 —(#157) (James2James) was born about
1678 to James Skiff Jr, and Sarah Barnard. Sarah Skiff married Robert Long, a
proprietor o f Nantucket, and they had ten children. They were grandparents of
the Sarah Long who married Simeon Gardner and moved with him to Nova
Scotia.
(References: Frederick L. Pearson, Descendants ofJam es Skiff o f London, Eng­
land, and Sandwich, Mass, (many errors); Nantucket Vital Records)
Smith, John1, ca 1615—74 (#290) ,b o rn about 1615 in England, most likely
settled first in Watertown, where about 1638 he married Deborah Parkhurst, daugh­
ter o f George Parkhurst and Phebe Leete. John and Deborah’s first two children
were bom there, Deborah about 1640 and John Jr. about 1643. The next year they

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moved to Hampton, New Hampshire, where Deborahs mother’s sister Ruth, wife
o f Rev. Tim othy Dalton, was living. Deborah had another child, Philip, there
about 1650. T hey moved to Edgartown before 6 June 1654, when John Sm ith was
chosen as assistant to a magistrate. In 1656 and 1659 he is recorded in connection
w ith the plan to setde Nantucket and in the latter year he witnessed the deed of
conveyance o f Nantucket and was chosen one o f the ten associate proprietors.
Although he was active in the development o f that island he retained an interest
in M artha s Vineyard, was a member o f the Edgartown train band and from 1660
to 1664 drew lots in divisions o f the common land. Deborah gave birth to two
more children, Samuel and Abigail. H e likely moved to Nantucket in his last
years, for he made his w ill there although he calls him self “o f M arthas Vineyard”.
His “Loving Friends M r. Thomas M ayhew and Isaac Robinson at the Vineyard &
Mr. Edward Starbuck and Thomas M acy o f Nantucket” he appointed overseers of
his w ill, dated 14 February 1670, perhaps four years before his death. H e gave
John and Samuel all o f his land on Nantucket, they to pay their sisters, Deborah
and Abigail, £5 each. H e gave his wife Deborah, his executor, a third o f his estate
on the Vineyard. John Sm ith was much concerned about Phillip because o f his
“impotence of understanding”, and therefore he was to have two-thirds o f the
Vineyard estate and, on the death o f his mother, the rest, with the proviso that if
he died without issue the estate should go to the next heir. Philip recovered, it
seems, from his mental infirmity, married, had sons and became marshal o f Dukes
County. T he widow Deborah must have lived till 1686, when her son Phillip sold
the homestead to her son Samuel.
Sm ith, A bigail2, M rs Jam es2 Covell, m. c l6 8 4 (#145) (John1) was born at
M arthas Vineyard, the youngest child o f John Smith and Deborah Parkhurst.
This A bigail Sm ith was probably the wife o f James Covell II and the mother of
James Covell III (see Covell Family above).
(References: Robert Charles Anderson, “John Smith o f Watertown M ass.”,
TAG, 61:19—31; Fred E. Crowell, “Covell,”N ew Englanders in Nova Scotia; Charles
Edward Banks, H istory o f M artha’s Vineyardy 3:116)

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284
 VIII
Nantucket

SETTLEM EN T

The occasion which d rew some o fth e fa m ilies to settle at Nantucket, w as that
o f avoiding the rigors o f the la w against the people called Quakers. To enjoy
the exercise o f the rites o f hospitality an d o f religious freedom , they w ere w ill­
in g to leave their homes , theirfriends an d connexions, to sacrifice their p rop­
erty, and to settle in a place inhabited by som e thousands o f savages, fro m
whom, in case o f assault, no retreat could be made. D riven fro m civilized
society f o r no crime, f o r their virtues rather, ... w ithout vesselsforflight, or
arms f o r defence, they erected their altars an d traced th eirfu rrow s w ith all
that confidence andfearlessness, which is inspired by u nw avering trust in the
blessing o f heaven. (Obed M acyspreface)

Although Nantucket was deeded to the Mayhews and their associates in 1641,
it was not conveyed to them until 2 September 1659, when the Mayhews were
able to purchase the Sachem right, and that by oral agreement only. Obed M acy
reproduces the bill o f sale to the First Purchasers: Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy,
Christopher Hussey, Richard Sw ain, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen
Greenleaf and W illiam Pile. H e also copies the formal written agreement that
the head sachems, W anackmamack and Nickanoose, placed their sign upon and

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that was witnessed by Peter Folger, M ary Starbuck and John Cotton on 17 April
1664. In his book One H undred a n d Sixty Families, Austin reports that Thomas
M ayhew got £30 and two beaver hats, for him and his wife, from his sale of
Nantucket.
Austin, Obed M acy, and Edwin P. H oyt in his charming little book Nantucket:
The Life o fa n Island all tell the story o f Thomas M acy and the Quakers. Thomas
wrote this letter 27 October 1659 a few days after receiving a summons from the
General Court o f die Bay Colony to appear and answer charges based on a com­
plaint by a neighbour

This is to intreat the honored court not to be offended because o f m y non-

appearance. I t is n o tfo r any slightin g o f the authority o f the honored court,
nor fro m fe a r to answ er the case, but I h a ve b een for some weeks past very ill,
an d am so a t present; a n d notw ithstanding m y illness, y e t I, desirous to ap­
pear, h a ve done m y utm ost endeavour to hire a horse, but cannot procure one
at present. I, being a t present destitute [he ow n ed 1,000 acres, a house and
substantial stock in Salisbury], h a ve endeavoured to purchase, but a t present
cannot attain it, but I shall relate the truth o fth e case, as m y answ er w ould be
to the honoured court, an d more cannot be proved, nor so much.
On a rainy m orning there came to m y house, E dward Wharton and three
men more; the said Wharton spoke to me, saying that they w ere travelling
eastward, and desired me to direct them in the w ay to Hampton, and asked
h ow fa r it was to Casco Bay. I n ever saw any o f the men before except Wharton,
neither d id I require their names nor w hat they w ere; but by their carriage I
thought they m ight be Quakers and told them so, and therefore desired them
to pass on their way, saying to them I m ight possibly g iv e offence in enter­
taining them, and as soon as the volum e o f the rain ceased (for it rained very
hard), they w en t aw ay and I n ever saw them since. The tim e they spent in the
house w as three quarters o f an hour; but I can safely affirm it w as not an hour.
They spake not many words in the tim e , neither was I at leisure to talk with

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them, f o r I came home w et to the skin immediately afore they came to the
house, a n d Ifo u n d m y w ife sick in bed. I f this satisfy not the honored court, I
shall subject to their sentence. I h a ve not w illingly offended, I am ready to
serve and oblige you in the Lord.

Thomas came before the court, which reminded him o f the statutory penalty of
£5 an hour for entertaining Quakers. The court ordered him to pay a light fine of
£1 10s. and to be admonished by the governor. He later learned that on 27 De­
cember 1659 two o f those men who sheltered briefly under his roof, W illiam
Robinson, a merchant of London, and Marmaduke Stephenson, of Yorkshire,
had been hanged in Boston for being Quakers and not staying away.
Our sources differ about the series of events, with their dates, that led to die
settlement of Nantucket by whites. Alexander Starbuck states that in the sum­
mer of 1659 Tristram Coffin, with Edward Starbuck and twelve-year-old Isaac
Coleman, visited M artha’s Vineyard, where he learned that Nantucket belonged
to Thomas M ayhew and that he was w illing to sell most o f it. Taking Peter Folger
with them as interpreter, they went to that island to sound out the Indian chiefs
about the title.
A ll sources seem to agree that Thomas M acy was the first of the group to settle
there. In the autumn o f 1660 or 1661—historians differ—Thomas M acy installed
his wife and five children, from one to thirteen years of age, along with his friend
Edward Starbuck and twenty-year-old James Coffin (all three ancestors of ours)
in a boat, which sailed across Boston Bay, rounded the tip of Cape Cod and
breasted wind and rain to M acklaket Harbour, where they wintered somehow.
James Coffin was able to speak the Natick language and so helped to cultivate an
understanding w ith the natives. The Indians were friendly because the Mayhews
had already carried on an enlightened mission among them for five years. The
next year, states Obed Macy, Edward Starbuck went to Dover, then part of the
Bay Colony, where he had been an elder in the Baptist church, and returned with
ten families, including his own but for two daughters who had married there. The
town records, says Alexander Starbuck, neither confirm nor disprove that.

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Obed M acy provided (pp. 17—19) a transcript o f the Salisbury town order o f 2
July 1659 rehearsing the transfer o f Nantucket to Thomas Mayhew, his sale to
the First Purchasers, their choice o f ten partners, John Sm ith, Nathaniel Starbuck,
Robert Pike, Thomas Look, Robert Barnard, James Coffin, Tristram Coffin Jr.,
Thomas Coleman, Edward Starbuck and Thomas Mayhew, and the decision to
hold in common all lands bought thereafter from the Indians. Thomas M ayhew
Sr. had reserved to him self the place called Quaise or Masquetuck.
After this they came w ith their families. T hey built houses. Because they found
little timber on Nantucket, they probably bought much from the sawmill o f Peter
Coffin, Tristram’s son, at Exeter, New Hampshire. To bring tradesmen and others
to the island they offered h alf shares and so increased the number o f shares to
twenty-seven. For instance, Peter Folgei; o f M arthas Vineyard, became Nantucket’s
resident miller, weaver, interpreter, land surveyor and extra joiner for a half-share
o f land. For a toll o f two quarts for each bushel, Peter kept the first m ill, which was
built in 1666 to grind corn. H is son Eleazer came as the island’s shoemaker. John
Bishop from the mainland became the half-share carpenter. On 22 M arch 1666—
7 a meeting o f the inhabitants granted “halfe Accommodacons” to our ancestor
Richard Gardner “upon condition that hee exercise himselfe as a Sea-man, and
that hee come to inhabitt here with his ffamily before the End o f M ay—68.”
(!Thomas Gardner, Planter, pp. 42-44). His brother, Captain John Gardner, also
moved to the island, in 1672, and got a half share as a professional fisherman.
Each o f the First Purchasers and their partners held 720 acres of the commons in
perpetuity. The half-share men got no part o f the common lands. As the families
intermarried and multiplied, the system o f landholding continued and ownership
was calculated in fractions. Hoyt states that after 150 years “one o f the richest
men o f the island got greedy and land hungry, and went to court with the main­
land people to break the system.” Hoyt does not say who: it was probably a cousin
o f ours, several times removed.

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POW ER STRUGGLE

Now we come to the power struggle between the Coffins and the Gardners, with
the ambiguous Thomas M acy in between, now on one side, now on the other -
the genes of all three are part of us! Edwin Hoyt tells the story (pp. 11-16).Tristram
Coffin was the patriarch of the island w ith control through his family o f three of
the twenty-seven shares. He and his wife Dionis Stevens, good Devon people,
lived in a comfortable house called “Northam”. H e had bought into the island
because he wanted his nine children around him. This god-fearing, industrious
magistrate, with timber interests in M aine and New Hampshire and strong con­
nections with the mainland, shared with Thomas Mayhew an influence with Gov­
ernor Francis Lovelace of New York, whose authority extended over M arthas
Vineyard and Nantucket. In 1671 Tristram and M ayhew s son met w ith the gov­
ernor but the following year the Gardners, as leaders of the half-share men, culti­
vated the new governor, Sir Edmond Andros, who did not know the island s his­
tory. Governor Andros made Richard Gardner chief magistrate and his brother
John, captain of militia. W hile in New York to receive their commissions, they got
authorization, for the purpose of enlarging their fishing business, to buy land held
by the Indians, a privilege that the F irst Purchasers and their partners reserved for
themselves. Indeed, the First Purchasers tended to think their agreement with
each tradesman involved a half share o f land but certainly not a share in the gov­
ernment of the island.
The war was on. The Gardners controlled the courts and the m ilitia. Tristram
Coffin and his fellow proprietors bombarded the governor w ith letters. So did the
Gardners and their friends, charging the original purchasers w ith fraud. Coffin
claimed the right to vote the shares o f his two sons who were absentee landlords
living on the mainland.The Gardners countered, “One man, one vote.”Then they
went to see the governor, Thomas Coffin and M atthew to represent the proprie­
tors and Richard Gardner and Peter Folger to set forth the views of the half-share
men. The governor upheld the old system o f landholding to the delight ofTris
Coffin but the more numerous half-share men gained political control, Thomas
Macy, a “traitor”, went over to the half-share side and became chief magistrate in

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1675. Then after a quarrel with the Gardners he turned coat. King Philips W ar on
the mainland brought Peter Coffin to the island and he was made an instant as­
sistant magistrate through his fathers influence. Infuriated by the appointment,
Peter Folger refused to perform his duties as clerk o f the court and to surrender its
records.
The magistrate,Thomas Macy, had Peter locked up in jail, which was the com­
munity pigsty. Sixty years old, this Nantucketer for fifteen years was an able arti­
san, interpreter, preacher, schoolmaster and author. This man o f many gifts, who
was to become the grandfather o f Benjamin Franklin, was kept in the pigsty jail
for eighteen months awaiting trial. The Gardners and others o f the non-proprie­
tors “were convicyted o f the heinous crime o f speaking evil o f authority.” (Hoyt, p.
15) Tristram Coffin and Thomas M acy appointed a new clerk o f the court, the
amenable W illiam W orth, a Coffin in-law. Coffin and the First Purchasers and
their partners were riding high. In 1677 Tristram Coffin, then 72, became magis­
trate again. H e summoned John Gardner into court for his part in the “insurrec­
tion” and when he refused to appear, fined him eight cows and sheep and stripped
him of his civil rights. The Gardner faction had been w riting furiously to Gover­
nor Andros, who had no time for Nantucket during the war. As it was ending,
Andros intervened. H e dismissed the court actions against Folger and Gardner
and restored John Gardner’s civil rights. Gardner was allowed to buy Indian lands

W hen in December o f 1678 a French merchant ship crashed on the east coast
o f Nantucket, James Coffin and John Coleman got permission from Tristram as
magistrate to salvage the cargo, after declaring that the crew had found it too
hazardous to attempt. T hey brought ashore 2,000 hides, sails, hawsers and an
anchor, all worth more than £ 400.- compare that sum with the worth o f the
possessions o f the average half-share man, about £35. Informed that Tristram
Coffin was thus cheating the government, Andros asked for an accounting. Coffin
pleaded the confusion o f old age and “windye and could raw weather”. He sent the
authorities three salvaged guns and forty rotten hides. In 1680 the governor set up
a Board of Adm iralty composed o f John Gardner, now chief magistrate, and two

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sea captains. Tristram was required to pay £300 for the illegally salvaged hides.
The Nantucket lion, says Hoyt, “again pleaded innocence, old age, and poverty.”
James paid £75 and the governor, persuaded by John Gardner to mitigate the
penalty, let the father off with £75 more.
The tussle was over. Not long after, John Gardner’s daughter married Peter
Coffin’s son. The Coffins, Starbucks, M acys, Bunkers and other families inter*
married. W ithin seventy-five years o f coming to the island, Tristram and Dionis
Coffin had hundreds o f descendants. Farming and fishing and trade with the In­
dians were the chief occupations. W haling began about 1672 and gradually in­
creased in the quantity of oil produced and the length of voyages undertaken. The
whalers worked the Grand Banks, the Carribbean and the G ulf o f Mexico and by
1746 they were going as far as Davis Strait. The population rose over time to
10,000 and then, with the depletion of the soil and the decline o f whaling, sank to
5,000. Hoyt tells the story that M aria M itchell, famous astronomer and teacher at
Vassar, was told by a scientist that he had met her cousin from Nantucket, and she
replied, “I’ve five thousand cousins on Nantucket.” Today, after buying and razing
old, charming village houses, wealthy mainlanders are building monster summer
cottages on quarter-acre lots.

NANTUCKET A N CE STO RS

A ustin, Joseph1, cl6 1 6 -6 3 (#634) was born about 1616 most likely in England
and came first to Hampton. He was taxed in Dover in 1645 and two years later
had a case in court. Joseph Austin bought a quarter o f a sawmill from Richard
Waldron and in 1652 for that service received three acres o f wood. His wife, prob­
ably his second, was Sarah Starbuck, daughter o f Elder Edward Starbuck and
Catherine Reynolds and widow o f W illiam Story, who had died about 1658. Those
children whose names are known to us are Deborah, M ary, Thomas, Joseph,
Benjamin and Nathaniel. In a deposition of 27 June 1661 he gave his age as about
forty-five. Joseph Austins w ill o f 25 June 1662 was probated on 1 July 1663 by his
widow Sarah. He gave his wife her portion and divided the rest equally among
their children except that Thomas, the eldest son, got a double portion.

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A ustin, Deborah2, M rs John2Coffin, 1647—1718 (#317) (Joseph1) was born in

Dover in 1647 to Joseph Austin and Sarah Starbuck. Deborah Austin married
John2 Coffin, son ofTristram Coffin and Dionis Stevens, in Nantucket in 1668.
They had nine children: Lydia, Peter, John, Love, Enoch, Samuel, Hannah,
Tristram and Deborah. John and Deborah moved to Edgartown after his father’s
death in 1681. She died 4 A pril 1718.
(Reference: Charles H . Pope, Pioneers o f M aine and N ew Hampshire, Alonzo H.
Q uint, “Genealogical Items Relating to the Early Settlers o f Dover, N .H .”,
N EHGR, 5 :4 4 9 -4 5 6 )
Barnard, Robert1, died cl6 8 2 (#502L, 630), born in England, first appeared
some time before 1640 in Salisbury, Bay Colony, where the next year he married
Joanna Harvey, daughter o f W illiam Harvey and Joanna Hucker. They had a son,
John, on 2 M arch 1642. (John was drowned at the age o f 27, a year after his
marriage to Peter Folger s daughter Bethiah, w ith Isaac Coleman and an Indian
when their canoe upset.) Robert Barnard and Joanna moved to Andover in 1644
and he was a founder o f its First Church. T hey had four daughters, Hannah,
M artha, Sarah and M ary and more sons, Stephen and Robert Jr. Robert Barnard
became one of the ten partners o f the First Purchasers o f Nantucket and so the
owner o f 720 acres of common land. The family moved there about 1663 and he
died there about 1682. Administration of the estate was granted to his son Robert
on 1 February 1714-5 “after he [Robert Sr.] had been dead more than thirtyyears.”
Barnard, Sarah2, M rs James2Skiff, cl648-1732 (#25lL,315) (Robert1), daughter
of Robert Barnard and Joanna Harvey, was born in Andover about 1648. Sarah
Barnard became the second wife o f James Skiff Jr. and had five children by him in
Nantucket. She died on 24 October 1732 at the age o f eighty-four.
(References: Barnard, W alter Charles, Barnard and Allied Families; Pope, 33;
Savage, I: 120; Starbuck, History o f Nantucket, 661)
Bunker, George1, died 1658 (#616): A family legend has it that Guillaume
Boncoeur, a Huguenot born at Nancy, France, fled to England, where he was
recorded to be living in 1648. Although there were Bunker’s in England in the
15th and 16th centuries, Huguenot Societies have accepted W illiam Bunker’s
descendants as members on the basis of this ancestry. Born in England, George

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Bunker, a son o f W illiam , migrated to Ipswich, now part o f Cambridge, in the Bay
Colony and about 1645 moved to Topsfield when he married Jane Godfrey. He
was drowned on 26 M ay 1658 while crossing a stream with a load o f lumber. Ten-
year-old W illiam , who was with him, managed to get the team out. Left with five
children from a few months to twelve years o f age, Jane soon married Richard
Swain. She died 31 October 1662. Edward Starbuck and Thomas M acy were
made guardians o f the four minor children o f George and Jane Bunker: Elizabeth
by this time was sixteen. For this purpose Richard Swain deeded to them one full
share o f land which he had in trust for them: “for and in consideration o f certain
portions ordered and appointed by the Court o f Salem unto four o f the children o f
George Bunker deceased; viz.: W illiam £24; M ary £12; Anne £12; and M artha
£12. W itnesses John Swain, Dorcas Starbuck”
Bunker, W illiam 2, 1648-1712 (#308) (George1) was born at Topsfield in 1648
and, after his father’s death, went with his mother and step-father to Nantucket
when he was eleven years old. He married M ary M acy daughter ofThomas M acy
and Sarah Hopcott, on 11 April 1669 when bride and groom were twenty and
twenty-one years old. They settled in a rather isolated spot at the east end o f the
island. Alexander Starbuck (p. 259) recounts a story passed down in the family
and recorded in an unpublished manuscript by Nicholas Barney. One night when
England and France were at war, after the family had gone to bed, some French­
men from a vessel off shore raided the house and took food, bedding and clothing
and forced the farmer W illiam to go with them to pilot their vessel into the
Vineyard Sound. The indomitable M ary tried to repair die ravages o f the house,
with the help o f friends, so that when W illiam returned a few days later the
house was in fair condition, although she said she was never able to make up
completely the loss o f her twenty pairs o f sheets. W illiam Bunker was appointed
keeper o f the jail in 1686. He and M ary had four daughters and eight sons, four
of whom married Coffin girls. W illiam died 6 June 1712. H e willed to his wife a
quarter share o f land w ith the livestock and a horse and the west end o f the

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house. H e left money or land to his children, according to what assistance he had
already given them. H e gave Jane h alf o f the garden and also commons for sixteen
sheep. The youngest son, Benjamin, got the house, the house lot, the barn, and
commons for sheep, provided that he pay £30 towards the enumerated legacies.
Bunker,Jonathan3, 1675—1721 (#154) (W illiam 2George1) was bom 25 Febru­
ary 1675 to W illiam Bunker and M ary Macy. He married Elizabeth Coffin, daugh­
ter o f James Coffin and M ary Severance. A s captain o f the ketch Industry, 25 tons
burden, he was issued a passport 6 June 1699 to fish “between this country and the
Island o f Newfoundland”. Jonathan Bunker died in 1721 at the age o f forty-six.
His will, probated on 13 September; names nine children, three sons and six daugh­
ters.
Bunker, Patience4, M rs Jonathan4Gardner, 1706- (#77) (Jonathan3W illiam 2
George1) was born in 1706 to Jonathan Bunker and Elizabeth Coffin. Patience
Bunker married Jonathan Gardner, son o f Jam es Gardner and M ary Starbuck.
Simeon, son o f Jonathan Gardner and Patience Bunker, was a grandfather o f
M atilda Colville, mother o f Amasa Fiske Sr.
(References: John O. Austin, One Hundred an d SixtyAllied Families,9—50; Charles
W . O. Bunker, The Bunker F am ily ; Alexander Starbuck, History o f Nantucket, 659—
6 6 0 ,6 8 4 —687; Vital Records o f Nantucket to the Year 1850 )
Coffin,Tristram1, 1605-81 (#614,620,632) was bom in 1605 at Brixton, Devon,
to PeterACoffin and Joanna Thember. A t the age o f twenty-five he married Dionis
Stevens, daughter of Robert, o f Brixton. Tristram’s grandparents were Nicholas®
and Joan Coffyn and his great grandfather was Tristram0. Those men o f the three
generations left wills. Peter bequeathed land to his wife Joan during her life and it
was to pass at her death to Tristram, “who is to be provided for according to his
degree and calling (Starbuck, p. 69). Before 1642 Tristram Coffin had lost his
brother John, who had died o f wounds at Plymouth Fort, Devon, and in that year
a little son and daughter ofTristram and Dionis had died. In that same year Tristram
brought a considerable family to the New W orld: Dionis and their five children,
his mother Joan and two o f his four sisters, M ary and Eunice. H is mother died in
Boston nineteen years later and at her funeral Rev. John W ilson remembered her
as a woman of remarkable character.

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Tristram and other men paid the Indians £3 10s. for several square miles o f land
at Haverhill in the northeast corner o f Massachusetts. He is said to have been the
first person to use a plough there. He was also a witness to the Indian deed of that
town on 15 M arch 1642. Two years later he was licensed to keep a public house
and also a ferry on the Newbury side of the M errim ack River. The H averhill Vital
Records show the birth of Deborah 15 November 1642 and her death 30 Decem­
ber; the birth o f M ary 20 February 1644 and of John 30 October 1647. The family
moved to Newbury in 1648. N. W . Coffin wrote in 1847: “H e was a royalist, and,
as far as is known, the only one of the early settlers o f the town o f Newbury who
came to America in consequence o f the success of Oliver Cromwell.” (p. 340) In
1653 a customer complained to the authorities that Dionis was charging three
pence for a quart o f ale rather than two pence prescribed by law. Dionis proved to
the court that she had put in the hogshead six bushels o f malt instead o f the
standard four. The court found her defence to be valid. Evidently the family moved
back to Salisbury, for in 1654-5 he signed his name “Tristram Coffyn, Commis­
sioner o f Salisbury”. H e and Dionis had seven children who survived into adult­
hood. The five who crossed the Atlantic w ith their parents were Peter, born 1631;
Tristram Jr., 1632; Elizabeth, 1634; James, 1640, and John, who died 30 October
1642. The birth o f M ary and the second John are noted above; Stephen was bom
in 1652 in Salisbury.
T he Nantucket Company included Tristram Coffin and his son Peter among
the First Purchasers and Tristram Jr. and Jam es among the Partners. T hey and
their father paid Thomas M ayhew £6 for Tuckemuck Island. Tristram Jr. did not
move to Nantucket. Peter lived there during King Philips W ar and returned to
Dover, where he was a mill owner, a freeman and a deputy to the General Court.
He moved in 1690 to Exeter, where he owned a large mill and became C hief
Justice o f the Supreme Court o f New Hampshire. H e died there in 1715 at the
age o f seventy-four. Some time before Tristram Sr. died in 1681 he conveyed
large portions o f his estate to Mary, John and Stephen. James and Peter were
already w ell off. Tristram willed the use o f his remaining estate to Dionis.

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Coffin, Jam es2, 1640-1720 (#310) (Tristram1) was born in Brixton, Devon, 12
August 1640 and came with his parents to the Bay Colony when he was not two
years old. As a partner in the Company, James came to Nantucket from Dover
with the first party led by Thomas M acy but he soon returned to Dover, where he
was a church member and a freeman. In Salisbury he married M ary Severance,
daughter o f John and Abigail, on 3 February 1663-4 and their first child, Mary,
was born in Nantucket 18 June 1665. Six years later James Coffin and others paid
the head sachem £40 for a deed o f lands and rights. As mentioned, he paid half
his fathers fine after the “misunderstanding” about the salvage o f a cargo o f hides.
He held many important public offices and became the first judge o f the Probate
Court o f Nantucket. In his w ill, which was proved in 1720, he left handsome
bequests to his sons and also to his daughters, who had married into the Bunker,
Gardner and Starbuck families. Two descendants of James and M ary were the
British adm iral Sir Isaac Coffin, who visited Nantucket in 1826 and endowed the
Lancasterian School, and Lucretia Coffin M ott (1793-1880), Quaker and emi­
nent reformer, who worked for peace, labour rights, womens rights and abolition
o f slavery.
Coffin, Elizabeth3, M rs Jonathan3 Bunker, 1675- (#155) (Jam es2 Tristram1)
was bom in Nantucket to James Coffin and M ary Severance on 9 September
1675. Elizabeth Coffin married, first, Jonathan Bunker, son o f W illiam Bunker
and M ary M acy, and they had nine children. He died in 1720. Elizabeth married
Thomas C lark 30 M arch 1735.
Coffin, M ary2, M rs N athaniel2Starbuck, 1645-1717 (#307) (Tristram1) was
bom to Tristram Coffin and Dionis Stevens at Haverhill on 20 February 1645.
M ary Coffin married Nathaniel Starbuck, son o f Edward Starbuck and Catherine
Reynolds, about 1662 when she was about seventeen. Her father deeded h alf of
his estate to her and her husband. Austin describes her as “a most extraordinary
woman, taking part in public and town meetings and carrying much weight and
authority there, and being consulted on all matters o f public importance.” “She
became interested in Quakerism in 1701 and often had meetings at her house,
being herself a preacher o f power and eloquence; and we are told that she wrote

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the Quarterly Epistles.” (pp. 222-223) W ith all this she was the mother of ten
children, one o f whom, M ary Starbuck, the first white child born on the island,
married James Gardner. M ary Coffin Starbuck died 13 September 1717 at the
age o f seventy-two.
Coffin, John2, 1647-1711 (#316) (Tristram1), a brother o f James and M ary, was
born at Haverhill 30 October 1647 to Tristram and Dionis Coffyn. H e married
Deborah Austin, daughter of Joseph Austin and Sarah Austin, in 1668. T hey had
five girls and five boys. John and Deborah moved to Martha’s Vineyard soon after
his father died in 1681 and they are the progenitors o f the Coffins there. John
Coffin died in Edgartown on 5 September 1711 at the age o f fifty-eight.
Coffin, Peter3, 1671-1749 (#158) John2 Tristram1) was born in Nantucket 5
August 1671 to John Coffin and Deborah Austin. H e married Christian Conde,
daughter o f M rs. M ary Conde, and they had two children, Bartlett and Lidia,
before she passed away. He then married Hope, daughter o f Joseph Gardner and
Bethiah Macy. and they had eight children, six boys and two girls, all bom in
Nantucket. Peter Coffin died 27 August 1749 at the age o f seventy-eight.
Coffin, Lydia4, M rs Samuel4Long, 1697-1763 (#79) (Peter3Jo h ^T ristram 1),
Lidia in the birth record, was bom 23 November 1697 to Peter Coffin and Chris­
tian Conde. H er name appears as Lydiah in the record o f her marriage on 14
M arch 1717 to Samuel Long, son o f Robert Long and Sarah Skiff. Lydia Coffin
and Samuel Long had nine children; die youngest, Sarah, married Simeon Gardner
Lydia died 7 M ay 1763.
(References: Hallock P. Long,.<4L ong Genealogy, 5—9; S. J. Macy, “The Coffin
Family”, N E H G R ,2 4 :149-154,305—307; Vital Records o f Nantucket}
Conde, Christian2, M rs Peter3Coffin cl679—(#159) , daughter o f “M rs. M ary
who later m’d W m. Gayer”, says the Vital Records o f Nantucket. W illiam C . Folger
writes that M r. W illiam Gayer “afterwards married a widow named M ary Guard,
o f Boston or its vicinity, and as she had a daughter named Christian Cundy, it is
probable she had been married twice previous to her marriage with M r. Gayer.”
Conde or Condy is a rare name, probably French. A James Condy was living in
Braintree, with three sons, Joshua, Experience and James. That is all we know of
Christian Conde, M rs. Peter Coffin.

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(References: John Farmer, A G enealogical R egister o f the F irst Settlers o f N ew

England; W illiam C . Folger, “The Gayer Family”, NEHGR, 31: 297-8; Vital
Records o f Nantucket )
Gardner, Richard2, died 1688 (#304) (Thomas1) sailed from Weymouth, Eng­
land, for Cape Ann in the spring o f 1624 in the Zouch Phenix with his parents,
Thomas Gardner and M argaret Fryer, and his two brothers, Thomas Jr. and
George. As a boy he was a member o f the small group who moved w ith Roger
Conant in the autumn o f 1626 to settle Numkeag, later called Salem. In the
period 1642-43 he received thirty acres o f land and built a house and shop. About
1652 he married Sarah Shattuck, daughter o f his step-mother Damaris. Sarah
was fined more than once for absence from the meeting-house or for attendance
at Quaker assemblies and in 1662 she was finally excommunicated. In 1664 he
was convicted o f absenting him self “from the public ordinances” and was sum­
moned at other times for not attending the First Church. On 22 M arch 1666—7
Richard Gardner was granted a half-share in Nantucket to exercise his trade as a
resident seaman and his eldest son Joseph, who may have been the son o f a first
marriage, was granted a half-share “to supply the occasions o f the Island as a
Shoemaker.” Richard received various grants and acted as agent o f the town in
New York, as Nantucket was a part o f the province o f New York. In 1673 the
governor sent by Mr. Richard Gardner and his brother Captain John instruction
for the naming of the town (Sherborne) and the administration of the courts on
the island, licensed them to buy lands by the seaside or elsewhere from the Indi­
ans, and commissioned Richard as chief magistrate. That same year the town
granted him about 100 acres of land and meadow and his share o f creek-thatch
and commonage for forty cattle, sixty sheep and a horse and appointed him,
Captain John and Thomas M acy “to build a tide m ill upon the creek behither
Wefko”, they to be paid in corn, commonage, upland, meadow and creek-thatch.
W . C. Folger wrote of him in 1862: “Richard was a man o f very good abilities, he
was called long-headed by his brother John, from his sense o f the profoundness of

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his Judgment.” (quoted by Gardner, 1907, p. 46). Richard and Sarah had ten chil­
dren, one o f whom, Damaris, died in infancy. The others were: Joseph, Richard Jr.,
Sarah, Deborah, James, M iriam , the twins Hope and Nathaniel, and Love. Rich­
ard died 23 March 1688 and Sarah was granted administration.
Gardner,James3,bom 1662 (#152) (Richard2Thomas1),sonofRichard Gardner
and Sarah Shattuck, was bom in Salem on 19 M ay 1662. James Gardner married
four times; first, M ary Starbuck (daughter o f Nathaniel Starbuck and M ary Coffin),
who was the mother o f perhaps six o f his seven children and who died in 1696;
second, the widow of John Brown, born Rachel Gardner, daughter o f James’s un­
cle John and therefore his first cousin (she was die mother o f James Jr.); third,
Patience, daughter o f Peter Folger and widow o f Ebenezer Harker; and fourth,
Mary, daughter of James Coffin and widow o f Richard Pinkham.
Gardner,Jonathan4, 1696-1777 (#76) (James3Richard2Thomas1) , son ofjam es
Gardner and M ary Starbuck, was bom at Nantucket 12 September 1696. He
married 14 October 1723 Patience Bunker, daughter o f Jonathan Bunker and
Elizabeth Coffin. They had eleven children between 1724 and 1749: Elizabeth,
Seth, Simeon, Elihu, Kezia, Ruth, Eunice, Barnabas, M iriam , Dinah and Mary.
Jonathan Gardner died on 3 September 1777 near his 81st birthday.
Gardner, Simeon5, 1728-1817 (#38) (Jonathan4James3Richard2Thomas1) was
born on 17 November 1728 on Nantucket, to Jonathan Gardner and Patience
Bunker. Simeon Gardner married Sarah Long, daughter o f Samuel Long and
Lydia Coffin, on 22 November 1750. They moved with four o f their children in
1762 to Cape Island, Nova Scotia, where they had three more children.
Gardner, Seeth2, M rs Joshua2Conant, 1636- (#333a) (Thomas1) was baptized
at Salem on 25 December 1636, the youngest o f the ten children o f Thomas
Gardner and M argaret Fryer. W hen Seeth Gardner married Joshua Conant, son
o f Roger Conant and Sarah Horton, at Salem, it was historically fitting that two
old-planter families were thus joined together. She had her baby boy, Joshua Jr.,
at Salem on 15 April 1657 and they moved to Marblehead. H er husband, a sea

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captain, died in England in 1659. On December first of that year Seeth married
John Grafton and had six children by him. H er granddaughter Sarah Conant
married Nathaniel Eldredge and through them she is a foremother of Abigail
Smith, M rs. Amasa Fiske.
(References: Austin, 160 Allied Families, 101-103; Frank A. Gardner, Thomas
Gardner Planter and Some o f His Descendants, 6-55; Sidney Perley, History o f Salem,
68-79; Alexander Starbuck, History o f Nantucket, 756-765)
Godfrey, Jane, M rs George1Bunker, cl6 3 0 -6 2 (#617) was born about 1630 at
Newbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony. In her mid-teens Jane Godfrey married
George Bunker. She was a witness in the case o f Sary Barnes, who was charged
with speaking ill of the minister and o f the people. W hen her husband was drowned
she was granted administration o f an estate worth £300 less debts of £158. She
married Richard Swain, a widower with six grown-up children and a First Pur­
chaser of Nantucket, and she and her five young children moved there with him.
She died on 31 October 1662, the first death recorded on the island, leaving her
five orphaned children and a sixth by Richard Swain.
(Reference: Alexander Starbuck, History o f Nantucket, 658-659 8c684)
L ong, R obert4, 1 6 6 9 -1 7 3 6 (#156) (S am u el3 R obert21): T h e L o n g’s o f
Charlestown with their English antecedents were traced in chapter six. Robert
Long, born on 9 December 1669 at Charlestown to Samuel Long and Elizabeth
Pinkham, probably moved for a time to Cape Cod, where he m et Sarah Skiff, of
Sandwich. They were married about 1695. H e was a landowner in Nantucket in
1707. T hey had ten children: Samuel, John, Jam es, Daniel, Barnabas, Jonathan,
Mary, Pamel, Elizabeth and Patience. Robert died in Nantucket in 1736.
Long, Sam uel5, born 1695 (#78) (Robert4Samuel3Robert2'1) was bom in 1695
to Robert Long and Sarah Skiff. Samuel Long married 14 M arch 1717 Lydia
Coffin, daughter o f Peter Coffin and Christian Conde. T hey had nine children,
W illiam , Christian, Naomi, Peter, Elizabeth, Bartlett, Jerusha, Samuel Jr. and
Sarah.
Long, Sarah6, M rs Simeon Gardner, cl7 3 1 —(#39) (Samuel5 Robert4 Samuel3
Robert21) was a daughter o f Samuel Long and Lydia Coffin. Sarah Long married
at Nantucket on 22 November 1750 Simeon Gardner, the 22-year-old son of

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Jonathan Gardner and Patience Bunker. They moved to Nova Scotia in 1762 with
two sons, Bartlett and Freeman, and two daughters, Pam al and Mary. They had
three more children at Cape Island, Elizabeth, John and Keziah, who married
Tim othy Covell Jr.
(References: Edwin C row ell,^ History o f Barrington Township, 482-483; Hallock
P. Long, A Long Genealogy, 4—9; Vital Records o f Nantucket)
M acy, Thom as1, 1608—82 (#618) came from Chilm ark, W iltshire, where he
was born in 1608. H e was a freeman in Newbury, Bay Colony, in 1639 and die
following year was one o f the original setders o f Salisbury. For six months in 1643
and again in 1647 he was one o f seven selectmen who were given the power to
manage all the affairs o f the town except giving out lands. H e received grants o f
a house lot and upland acreage. In 1645 he was fined £15 for cutting down trees
illegally but he was left w ith the timber. He was Salisbury's deputy to the General
Court in 1654. In 1658 he got into trouble with the town when it was divided and
he took away support for the old meeting by encouraging Joseph Peaseley, who
was not a licensed minister, to officiate in the new town. H e was summoned to
appear for “disorderly practices”. W e have seen how he got into much deeper
trouble with the General Court when he harboured Quakers during a rainstorm.
Alexander Starbuck argues, properly, that Thomas M acy could not have gone to
Nantucket till 1660 or even 1661. Austin shows that M acy was again living in
Salisbury in 1664, when he sold his house there and moved permanently to the
island. W e have seen that as chief magistrate he ordered Peter Folger to the
pigsty prison to await trial and kept him there for eighteen months. Thomas
M acy also wrote to Governor Francis Lovelace o f New York asking for a prohi­
bition of sales of liquor to the Indians. Before he died in 1682 he sold most of his
lands and buildings to his son John. H e and his wife, Sarah Hopcot, whom he
married on 6 November 1639, had seven children, all bom in Salisbury, five of
whom survived infancy.
M acy, M ary2, M rs W illiam 2Bunker, 1648- (#309) (Thomas1) was born at Salis­
bury on 4 December 1648 to Thomas M acy and Sarah Hopcot. M ary M acy mar­
ried at Nantucket on 11 A pril 1669 W illiam Bunker, son o f George Bunker and
Jane Godfrey. M ary and W illiam had four daughters and eight sons. She was the

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brave woman and good manager who w ith the help o f neighbours put the house
back together in the absence o f her husband after it had been sacked by the French
crew. She survived him and was left w ith a quarter o f his estate. Through her son
Jonathan Bunker she is a great grandmother o f Simeon Gardner.
(References: Austin, One H undred an d Sixty Allied Families, 169-171; Alexan­
der Starbuck, H istory o f Nantucket, 15-17; 653-654; 787—801)
M eader, Joseph3, 1681—1759 (#126L) (John2 1), a son o f John M eader Jr. and
Sarah Follett, was born on 10 A pril 1681 at Dover; New Hampshire. H e became
a farmer and a housewright. Joseph M eader moved to Nantucket, where he evi­
dently had received a grant o f land, and married C harity Nason, the daughter of
Joseph Nason and M ary Swain, 29 December 1703. The births o f Patience, Mary,
Hannah, John, Nicholas, Moses, Joseph, Sarah and Elizabeth are duty recorded
in the Nantucket Records. In 1704 the court appointed him to administer the
estate o f his brother Nathaniel, who had been killed by Indians. In 1737 Joseph
and his brother Nicholas signed an indenture which divided between them the
property their father had left to them. In his latter years Joseph M eader returned
to New Hampshire and lived at Piscataqua or Back River, between Portsmouth
and Dover, where in 1759 he died at the age o f seventy-eight.
M eader, Sarah4, M rs Chapman2Swain, 1722- (#63L) (Joseph3John21), born
on Nantucket 30 June 1722, was the youngest child but one o f Joseph M eader
and Charity Nason. There on 19 July 1739 at the age of just seventeen Sarah
M eader married Chapman Swain, fourteen years older than she, son of “Eng­
land” John Swain and Patience Skiff. On Nantucket they had nine children: Pa­
tience, born 1742; Joseph, born 1744; John, born 1747; Zephaniah, 1751 (died in
infancy); Zephaniah, 1752; Judith, 1753; Ephraim. 1755; Chapman Jr. and Dan­
iel, twins, 1757. In 1760 Sarah with her husband and family moved to Barrington
township, Nova Scotia, and had three more children, including Sarah Swain,
who was to become a grandmother of Ann Crowell, wife of Hon. Samuel Locke
(see chap. 11).
(References: Noyes, Libby and Davis; Dr. Granville Meader, John M eader o f
Piscataqua: His Ancestors and Descendants, Pope, The Pioneers o f M aine and New
Hampshire, Nantucket Records)

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Nason, Joseph2, married cl681 (#254L) (Richard1), a son of Richard Nason, of

Kittery, M aine, moved to Dover and then to Nantucket. There Joseph Nason
married about 1681 M ary Swain, daughter of John Swain and granddaughter of
Richard Swain, one o f the first purchasers. They had one child, Charity. Joseph’s
wife, Mary, died in 1714 on 27 September at Nantucket.
Nason, Charity3, M rs Joseph3M eader, 1682- (#127L) (Joseph2Richard1) was
born at Nantucket to Joseph Nason and M ary Swain on 17 September 1682.
Charity Nason married Joseph Meader, son of John M eader and Sarah Follett,
on 29 December 1703 at Nantucket. She had five daughters and four sons and,
through daughter Sarah, was a great great grandmother of Ann Crowell, who
married Hon. Samuel Locke.
(References: Pope, op. cit .; Noyes, Libby and Davis)
Severance, M ary2, M rs Jam es3Coffin, 1645-1720 (#311) (John1) was bom on
5 October 1645 to John Severance and Abigail Kimball (chapter six). M ary Sev­
erance married James Coffin, son of Tristram Coffin and Dionis Stevens, on 3
February 1663 in Salisbury. She moved with her husband to Nantucket. M ary
bore fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters, over a period o f twenty-
seven years. She died at age seventy-five in 1720, the same year in which her
husband died.
(Reference: Austin, One H undred an d Sixty Allied Families, 206-207)
Starbuck, Edward1, 1604—91 (#612) is perhaps the most important o f the large
proprietors o f Nantucket, after Tristram Coffin. Thomas M acy, a First Purchaser,
chose him as a partner. Bom in 1604, perhaps in Derbyshire, he came to New
England in 1635 with his wife, Catherine Reynolds, daughter of Robert, most
likely o f W ales. H e was an active resident o f Dover, which was then part o f the
Bay Colony. He received various grants horn the town, one lot being forty acres
and another being forty poles (640 feet) on the water and eighty poles up into the
woods. He and two others were chosen lifetime weirsmen for Cochecho Falls
and River as long as they remained Dover residents. For the monopoly o f fishing
rights they were to pay the town 6,000 alewives and were to sell the first catch to
the church, and give the first salmon to the pastor or teacher. Edward Starbuck
was a deputy to the General Court in 1643 and 1647 and was an elder o f the

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church. In 1644 the Bay Colony Court passed an act banishing anyone opposing
the baptism o f infants but sometimes a severe penalty took the place o f banish­
ment. It seems that Edward Starbuck came under the influence o f the Anabaptists.
In October the Court o f Massachusetts, “being informed o f great misdemener
committed by Edward Starbucke, o f Dover, with p’fession o f Anabaptisme,” or­
dered that “he be pceeded agaynst at the next Court o f Assistants, if evidence can
be ‘pared by that tim e... ."T he record does not show that he was brought to trial.
Indeed, he continued to lay out land for the town and in 1653 he was made a
freeman. Obed M acy makes much o f religious persecution as the main reason for
the settlement o f Nantucket. As for Edward Starbuck, he took part in the public
life of Dover eleven years after the complaint about his Anabaptist views. His
wife, C atherine, died in Dover, when is not recorded. T h eir children were
Nathaniel, Jethro (who was killed at age twelve when a cart overturned), Sarah,
Dorcas, Abigail and Esther.
Business opportunities must have played a large part in the move o f Edward
Starbuck to Nantucket Island. After all, as a partner he would gain a large tract o f
land and, indeed, he was on a committee to lay out and measure lands. His name
appears on the earliest deed from the sachems and on many other land deeds
until his death. Through his efforts a m ill was established. In 1673 he served as a
selectman. He and Thomas M acy were made guardians o f the minor children of
George Bunker. He is said to have been a man o f commanding presence and to
have been held in high regard by the Indians. Tradition has it that he went un­
hesitatingly among them when they were upset and threatening trouble. H e died
at the age o f eighty-six on 4 February 1690-1.
Starbuck, N athaniel2, 1636—1719 (#306) (Edward1) was born to Edward
Starbuck and Catherine Reynolds in 1635-6. H e came to Nantucket with his
father about 1660. H e married M ary Coffin in 1662 and they built “one o f the
finest houses on the island; Parliament House, it was called, because it had the
biggest room available for public meetings.” (Hoyt, p. 8) Nathaniel and M ary
Starbuck had ten children. M ary died in 1717 and he two years later at the age of

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83. One o f the richest men in Nantucket, he owned three full shares of land. To
his sons Nathaniel Starbuck left lands and to his daughters and their children
money. H e gave three feather beds to Barnabas and household goods to three
daughters.
Starbuck, M ary3, M rs Jam es3Gardner, 1663-96 (#153) (Nathaniel2Edward1)
was born on 30 M ay 1663 in Nantucket to Nathaniel Starbuck and M ary Coffin.
M ary Starbuck married James Gardner, had five or six children, and died in 1696.
She was a grandmother o f Simeon Gardner, who came to Nova Scotia in 1762.
(References: John O. Austin, One H undred and Sixty A llied Families) Edwin R
Hoyt, Nantucket: The Life o f an Island) George Edward McDonnell 6c David
Ross M cConnell, Our Family's Starbuck History, 3 -4 )
Sw ain, Richard1, cl6 0 0 -8 2 (# 1020L), bom in England about 1600, left Lon­
don on 17 September 1635 for New England in the Truelove, John Gibbs master.
His wife, Elizabeth, had come in the Planter six months before with friends and
relatives. His sons W illiam , born about 1619, and Francis, born about 1621, came
in the Rebecca and his daughter Elizabeth came in the Susan an d Ellen under the
care o f friends. If, as Austin states, their son John was born in 1633, he must have
sailed w ith his mother in A pril o f 1635. T he fam ily went first to Newbury, where
daughter Elizabeth was baptized 9 October 1638, and then for a short time to
Rowley before going to Hampton, New Hampshire (then part o f Massachusetts)
after the settlement o f that township, where he became a selectman and a com­
missioner for small causes.. Richard and Elizabeth had three more children:
Dorothy, Grace and Nicholas, who died in 1650. Their daughter Elizabeth mar­
ried at Hampton on 3 December 1656 Nathaniel W eare Jr., son o f Nathaniel Sr.,
o f Hampton and later o f Nantucket.
The year 1657 was a bad one for Richard Swain because his son Francis died,
his wife died on 15 July, and his son W illiam was lost on 20 October in a vessel
sailing to Boston. On 15 September 1658 Richard married Jane Godfrey, the
widow o f George Bunker, who had drowned 26 M ay, leaving her with five small
children. Richard was fined on 12 November 1659 by the General Court for en-

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tertaining Quakers. H e and Jane had a son Richard on 13 January 1659-60. In

July they sold her land in Topsfield and two months later Richard gave a part of
his house lot in Hampton to his daughter Grace and her husband, Nathaniel
Boulter.
Richard Swain, Jane, his son John by the first marriage, Richard by the second,
and the five Bunker children moved to Nantucket, where he took up his large
holding as one of the nine First Purchasers and was on a committee to lay out lots.
Jane died 31 October 1662, the first recorded death in Nantucket. The following
year he gave a tract of land at Hampton to Hezekiah, the orphaned eldest son of
W illiam Bunker, and he sold the rest of his estate there to Nathaniel and Grace
Boulter. He deeded to the Bunker children a full share of land on Nantucket
which he had in trust for them. Starbuck quotes H. H. Worth’s Nantucket Lands
and Land Owners: “He was not an educated man and his signatures are by m ark...
He never held any Town office, but performed labor for the Town in relation to
sheep and cattle.” Richard Swain died 14 A pril 16S2 about the age o f eighty-one
and his son Richard was appointed administrator o f the estate.
Swain, John2,1 6 3 3 -cl7 1 6 (#510L) (Richard1) was born in England in 1633 to
Richard and Elizabeth Swain and no doubt came as a toddler w ith his mother in
April of 1635. A t Hampton on 15 September 1660 he married M ary Weare,
sister of Nathaniel, Jr., the husband o f Johns sister Elizabeth. Thus a Swain sister
and brother married a Weare brother and sister. Starbuck suggests that John and
M ary may have had their first child, Mary, before they moved to Nantucket. John
Swain and M ary W eare had five daughters and four sons: M ary we shall come to;
John married Experience Folger; Stephen did not marry; Sarah married Joseph
Norton; Joseph married M ary Sibley; Elizabeth married Joshua Sevolle; Benjamin
married M ary Taylor; Hannah married James Tallman; Patience married Samuel
Gardner, a son of our ancestors James Gardner and M ary Starbuck. In 1680John
Swain bought Indian land at Polpis, a purchase confirmed four years later by the
New York government, which then had jurisdiction over Nantucket. He and his
sons John, Joseph and Benjamin and his son-in-law Joshua Sevolle developed
farms.

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M ary Weare Swain died in 1714, evidently before John made his w ill on 9
February. It was probated 27 January 1717 with an inventory o f £310, including
“silver tankard, Bible, chiney platter and a fashionable table”. To his unmarried
son, Stephen, and his daughters Mary, Sarah, Hannah and Patience he gave five
shillings each. To his sons John, Joseph and Benjamin and his daughter Elizabeth
Sevolle he left his cattle and sheep, to be divided “according to their two portions
o f land given to each by me”, and also an equal share o f the dwelling house,
money and plate. The son John Swain, Jr., married Experience Folger, sister of
Benjamin Franklin’s mother, A biah Folger.
Sw ain ,M ary3,M rs Joseph2Nason, cl661-1714 (#255L) (John2Richard1) was
born about 1661 to John Swain and M ary Weare. M ary Swain married Joseph
Nason o f Dover, New Hampshire, who had moved to Nantucket. They had a
daughter, Charity, who was bom 17 September 1682. M ary died 27 September
1714, a few months after her mother’s death and three years before her fathers.
Sw ain, John1“England”, 1680—1749 (#124L) came to New England sixty-five
years after Richard and to Nantucket about twenty years after him. Fred E. Crowell
thinks the two families were somehow related. He was twenty years old when in
1700 he came from England to Nantucket. To distinguish the two John Swains
he was called “England”. The Nantucket record o f the marriage is as follows:
“John Swaine the third 8c Patience Skiffe were married the 3: o f October 1706 by
me W ill Worth” and “Swaine, ‘a stranger called England’, and Patience Skiff, d.
James and Sarah (Barnard)”T hey had Hannah, Dinah, Ann, Oliver and Chapman.
A t a town meeting on 18 M arch 1727—8 John Swain, alias England, was chosen
pound keeper at Polpis. John’s death is recorded thus: “Swain, John, a stranger
called England’ h. Patience (d. Jam es Skiff and Sarah) [died] 5th 10th mo. 1749.”
The w ill o f John “England” Swain, weaver, proved in December, left legacies to
his wife, Patience, to sons Oliver and Chapman and to grandsons John and Joseph
Swain.
Sw ain, Chapman2, 1708-84 (#62L) (John1“England”) was born at Nantucket
13 July 1708. His parents named him in honour o f Ann Chapman, a Quaker
preacher who had come to Nantucket about 1700. On Nantucket 19 Ju ly 1739
Chapman Swain married Sarah Meader, a daughter o f Joseph M eader and Char­

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ity Nason, thus linking the two different Swain families. He was a beneficiary in
his father’s will o f 1749 and in the division o f his mother’s estate after her death
in 1772. Added to the Nantucket record o f their marriage is the notation “moved
away”. Chapman and Sarah Swain had eight children in Nantucket before they
moved to Barrington Township in western Nova Scotia in 1760: Patience, bom
23 September 1742;Joseph, 19 August 1744; John, 2 February 1747; Zephaniah,
2 February, 1750-1; Zephaniah, 16 February 1751-2; Judith, 14 A pril 1753;
Ephraim, 26 June 1755, and the twins Chapman Jr. and Daniel, 24 April 1757.
Three more, daughters, were born in Nova Scotia. W e shall meet this family in
greater detail in Chapter Nine.
(References: John O. Austin, One Hundred an d Sixty Allied Families', Fred E.
Crowell, N ew Englanders in Nova Scotia , Nantucket Records; Pope, The Pioneers
o f M aine and N ew Hampshire; Starbuck, History ofN antucket )
W eare, N athaniel1 Sr., cl605-81(# 1022L), his wife Sarah and their four chil­
dren, Hester, 8, Nathaniel Jr., 6, and the younger M ary and Peter were living in
Newbury in 1637. W inthrop described the severe winter o f 1638-9 when the
snow lay a yard deep up Newbury way from 4 November to 23 M arch. On 1 June
1639 about one o’clock during a town meeting when the sun was shining, accord­
ing to the Town Records, “it pleased God to raise a vehement earthquake,.. .which
shook the earth and the foundation of the houses in a very violent manner to our
great amazement and wonder, wherefore taking notice o f so great and strange a
hand of God’s providence, we were desirous of leaving it on record to the view of
after ages to the intent, that all might take notice of A lm ighty God and fear his
name.”
Colonel Charles Edward Banks did much research on this family in England
and thought this Nathaniel might be the Nathaniel whose father was Peter W eare
of Harkenborough, W iltshire and who was apprenticed in 1618 for eight years to
a clothier. In that case he would have been bom about 1605. Banks also consid­
ered Nathaniel to be closely related to Peter Weare, who was a selectman, com­
missioner, town clerk, and county treasurer of York, M aine, and who was impris­
oned by the royalists in 1688 for favouring Massachusetts.

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Nathaniel W eare Sr. moved to Nantucket about 1660 as a half-share man with
rights of pasturage because the proprietors wanted the services of Sarah, Mrs.
Nathaniel Weare Sr. as midwife, there being no doctor or other midwife on the
island. Only two o f their seven children went with them to Nantucket, namely,
Mary, who married John Swain, and M ehitable, who married Daniel Tilton. This
family is not to be confused with the W yer’s of Nantucket, who are descended
from Edward, a Scottish tailor and im m igrant to Charlestown, whose grandson
Robert moved to Nantucket in 1696. Nathaniel W eare Sr. died on 1 M arch 1680-
81 and administration o f his estate, valued at about £33, was granted to Sarah.
The value of the stock was almost h alf o f that amount: two steers, a cow, three
heifers and a yearling. The dwelling, barns and sheds and ten acres o f land to­
talled £5, clothes £3 and bedding £2. In addition to those, the inventory listed a
fryingpan, 2 brass kettles, an iron kettle, gridiron, fire shovel and tongs, lamp, m ilk
trays, trenchers, pewter dishes, porringers, pint pot, butter chum, 2 bushels wheat,
8 bushels Indian Corn, 1 bushel malt, 17 small cheeses, 20 pounds bacon, 5 yards
woollen cloth, an old Bible, 5 other books, a table and 3 chairs. On 23 October
1682 John Swain was granted administration “in behalf o f his mother-in-law Sara
W ier, she being altogether incapable to administer.”
W eare, M ary2, M rs John2Swain, m. 1760 (# 51lL) (Nathaniel1) married John
Swain, son o f Richard, in Nantucket on 15 September 1660. M ary W eare had
four sons and five daughters and died in 1714. She was close to her influential
brother, Hon. Nathaniel Weare, of Hampton, captain, councillor, chief justice of
the supreme court, twice the representative in England o f petitioners who op­
posed the Cranford-Mason party.
(References: Austin, 160 Allied Families ; Noyes, Libby 6c Davis; Pope, Pioneers
o f M aine and N ew H am pshire ).

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 Rhode Island

FOUNDING

The fo u r original tow ns o f Rhode Island —Providence, Portsmouth, N ew­

port, and Warwick—cam e into existence during the decade beginning in 1636.
They w ere a ll fou n d ed so that their inhabitants w ould not have to liv e w ith
other people. T hefirst settlers o f P rovidence an d Portsmouth w ere banished
fro m Massachusetts, or w en t w ith those w ho w ere expelled, because they w ould
not abandon or keep silent about beliefs that w ere causing turm oil in the
Puritan communities. The exiles, it turned out , disagreed am ong themselves
an d sought p ea ce (w ith only moderate success) byfou n d in g tw o more towns.
Obviously, th efirst Rhode Islanders w ere not an easygoingpeople. (James,p.
13)

A b rief account o f the founding of Rhode Island, built around beliefs and person­
alities, is included here because two of our ancestors played some part in it. It was
a time o f independent minds. The great migration o f the 1630 s into Massachu­
setts Bay included sixty-five church ministers, many o f them strong-willed and
holding to their individual shades o f religious opinion, as did the oligarchs who
ruled the colony. A t the same time the commonwealth was bound together around
a core o f Puritan principles and practices, mixed w ith policy o f state, that not
Quakers, Antinomians, Anabaptists, nor extremely purifying Puritans like Roger
W illiam s would vary from with impunity.

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Faced with a Puritan pastor who challenged church and state as formally estab­
lished in the Bay Colony and perhaps hearing that Roger W illiam s intended to
settle south of them, the magistrates sent Captain John Underhill to apprehend
him for transport to England. H aving been warned, possibly by Governor
Winthrop, who was sympathetic to him, W illiam s left his wife and children and
escaped into the wilderness. D uring four months he tramped, stayed with the
Indians, and settled at Seekonk with a few friends who now joined him from
Salem and began clearing and planting fields. Governor W inslow wrote a friendly
letter to say that Seekonk was within the bounds o f the Plymouth Colony and to
save Plymouth having trouble with Massachusetts, would he kindly “but remove
to the other side o f the water.” H e and his five disciples crossed the Narragansett
Bay, where his friend the sachem Canonicus gave him land for his settlement of
Providence. In the summer M ary W illiam s and her two children came on foot
and by canoe to join him. Later, on 8 October 1638, Roger W illiam s executed to
twelve men, one o f them our ancestor John Throckmorton, a memorandum con­
veying the lands named in the deed from the sachems.
More than eighty of the so-called Antinomians with their families went to
Narragansett led by W illiam Coddington, John Coggeshall and W illiam Aspinwall.
An ousted former magistrate and treasurer o f the Bay Colony and a seeker of
mystical communication with God, Coddington had been a friend o f W illiam s in
Boston and had been involved in the Hutchinson controversy. H e organized nine­
teen exiles into a body politic with him self as a Biblical kind of judge and with
three elders, one of whom was John Coggeshall, and, by Roger W illiam s’s lin­
guistic ability and diplomacy, obtained from the Narragansett Indians Aquidneck
Island, later called Rhode Island. There the Antinomians —craftsmen, farmers,
sailors, servants, an innkeeper and a doctor -b u ilt a town called Pocasset, later
Portsmouth. Although the settlers met for worship, they did not form a church.
They may have wanted to call John W heelw right to minister to them but he
stayed in New Hampshire and gravitated to Puritan orthodoxy. Anne Hutchinson
was unable to organize them religiously either because she lacked the skill or
because they would not be organized by a woman. In 1639 her faction unseated
Coddington during his absence and chose her husband, W illiam , as governor.

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She later persuaded him to resign his office so as to facilitate the union o f the
towns. W hen her fond, supportive husband died in 1642 and when a possible
union w ith M assachusetts was bruited, she moved to Long Island in New
Netherland, where she and sixteen members o f her household, four o f them her
children, were slaughtered by the Indians and one daughter was taken into cap­
tivity. James calls her “the first great woman o f English America.” (pp. 35-36)
These squabbles, personal conflict and the desire for commerce led Coddington,
Coggeshall and others to found Newport at the south end o f the island, the
harbour o f which soon attracted more merchants and urban artisans. The people
o f Newport tended towards Puritan orthodoxy and for a time had an educated
minister. After he left, John Clarke, a medical doctor, preached and eventually
formed a Baptist church. Others moved towards the Society o f Friends. Newport
thus did not follow Bay Colony towns in making town and congregation one .
In Providence, Roger W illiam s’s beliefs and practices evolved. H is followers
set up a church to include only those w ith a reasonable hope o f salvation, neither
requiring compulsory attendance nor accepting support from government, bap­
tizing only the elect, but not infants. W illiam s soon left the Baptists to their
bickerings over ceremonies and “concluded that no real church could be set up
until God arranged a new delegation o f power” because papal errors had broken
the “chain of succession of apostolic authority”. (James, p. 34) He gave up not
only his zeal for converting the Indians, for he now believed that their religion
was suitable to them, but also his finicky avoidance o f praying with the unconverted.
“He became a Seeker, one who tried to live a humble and pious life while waiting
for God to sponsor a fresh start for the Christian church.” (p. 35)
Samuel Gorton, a w ell-off clothier from London, having challenged the P il­
grim magistrates for rejecting English Common Law, came with his followers.
This warm-hearted, self-assured, hot-tempered, witty, energetic man believed
that the pious o f all humanity, men and women being equal, were free to get
together as they pleased, without formal church or paid clergy, to pray and await
the outpourings of the Holy Spirit but he also believed that civil government in
New England derived its authority only from England and that court judgments
should be based on English Common Law rather than scriptural law. His mes­

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sage and his magnetism made converts. Troubled by his views on civil govern­
ment, Portsmouth whipped and banished him in 1641. After trying out Provi­
dence and making converts and enemies there, Gorton and his friends negotiated
the Shawomet Purchase w ith the Narragansett sachems. Their enemies in neigh­
bouring Pawtuxet and local Indians protesting the Purchase sought the protec­
tion of Massachusetts, which used m ilitary force to capture the Gortonists, lightly
punishing some or binding them to servitude but putting Gorton and six others
in irons at hard labour. W hen their critical proselyting continued, Massachusetts
banished them and forbade them to return to Pawtuxet or Shawomet because it
claimed that territory.
In 1644 Roger W illiam s got a patent from the parliamentary commission on
colonial affairs composed o f Sir H enry Vane, Oliver Cromwell, the lord high
admiral the Earl o f W arwick, and others. W illiam s’s recent book on the defence
o f religious liberty and criticism o f religious persecutions in Massachusetts must
have helped to outweigh the influential B ay Colony s application for a grant o f the
Narragansett region. The patent that W illiam s came back with made one colony
o f Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and the territory o f the Gortonians.
W hen the Bay Colony produced a rival patent and it and Plymouth sent a
m ilitary force against the Narragansett Indians, Gorton and two o f his disciples
hastened to seek the protection o f England; Gorton stayed there a few years but
an associate brought back the necessary assurances to enable the permanent set­
tlement o f their lands at W arwick. Gorton returned and his following flourished
until his death, after which his people gradually drifted towards the Baptists or
the Quakers. Massachusetts made several attempts to make itself synonymous
with New England, as it had in taking over M aine and coveting Connecticut but
it was driven by a desire not only to absorb territory but also to do away with a
nest o f heresy and irreligion.
Strong centrifugal forces were at work: the rivalry o f the towns, even enmity
sometimes, their desire to be completely independent with no superior govern­
ment, and the strong views and personalities o f their leaders. T hey banded to­
gether, on again, off again, to overcome disorder and to stave off annexation by
Massachusetts and Connecticut. Roger W illiam s and others who wanted to pre­

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serve religious liberty and turn back possible chaos, negotiated with the towns­
men for three years. The freemen met in 1647 in a general assembly at Port­
smouth to approve a constitution and basic code of laws and plans for incorporat­
ing the towns. The colonial power would be limited largely to judicial functions,
and the president and the assistants from the four towns were to be merely mag­
istrates and, together, a Court o f Trials. W ithin two years the union had fallen
apart. The towns had their internal squabbles and also pitted themselves against
the colonial authority. Some o f the men o f Pawtuxet affiliated with Massachusetts
and brought old fears o f another attack from that quarter. Finally with the support
of Oliver Cromwell, a colonial government uniting the four towns was able to
make and enforce laws without threat from internal rival regimes. Massachusetts’
persecution o f Quakers, even those of Rhode Island, including the hanging of
M ary Dyer, one o f their own, taught Rhode Islanders to join together to protect
and be loyal to their land of religious liberty. Charles II confirmed their patent and
they made their way with difficulty until James II set up the vast Dominion of
New England with Boston as its capital and Sir Edmund Andros as governor.
Upon the accession of W illiam III and M ary II in 1688, the deputy governor of
Rhode Island, John Coggeshall Jr., sent them a petition professing its loyalty and
asking them to confirm its old charter, which was done.
One word more about Roger W illiam s, that o f Sir W inston Churchill in his
History o f the English-Speaking Peoples, (vol. 2, p. 136):

R oger Williams w as thefirst political thinker o f America, and his ideas influ­
enced not only his fe llo w colonists, but the revolutionary p a rty in England. In
m any w ays heforeshadow ed the p olitical conceptions o f John M ilton. He was
th efirst to p u t into practice the complete separation o f C hurchfrom lay g o v ­
ernment, and Rhode Island w as the only centre in the w orld a t that tim e
w here there w as complete religious toleration.

(Other References: Charles M . Andrews, The Colonial Period o f American His­

tory , 3 :1 —75; Edith Curtis, Anne Hutchison: A Biography ; Sydney V. Jam es, Colo­
nial Rhode Island: A History, Irving Berdine Richman, Rhode Island: Its M aking

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an d Its M eaning, 1636—83)

RHO DE ISLAN D A N C E ST O R S

Coggeshall, John1, 1601—47 (#780L) was one o f the founders o f the Island of
Aquidneck or Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay, along with W illiam Coddington,
John Clarke and W illiam Aspinwall. H e was baptized at Halstead in the English
County o f Essex, as the parish register shows: “1601 John Coggeshall son ofjohn
Coggeshall baptised 9 December”. In Halstead his grandfather, also called John8,
who is said to have been a London merchant, bought a fine estate, “Munchensies,”
and added greatly to the house in 1563. The same year he built an almshouse and
had inscribed on the architrave his name, the year and his arms —Argent, a cross
between four escallops sable —and the motto, “Truth by the Selfe”. He died on 1
January 1601 and left his houses, outbuildings, tenements, and lands to his son
JohnAthe Younger, by his second wife, Katherine.
This branch o f the family, M oriarty has traced back to JohnE Coggeshall of
Hundon {ca. 1430-1488) by researching walls, court rolls, ministers’ accounts and
calendars o f feudal arms and post mortem inquisitions. H e found that those of
Coggeshall, county Essex, “were an ancient and knightly house” and that after
the elder line ended early in the 15th century, some cadet lines attained a certain
importance in the Tudor period. The Coggeshalls o f Chilton and Hundon, county
Suffolk, became small freehold and copyhold tenants in the manors there. The
owner of “Munchensies”, John Coggeshall, gentleman, son o f a well-to-do cloth­
ier by the name o f W illiam 0, of W altham and then Halstead, served an appren­
ticeship o f more than eight years and became a freeman o f London 17 November
1543. This great grandson of the John who died in 1488 was the father ofjohn
the Younger.
JohnA the Younger married Anne Butter and they had three children, the eld­
est of whom, our John1, was baptized on 9 December 1601. A t the age of eight­
een while still a minor, John as heir o f John the Younger’s estate, brought an
action through his mother as his guardian against the heir o f John Sydaye, who
had lent £300 to John the Younger, who mortgaged certain properties to him,
and the parties now differed on the amount that had been repaid. We do not

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know the outcome o f the suit but it is interesting for the description which Anne
the wife gave o f her dead husband in the complaint: “being unthrifty in his estate
and not provident to preserve the same” and again: “a man both weak and im ­
provident and much neglecting the good o f himself, his wife, and children”.
Anne Butter Coggeshall must have been a strong woman. Her brother John,
yeoman, who seems to have died without issue, in his w ill proved in M ay o f 1626,
left his whole estate to his wife M argaret, after whose death the properties were
to be sold to satisfy many bequests that he made, including £20 to his sister Anne
and £40 to her son John. In New England in 1637 John bought goods from
Moyses Greenwood and gave his mother power o f attorney to receive the bequest
o f £40 now that M argaret Butter was dead and pay it to Greenwood, who was
back in England. Because a kinswoman o f M argaret was contesting the w ill, the
bequest could not be paid and John then informed his mother he had paid Green­
wood directly and asked her when she received the £40 “to pay the same unto
certain persons”. She, the defendant, denied that she had promised Greenwood,
the complainant, to pay him or that she had received any monies for that pur­
pose. A gain we do not know the outcome. In her w ill o f 16 April 1645 she gave
her son John her house and lands at Sibble Hedingham, “with this proviso, that
the said John Coggeshall shall no w ay molest my executors for the £40 received
by appointment from him, being a legacy given him by his uncle John Butter. But
if he shall molest my executors, then this devise shall be void and he shall have
only 20 s.” Evidently she had it up to here with that £40.
John Coggeshall, born at Castle Hedingham in Essex 9 December 1601, was a
merchant of silks and other fabrics. His wife was M ary Coggeshall (maiden name
unknown), ca. 1604-1684. After taking the oath of allegiance, he set sail with
thirty-two men accompanied by their wives and children, in the Lyon, Captain
Pierce, on 22 June 1632 and arrived at Boston 16 September. W ith John and
M ary were John Jr., about 8, Ann, 6, Mary, 4, and James, 2. A t Roxbury John and
M ary joined the church and he was admitted freeman on 6 November o f that
year. Joshua was born about 1632. T hey soon moved to Boston, where he and
M ary and their servant, Anne Shelley, were admitted on 20 August 1634 to the
First Church. In that momentous year he became a deacon of the church, was a

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selectman, an overseer of arms, powder and shot, and a deputy to the General
Court and was one of twelve men to lend the colony £5 for the sea fort. Mr. John
and Mrs. M ary had daughters Hananiel, W ait and Bedaiah in 1635, 1636 and
1637. A t the time o f the Hutchinson episode an election was held in the Bay
Colony in which the tolerant Sir H enry Vane was defeated for governor and
Coddington for magistrate. Boston elected Aspinwall, Coddington and Coggeshall
as deputies to the General Court but in a meeting of 12 November the Court
arbitrarily unseated them. For stating that Rev. John W heelwright was innocent
and was being persecuted for the truth, John Coggeshall was convicted o f dis­
turbing the public peace, lost the right to vote and bear arms, and was cautioned
not to say anything to break the peace, on pain o f being banished. Boston kept
him as a selectman till 19 February 1637-8. On 12 March he and ten others were
given “licence to depart” and if they did not, they would be summoned to answer
to the Court in three months’ time.
John Clarke proposed to some o f the other fifty-eight disfranchised church
members that they leave the Bay Colony. They sailed to Cape Cod and crossed by
land, thinking they might afterward sail to Delaware Bay or Long Island. A t
Narragansett they met w ith Roger W illiam s, who advised them to settle at
Aquidneck. They went back to Boston and prepared to leave early the next spring.
Thus they moved to the northern end of the island the Indians called Pocasset.
There at a place later called Portsmouth, John Coggeshall and eighteen others
signed a pact for a body politic:

T h e s e v e n t h d a y o f M a r c h , 1 6 3 8 , We, w h o s e n a m e s a r e u n d e r w r i t t e n , d o h e r e
s o le m n ly in t h e p r e s e n c e o f J e h o v a h , in c o r p o r a te o u r s e lv e s in t o a B o d ie P olitick ,
a n d a s h e s h a ll h elp , w i l l s u b m it o u r p e r s o n s , l i v e s a n d esta tes, u n t o o u r L o r d
J e s u s C h rist, t h e K i n g o f K i n g s a n d L o r d o f L ord s, a n d to a l l th o s e p e r f e c t a n d
m o s t a b s o lu te l a w s o f h is g i v e n u s in h is h o ly w o r d o f T ru th , to b e g u i d e d a n d
j u d g e d th e r e b y . — E x od. XXIV, 3, 4 ; 2 d C h r o n ., X I, 3 ; 2 d K in g s , X I, 1 7.

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W hen Coddington during his absence was put out o f his Judgeship at Port­
smouth by the minority party, Coggeshall resigned as Elder and went with him 28
April 1639 to found Newport, where the names of those offices were changed to
Governor and Assistant. There the largest share o f land but one fell to John
Coggeshall, nearly 400 acres. He was an Assistant from 1640 to 1644. He was
chosen moderator o f a general assembly o f the four towns that met 19 M ay 1647
to organize a government and draw up a body o f laws. T hey agreed to be gov­
erned by the laws o f England “so far as the nature and constitution of Rhode
Island would admit.” He was elected president of Rhode Island, an office he held
until his untimely death 27 November 1647 at the age o f forty-six. O f his chil­
dren, only John Jr., our ancestor, w ill be sketched here but mention is made of two
others: Joshua became a Quaker and made the mistake o f visiting Plymouth,
which put him in jail and sold his horse for £12; W ait married Daniel Gould, a
Quaker minister, who in 1659 was clapped into a Boston ja il and received thirty
lashes, but lived to the age of ninety. Mary, the widow o f John Coggeshall and the
mother of eight children, died at Newport on 8 November 1684.
Coggeshall, John2Jr., ca 1620-1708 (#390L) (John1), known as M ajor John o f
Newport, was born in Essex, England, about 1620. H is marriage to Elizabeth
Baulston 17 June 1647 ended in 1655 after nearly eight years and three children
in a mutually agreed divorce. T hat same year she married W illiam Gould and in
December John married Patience Throckmorton, daughter o f John Throckmorton
and Rebecca------- . Patience gave him nine children and died at the age o f thirty-
six on 7 September 1676. His third wife was M ary (Hedge) Sturgis, who had four
children by him. He inherited his father's farm and four years later sold 150 acres
o f it. He was general treasurer for Portsmouth and Newport 1653—54 and for
Providence and W arwick the next year. H e was a deputy to the Rhode Island
Assembly eight years, general treasurer nine years, an assistant governor ten years
and the deputy governor in 1686, 1689 and 1690. H e was on a committee to
obtain ships for the defence o f the colony and on another to take a census. He was
one o f the five delegates o f Rhode Island to the first council called by Governor
Edmond Andros. As deputy governor M ajor John sent a petition o f loyalty to the
new sovereigns, W illiam and Mary. M ajor John died on 1 October 1708, nearing

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ninety years, and his will, proved on 8 November, provided for his wife Mary,
divided his 510 acres, buildings and contents among his sons and mentioned four
daughters, one o f whom was Content. An odd item appears toward the end: “To
wife, Indian woman, Jane”.
Coggeshall, Content3, M rs SamuePNorton, 1676-1739 (#195L) (John2'1), the
youngest o f the nine children o f M ajor John and his second wife, Patience
Throckmorton, was born on 10 M ay 1676, just four months before her mother
died. She married Samuel Norton, o f Chilm ark, M artha’s Vineyard, became the
mother o f eight children, and died there on 1 August 1739 at the age of sixty-
three. Their daughter M ary Norton and her husband, Jonathan3 Locke, were the
parents of “Dr.” Jonathan4 Locke, who moved to Nova Scotia.
(References: Anderson, The Great M igration Begins, 1 ,405-409; John O. Aus­
tin, G enealogical D ictionary o f Rhode Island, p. 49; Charles P. 5c Thelw ell R.
Coggeshall, The Coggeshalls in America, 6-20; Frederick S. Fish, “Genealogical
Research in England: Coggeshall”, NEHGR, 7 3 :1 9 -3 2 ; G. Andrews Moriarty,
“The Coggeshalls o f H alstead and H undon : Ancestors o f President John
Coggeshall o f Rhode Island”, N EH G R, 99: 315-322 and 100:14-24)
Elizabeth Ryder, M rs Jonathan5Locke, cl7 6 2 —1844 (#25L) came from Rhode
Island, according to Lockes Genealogy (1916). In the family Bible her name is
given as Elizabeth: “Jonathan Locke married M iss Elizabeth Ryder Ano Domo6
December 18th 1780” and on the wooden tablet o f the old Locke burying ground,
she was shown as Elizabeth Ryder, dying in 1844 at the age o f 82. W here Arthur
H . Locke got “M ary E. Ryder o f Rhode Island” (pp. 43 and 86) is not docu­
mented. The “M iss” w ith the long initial s o f a double ss in the family Bible may
have been misread for M ary. H er gravestone, now gone, was probably the source
o f information about her age and year o f death and that Locke History is the
reference in Freemont Riders Genealogy and in the American Genealogical Bio­
graphical Index. She was therefore bom about 1762. No trace o f her in Rhode
Island has been found. T he birth o f an Elizabeth Ryder about this time appears
in the Vital Records o f R hode Island. Joseph Ryder and Barbara W illiam s, o f
Middletown, Newport County, had a daughter Elizabeth 26 January 1762 and a
second Elizabeth 12 January 1764. Joseph and Barbara had been married there

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26 November 1741 by Rev. Nicholas Eyres. Before the birth of the two Elizabeths
they had Gideon 8 August 1742, M ary 25 February 1743Joseph 24 January 1745-
6, M ary 16 January 1749-50, Rowland 8 February 1756, Barbara 27 April 1758
and W illiam 2 September 1759. Those Vital Records show that Barbara Ryder (a
reputed descendant of Roger W illiam s, according to Freemont Rider) died at
M iddletown 21 March 1814 at age 94. Did Elizabeth Ryder come to Nova Scotia
with her brother Joseph, and was he the Loyalist grantee of that name in the
Barrington area? She can hardly have done so, for she married Jonathan Locke in
1780, presumably at Ragged Islands, and she was probably there a year or more
before that. M ost likely this is another false trail and Elizabeth’s parents came
from Plymouth Massachusetts. Undocumented statements of origin in genea­
logical w riting cause later family historians a frustrating waste of time.
(References: James H. Arnold, Vital Records o f Rhode Island 1836— 1850, vol. 4:
Newport County; A rthur H. Locke, A History an d Genealogy o f Captain John
Locke o f Portsmouth and Rye, N.H.
Throckmorton, John1, 1601-87 (#782L): Moriarty says th atj. Gardner Bartlett
investigated for him in England the ancestry of John Throckmorton, o f Provi­
dence, Rhode Island. M oriarty gave the data to Lt. Col. Throckmorton for his
Throckmorton Genealogy, which focused especially on the Virginia branch. M oriarty
wrote an article in the R egister on this subject because the late Colonel had not
presented forcefully enough the strong evidence about the parentage o f John
Throckmorton. After careful search and analysis, M oriarty concluded that John
was baptized 9 M ay 1601 at St. Paul’s Norwich in die County o f Norfolk, die son
o f BassingburnAThrockmorton, Esq., a well-off grocer and alderman, and M ary
H ill, his wife. In 1620 when John was nineteen he agreed Math Alderman Robert
Debney, his stepmother’s kinsman, to become a scrivener’s apprentice for seven
years. Ten years later he left for New England.
A fter exam ining the possibilities, M oriarty sums up thus: “John, son o f
Bassingburn, the Norwich grocer, and John of New England belonged to exacdy
the same class [o f merchants and small gentry] and they were o f corresponding
ages. John o f Norwich had some knowledge o f the law and so did John o f Provi­
dence. In 1638 and 1640, John o f Norwich had been absent from England for

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some years [as indicated by his fathers w ill], and at this time John o f Providence
had been some time in New England. Lastly, John of Providence, or his wife, was
related to an East Anglian man, Edward Colville of Bradwell in Essex, and John
of Norwich came from not far away. There can be little doubt that the two men
are identical.” (“The Ancestry of John Throckmorton o f Providence”, NEHGR,
98: 69)
The earliest member of that ancient family mentioned in records is Gervase de
Throcmortune, born around 1080, a tenant of the Bishop o f Worcester. After a
time they leased the manor in the village o f Throckmorton, from which the fam­
ily gained its surname, and obtained other land. ThomasH de Throckmorton, ca
1355-1412, belonged to the retinue of the Earl ofW arwick, became the constable
of Elmley castle and married Agnes, daughter and heir o f Sir Alexander Beaford.
The first Throckmorton to be knighted was their son JohnG, born about 1380,
who became under-treasurer of England, married in the year 1409 Eleanor, daugh­
ter and heir of Sir Guy de Spiney, whose sumptuous home was Coughton Court.
Their eldest son, SirThom asF, born in 1412, married M argaret, the daughter and
heir of Sir Robert Olney, of Weston, Bucks. She brought w ith her the estates o f
Birdingbury and Filongley, which had come by entail from the Earl o f Hastings to
W illiam Beauchamp, who granted it to her grandfather John for good and faithful
service. T heir son Sir Robert died in Italy on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His
heir, Sir George, held a position in the royal household o f H enry VIII and another
son, M ichael, the steward o f Cardinal Pole, the king s Yorkist cousin, lived in exile
with Pole after the cardinal wrote a Latin treatise opposing the divorce and remar­
riage and inciting the English people to depose their king. After talking w ith Sir
Thomas More and Bishop Fisher, who encouraged him, and Thomas Cromwell,
who warned him not to meddle, Sir George argued w ith King H enry about his
conduct and saved his head only by admitting his error and asking pardon. As a
result Sir George received properties o f a monastery that the king had dissolved.
Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, 1515-1571, the second son o f Sir George but a
zealous Protestant, was a relative and member o f the household o f the learned,
religious Katherine Parr, who as the last wife o f the Catholic Henry VIII quietly
confirmed the Protestant outlook o f her stepchildren Edward and Elizabeth. In­

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deed, die Protestant tendencies o f the queen’s circle influenced his nearest broth­
ers, Clement, Kellam and George, Jr., so that only the eldest, Robert, and the
youngest, John, remained Catholic. Job, a son o f Clement, became a Puritan leader
in Elizabeths time.
Nicholas became a favourite o f the boy-king, Edward VI, and was knighted by
him. A t first Sir N icholas supported Edward Seymour, Duke o f Somerset, Edward’s
uncle and guardian as the Lord Protector o f the realm, who sympathized w ith the
yeomen and peasants who were losing the common lands to the landlords.
Throckmorton went over to “the Lords o f London”, the party o f John Dudley,
Earl ofW arwick, who took over the government after using German mercenaries
to put down a peasants’ rebellion in Norfolk and the M idlands. Sir Nicholas stayed
out o f danger when W arwick, now the Duke o f Northumberland, supported Lady
Jane Grey in her nine-day reign but he was tried for high treason in the revolt by
Protestant and Catholics led by Sir Thomas W yatt to protest Queen M ary the
First’s intended marriage with Philip o f Spain. H e was saved because Henry VIII s
broad law on treason had just been repealed and the old statute of Edward III did
not apply in this case. Although he was found not guilty by the London jury
despite the judge’s strong summing-up against him, he remained a year altogether
in the Tower till 18 January, 1555. As Sir W alter Ralegh wrote in his preface to his
History o f the World, “the course and quality o f men s lives serving in Court is o f all
other the most uncertain and dangerous.”
As Queen Elizabeth’s ambassador to France, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton in­
volved himself in the Huguenots’ struggle for religious liberty and admired the
young M ary o f Scots, then Queen o f France. In 1565 he went as envoy to Scot­
land to persuade M ary not to marry—against the wishes o f Queen Elizabeth and
also o f her eldest half-brother, the Earl o f Moray, and o f many Scots—die man
who had captivated her, H enry Stuart, Lord Damley, a great-grandson o f Henry
VII. Two years later Sir Nicholas tried fhiitlessly to prevent M arys forced abdi­
cation by the Scottish lords and then to obtain her release from imprisonment by
them. H is judgment impaired by illness and by his jealousy o f Cecil, S ir Nicholas
became involved more or less in an intrigue within Queen Elizabeth’s inner circle
to marry M ary o f Scots to the Duke o f Norfolk for two purposes: to curtail

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C ecils power with Elizabeth and to settle the prolonged uncertainty about the
succession. W hen examined, he said he had “not moved the marriage” but had
conferred about it. H e was released after a little time from the Tower and in
February, 1571, attended by the queen’s physicians, died at the Earl o f Leicester’s
house at the age o f fifty-six, remembered as an able, energetic servant o f the queen,
whom he sometimes annoyed by his unsolicited advice, unlike the cool, prudent,
more devious Sir W illiam Cecil, Lord Burghley.
The beautiful Elizabeth Throckmorton, a daughter o f Sir Nicholas, came to
court as a maid-of-honour o f the queen in 1584. In the early 1590’s she and Sir
W alter Ralegh fell in love. The lovers, she twenty-five and he thirty-seven, knew
from the recent downfall o f the Earl o f Essex, the great risk o f offending the
queen, who fiercely guarded the virtue o f her ladies and was jealous o f her courtiers.
W hen Bess Throckmorton became pregnant they married secretly but when their
baby was born the secret was out. Her courtier brother Sir Arthur recounts the
events in his journal, which A . L. Rowse has called “the fullest Elizabethan di­
ary”. The queen was angry, especially because at her gentle invitation the couple
would not acknowledge to her any fault. Elizabeth sent them to the Tower on 8
August 1592 but freed Sir W alter after five weeks to save her share o f the M adre de
Dios treasure but kept his wife locked up until just before Christmas. Sir Walter’s
biographer Robert Lacey writes o f Bess Throckmorton: “She was to prove herself
a wife who stood steadfastly by her husband and a mother who fought fiercely for
her children, and her grit was in evidence from the first.” (p. 148)
John Throckmorton, o f Claxton, a member o f the cadet branch in Suffolk and
a grandson o f Sir Robert o f Coughton, was attainted for treason and executed for
his part in the Rising o f the Northern Earls. Francis, a nephew o f Sir Nicholas,
toured Europe from 1580 to 1583 to discuss co-operative measures between Eng­
lish and French Catholics. W h en he came back to England he was charged with
carrying letters to and from the imprisoned M ary o f Scots. In his house were
found documents which included a list o f English Catholics ready to join in the
Throckmorton Plot to place M ary on the English throne and restore the papacy.

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Mary, her cousin, Henri due de Guise, and Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish
ambassador to the Elizabethan court, were allegedly involved. Tortured on the
rack, Francis Throckmorton made a full confession implicating Mary, retracted
it, but was found guilty and executed. M endoza was expelled.
The history o f the main branch o f the fam ily centres in Coughton Court,
where this family has lived for nearly six hundred years and now manages as a
National Trust property but, now without male issue, is owned by a daughter.
Except for the middle sons o f the pious Sir George and his wife Catherine, daugh­
ter o f Lord Vaux, the family was mostly Catholic and intermarried with other
Catholic families. Two o f their treasures are a cape said to have been embroidered
by H enry the Eighth’s first wife, Katherine o f Aragon, and the gown worn by
M ary, Queen o f Scots at her beheading. The house is also connected with the
Gunpowder Plot o f 1605: Nicholas Owen, who designed the priests hole and
other hiding places at Coughton Court, was arrested there and taken to the Tower
o f London. Four o f Sir George and C atherines grandsons and the wife o f a fifth
were among the conspirators.
A cadet branch in Suffolk and Norfolk was founded by JohnD, the second son
o f Sir ThomasEThrockmorton and Catherine Olney. He left Coughton Court,
settled in South Elmham, Suffolk, and married Jane Baynard. In his will of 1507,
proved in 1510, he left all his lands, tenements and goods in Suffolk and Norfolk
to her for the education of their sons and the marriage of their daughters. Jane
made her w ill in 1539. Our John o f Providence was their great-great-grandson.
Jane Baynard and John Throckmorton had two sons: Francis, of South Elmham,
whose son John, of Claxton, was sentenced to death for treason in 1571 as men­
tioned above; and Simon0, 1493-1527, o f Earsham, county Norfolk, whose wife
Anne Lowth gave birth to LionelA Throckmorton in 1525 at South Elmham.
Lionel’s second wife was Elizabeth Blennerhassett.
In a final note M oriarty—whom Gary Boyd Roberts describes as “probably the
greatest [American] antiquary o f this century”—states that as much as possible he
had compiled the ancestry of John Throckmorton along all lines and had written
an article on the subject in the M iscellaneous Genealogy and Heraldry , London,
1927. That ancestry comprises some o f the great baronial houses of the middle

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ages such as Beaford and Colville, and Tudor houses such as Blennerhassett and
Cornwallis. Rebecca Throckmorton may have been a Colville, related to Edward
Colville, gentleman, o f Bradwell, Essex, who in 1679 bequeathed six pounds to
her son John, o f Middletown, New Jersey.
Our John Throckmorton’s mother, Elizabeth Blennerhassett, was a granddaugh­
ter o f Sir John Cornwallis, who was an ancestor o f Lord Charles Cornwallis.
Lord Charles sent massed troops in open battle against American sharpshooters
firing from behind trees and stone walls and later, disobeying the orders o f Gen­
eral Sir H enry Clinton, worked his arm y into a comer at Yorktown, Virginia,
where it was cut off by Washington’s army and the forces o f the Comte de
Rochambeau and o f the Marquis de Layfayette and was blockaded by Admiral de
Grasse’s ships and marines. Lord Charles, however, later served ably in India. Sir
John’s grandfather Thomas Cornwallis married Phillipa Tyrrell, o f a family with
distinguished French roots. Gary Boyd Roberts, director o f special research projects
at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, includes John Throckmorton
in his recently published book The Royal Descents o f 500 Im m igrants to the Ameri­
can Colonies or the United States. Using M oriarty s voluminous but orderly manu­
scripts, which are in the archives there, and much other documentation, Roberts
traces John Throckmorton back to Edward 1. O nly a researcher w ith a great deal
of time m ight be able to recheck the work o f the late eminent genealogists, Mr.
Gardner and Mr. Moriarty, on the family connections o f John Throckmorton.
In reviewing Mr. Roberts’ book in the Register of)\Ay 1994, Charles M . Hansen,
F.A.S.G., concludes, although he makes an extreme comparison with the Inter­
national Genealogical Index, which, in part, consists o f unverified and undocu­
mented items sent in by individuals:

The author is to be com m ended f o r making available to the genealogical pub­

lic his vast bibliographic knowledge o f this subject. His work should be con­
sulted as an early step in any research attem pting to p ro v e a royal lineage f o r

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 RHODE ISLAND

a colonial immigrant. However, the lineages in this book should be treated in

the same m anner as entries in the International Genealogical Index (IGI),
that is, a go o d jbundation on which to conduct fu rth er study but not as a
definitive source.

W h at do we know o f John Throckmorton’s life in the New W orld? He left

Bristol on 1 December 1630 in the Lion —Rev. Roger W illiam s and his wife were
passengers—and arrived at Nantasket on 5 M arch 1630-1. He spent the first
years at Salem, where in 1636 he acted as arbitrator in a case and where he was a
ship owner and merchant w ith a landing stage at what was once called Tagmutton
Cove (a jolly corruption o f his name), in Marblehead. One o f Roger W illiam s’
associates in the founding o f Rhode Island, he witnessed the deed by which the
sachems o f the Narragansett tribe transferred Prudence Island to Roger W illiam s.
In 1638 he had a share in the meadows at Providence and Pautuxet and the
following April he went to live on Prudence Island on the share o f land Roger
W illiam s deeded to him. On 1 July 1639 he and his wife Rebecca were censured
by the Salem Church. The following year on 27 Ju ly he signed the Providence
Combination. In 1642 he went with the Hutchinson and Cornell families to
settle at the Bronx on the Long Island shore o f New Netherland. W hen hostile
Indians broke up the settlement and murdered many o f the Hutchinson house­
hold, he returned to Providence and was granted a house. Except for a short time
at W arwick, where in 1651 he was admitted a townsman, he spent die rest o f his
life at Providence. M ost o f his children setried at M iddletown, New Jersey, and
there he was granted land. The records describe him as a “gentleman”, an owner
o f vessels engaged in the coastal trade between New Netherland and Virginia. In
later life he became an ardent Quaker and quarrelled w ith his friend Roger
W illiam s. H e died in 1687 at the age o f eighty-six while on a visit to his son at
M iddletown, New Jersey. John and Rebecca had six children:
1 Freegift, born about 1635, who died without issue in Jamaica in 1669;
2 Patience, born about 1640, second w ife o f D eputy G overnor John
Coggeshall;

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3 John, Jr., abt. 1642-1690, M iddletown, NJ, married Alice Stout 12 Dec.
1670;
4 Deliverance, born about 1645, married Rev. James Ashton, Assembly deputy;
5 Job, 30 Sept 1650-20 A ug 1709, M iddletown, married Sarah Leonard;
6 Joseph, b. abt 1652, mariner, shipowner, Middletown, died without issue
1690
Throckmorton, Patience2, M rs John2Coggeshall, 1640-76 (#391L) (John) was
bom about 1640 at Providence, Rhode Island, to John and Rebecca Throckmorton.
She became the second w ife o f M ajor John Coggeshall Jr. at Providence in De­
cember o f 1655 when she was about fifteen years o f age and he was thirty-five.
The mother o f nine children, one o f whom died in infancy, she died at Newport
on 7 September 1676 at the age o f about thirty-six and was buried in the Coggeshall
cemetery.
(References: Charles P. and Thelwell R. Coggeshall, The Coggeshal/s in America,
p. 12; Colonial Families o f the United States, 523—526; H . Arthur Doubleday, ed.,
The Victoria History o f the Counties o f England: A History o f Warwickshire, vol. I, pp.
356-358; Sir W illiam Dugdale, TheAntiquities o f Warwickshire Illustrated, Antonia
Fraser, Mary Queen o f Scots', Robert Lacey, Sir Walter Ralegh, G. Andrews Moriarty,
“The Ancestry o f John Throckmorton o f Providence,” NEHGR, 98: 67-72 and
111-123; Moriarty, “The Early Tyrrels o f Heron in East Herndon” and “The Early
Generations of Cornwallis ofBrom e”; Gary Boyd Roberts, The R oyal Descents o f
500 Immigrants, 236-237; A. L. Rowse, Ralegh and the Throckmortons)

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MIGRATION

Thomas Chandler Haliburton, who not only created Sam Slick in The Clockmaker
but also wrote an early history o f Nova Scotia, commented on Governor Charles
Lawrence’s removal of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755: “Upon an impar­
tial review of the transactions of the period, it must be admitted that the transpor­
tation o f the Acadians to distant colonies w ith all the marks o f ignominy and guilt
peculiar to convicts was cruel.” T hat enforced exile tore a people away from the
homes they had built and the lands they had cleared or dyked and planted with
orchards and gardens over a hundred and fifty years. It ripped away family and
community. It changed, too, the lives o f many New Englanders who came to live
on those emptied lands.
Lawrence convinced the home government that disbanded soldiers were less
suited to form new communities there than prospective settlers who were more
used to the geography, climate and means o f living o f that part o f the world, namely
loyal American subjects o f the king. T he capture o f Louisbourg, the French threat
in the Atlantic, was a relief to New England and the establishment o f representa­
tive government “neutralized somewhat in Massachusetts the image o f a Nova
Scotia controlled by an Anglophile military-commercial elite” (Rawlyk, p. 218).
Late in that same year, 1758, Lawrence invited proposals from New Englanders
for the settling o f rich farmland along w ith much well-timbered woodland, all
attractively described. The provincial agent at Boston got many inquiries. Law­
rence and his Council issued a second proclamation offering land in townships of

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about 100,000 acres or twelve square miles. A grant would be prorated on the
ability of the grantee to settle, enclose and cultivate but was not to exceed 1,000
acres. To begin w ith, a family head would get 100 acres of wild-wood for himself
or herself and 50 acres for each other family member and after proper develop­
ment over three ten-year periods would get an equal additional grant. After ten
years a yearly quit rent would be paid o f one shilling for every fifty acres. The
posters assured potential immigrants that they would feel at home in Nova Scotia,
which was claimed to have local and provincial governments and courts o f justice
like those o f New England. They also promised full religious freedom for all ex­
cept “Papists” and no taxes on Dissenters to support the Church o f England, and
m ilitary protection from Indian raids.
Interested people o f Connecticut and Rhode Island sent agents in 1759 “to spy
out the land o f Canaan”. They saw the M inas Basin area “in the full splendour o f
a glorious M ay through their disbelieving eyes”, (quoted by Rawlyk, p. 220) The
agents brought back word that as soon as a township had fifty families it would
send two representatives to the Provincial Assembly. Hundreds would have come
in late summer but for news o f Indian depredations and o f dyked lands damaged
by a hurricane. Next year the immigration began with the arrival o f six vessels
from Boston w ith 200 settlers and four schooners from Connecticut w ith 100,
and more ships from New London and Plymouth with 280. The government o f
Nova Scotia arranged for transport to help bring those settlers coming at govern­
ment expense. The first settlers came in M ay of 1760 to Liverpool and five places
in the Annapolis Valley and in the same year to Chester and New Dublin. In
December o f that year Governor Jonathan Belcher—Charles Lawrence having
died—reported to the Lords of Trade that Horton, Cornwallis and Falmouth were
well established and the breached dykes repaired. The settlers of Liverpool town­
ship were building three fishing vessels, had raised root crops and laid in cattle
fodder for winter and with fifteen fishing schooners had caught 500 quintals, each
of 100 pounds. T hirty proprietors were settled in each of the townships o f Granville
and Annapolis. The next year New Englanders came to Onslow, Truro, Barrington
and Yarmouth.

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WESTERN NOVA SCOTIA

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M ost o f the farmers who settled in the Isthmus o f Chignecto, around Cobequid
Bay, on the south shore o f M inas Basin and around Annapolis Royal were from
certain sections o f Connecticut and Rhode Island but most o f the settlers in west­
ern Nova Scotia were from Cape Cod, Nantucket and coastal Massachusetts. To
Barrington came Joshua and M ary Atwood; Jonathan, Judah and Samuel Crowell
and their families; Benjamin, Ebenezer, Eliphalet, Simeon, Solomon and Zaccheus
Gardner and their households; Abner, Eldad, Gideon, Joshua, Prince, Richard,
Stephen and Thomas Nickerson and their wives and children; Archelaus, David,
Elkanah, Jeremiah, Jonathan and Solomon Smith and their households. Indeed
among the first Cape Cod men to settle there were Thomas Crowell and Archelaus,
Jonathan and Solomon Smith, who had often visited the many coves on their way
north to the Banks and on the voyage home. They decided in 1761 to stay there
instead o f sailing back and forth to the Cape and they built cabins at Barrington
and sent for their families, who arrived soon in the fishing schooner o f Captain
Eldad Nickerson, who stayed also and became a w ell-off trader. Edmund Doane
shortened the timbers o f his Cape Cod home, loaded them, his furniture and
cattle on his vessel and arrived in Barrington with his family, having lost most o f
his cattle from storms and exposure. In 1762 more came from the Cape and from
Nantucket.
In 1758 and 1759 Cape Cod fishermen by the names o f Coffin, Collins, Dexter,
Eldridge, Freeman, Godfrey, Hopkins, Knowles and Nickerson had built houses
at Port Senior. Soon after Lawrence’s proclamation John and Samuel Doggett,
Elisha Freeman and Thomas Foster applied to have a township set off, visited
Halifax, and got the grant of Liverpool Township on behalf o f many others. To
Liverpool came the considerable family o f Lemuel Churchill from Plymouth;
Jonathan Crowell and his wife, Anna Collins, and their children; “Dr.” Jonathan
Locke, listed as a Liverpool proprietor, and his wife, A bigail Perry, and their three
boys; six or eight Godfrey families; some more Nickersons and the Stephen Smiths.
Other New England names like Cobb, Harlow, Paine, Gorham, Snow, Bangs,

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Arnold, Barss, Allaine, Morton, Annis and Cole resounded through the South
Shore. Some o f those surnames were listed in the source manuscripts as emigrat­
ing to Nova Scotia without the locality being named. Some came in whale boats
and some in their own schooners.
The winter o f 1760 was a hard one. Squire John Doggett kept open house for
the young jobless men. Mehitable Eldridge (Mrs. Stephen Smith) and Anna Collins
(M rs. Jonathan Crowell) had young fellows sleeping on their kitchen floors as
insurance against Indians. On the night o f 15 March 1761 Indians wedged the
rudder and cut the cable o f a schooner crewed by Joseph Godfrey, Elkanah
W aterm an,John Young,Joshua Harding, all married with children, and two boys,
Elisha and John Dexter, and killed them when they drifted ashore. In 1761 there
was a rush o f immigrants from New England to Liverpool. C aptain Eldad
Nickerson with his two schooners, Sally and Roxbury, sailed a packet between
Chatham and Liverpool and called into Barrington on the way. The winter of
1761-62 caused much suffering and perhaps three deaths on account o f the great
scarcity of food.
By the end o f 1763 the immigration slowed down after about 4,500 New
Englanders had come to Nova Scotia and by the middle o f the decade it had
pretty w ell stopped with a recession in Nova Scotia and the opening up o f areas o f
Vermont and New Hampshire and especially M aine, where Indian attacks urged
by the French on English settlers came to an end w ith the Treaty o f Paris. In 1763
Nova Scotia was no longer a m ilitary outpost but a colony o f about 8,000 people,
and two-thirds o f those were o f New England origin. Even in 1775, after consid­
erable immigration from the British Isles, about h alf o f the population o f Nova
Scotia o f 20,000 was o f New England origin, according to the late Dr. Bruce
Fergusson:

Yet, concentrated as they w ere in the w estern parts o fth e peninsula an d a t the
seat o f govern m en t in Halifax they not only made w estern peninsular Nova
Scotia virtually a n ew N ew E ngland but , outnumbering the other British-
born people o f Nova Scotia proper by a t least tw o to one, they exercised a
marked influence upon the character and institutions o f Nova Scotia, (p. 20)

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Apart from land grants, why did these people leave the fairly secure, well-estab­
lished communities of New England to become uprooted settlers in what they
might have thought o f as the backwaters o f Nova Scotia?
• The Massachusetts fishermen who settled at Barrington, Chester, Liver­
pool and Yarmouth wanted to be four hundred miles nearer to the Grand
Banks. M any had been visiting the numerous harbours o f Nova Scotia’s South
Shore for decades.
• They may also have wanted change and new fishing stations after years of
hardship: French privateers had captured whalers and fishing schooners of
Cape Cod and Nantucket, and British naval ships had pressed fishermen
into service.
• In 1759 tension existed between the landowners and the tenants of the south­
eastern comer o f New England over the right to common lands and the
high prices the owners were charging for farm land.
• Some were thus expressing their revolt against privilege and hoping for a
greater equality and freedom in a new land.
■ Not a few were induced by the religious climate in New England to leave its
shores. Their families had been part o f the Great Awakening which created
schism, the Separate or Strict Congregationalist Churches, and also a back­
lash o f discrimination against the followers o f the New Light. From a posi­
tive point o f view, those religious emigrants felt called to plant themselves in
this infant colony for the purpose o f establishing true Christianity.
The story o f the relations between the South Shore o f Nova Scotia and the
Thirteen Colonies leading up to and during the American W ar o f Independence
is complicated. M any o f the New Englanders who came here were fishermen who
settled on small islands and in remote coastal areas. For instance, “Dr.” Jonathan
Locke and Joshua Crowell came as grantees to Liverpool but by 1764 had moved
to establish a hamlet that was known variously as Port M ills, Ragged Islands or
Locke’s Island. The people o f those isolated settlements had little connection with
other regions o f Nova Scotia and developed little loyalty to their new homeland.
Their emotional ties were with their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters,
children even, aunts and uncles and cousins back home in Nantucket, Cape Cod

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or Plymouth. As the temperature o f political dissent rose in the Thirteen Colo­

nies, sparked first in Massachusetts, where the smouldering embers o f independ­
ence were brought ashore with the first settlers o f the Bay Colony in 1630, the
government in Halifax became nervous. First, in 1769, it forbade the various town
councils to hold meetings and then, fearing that the American forces might attack
Halifax, it ordered the settlements in 1775 to send a part of their local militias to
protect the capital because all the troops had been dispatched to the revolted colo­
nies. In both cases the government did not have the means to enforce its decrees
and the townships and settlements continued to hold council meetings and to
withhold their m ilitia. Shortly after the outbreak o f the war, the British forces
under General Howe evacuated Boston and, along with 1,500 Loyalists, arrived in
Halifax in 150 transports within three early spring days.
The people o f Nova Scotia favoured neutrality for various reasons, not the least
o f which was their need to trade with both Britain and the Thirteen Colonies to
maintain their economy and keep their homes provisioned. The revolutionary
government sent an inviting address to the Assembly o f Nova Scotia but it never
got beyond the governor and council. The Americans came to realize that Nova
Scotia would remain aloof but that the nearest parts o f it could send much needed
goods and other forms o f support. In the early part o f the war the Americans
tended to exempt the South Shore from privateer raids although as early as 1776
the people o f Barrington lost several schooners and their cargoes o f fish to the
American pirates and on 19 October 1776 petitioned the Congress o f Massachu­
setts about it. Twenty-nine men signed it, including Isaac King Sr. and Jr., Elkanah
Smith, David Crowell and Tim othy Covell. Massachusetts privateers were not
only keeping them from fishing but also saying that Am erica would commission
the Indians to kill, bum and destroy them. T hey asked that their agent, Heman
Kenney, be allowed to unload their hired schooner H op[illegible] at Salem or
Newbury and buy “provisions for the Support o f us the Subscribers which are
Intirely Destitute o f any for the Support o f them or their Children and it is Im­
possible to get any elsewhere.”

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We look on ourselves as Unhappyly situated as any People in the world, being

Settlelersfrom the Massachusetts bay f o r whose w elfa re w e Earnestly pray

In the above vessell are Three Families w ith their effects which have left
this p la ce a n d gon e to the places in you r province w here they form erly came
from . A nd w e the Subscribers don’t see but that w e m ustfollow them f o r w e
don’t think w e can L ive Q uietly here f o r our Imployment is such fo r the Sup­
p o rt o f our fa m ilies to Vizi F ishing as you look upon as a D isservice to the
grea t cause you are Imbarked in .....

In the m argin was written: “N.B. W e hope and desire you w ill not give this a
place in your News papers, tho you should think it worthy!,] which may be o f
damage to us i f we should remain at this place.” The House o f Representatives on
16 November 1776 granted permission to Heman Kenney to buy and export “250
bushels o f corn 30 barrels o f pork 2 hogsheads o f molasses 2 do o f rum 200 lbs o f
coffee”, the following whereas preceding the resolution:

Whereas it appears to this Court that the w ithin petitioners inhabitants o f

Barrington in N ova Scotia have p roved them selvesfirm fiends o f the united
States o f America; an d on that account are determ ined as soon as may be to
transport them selves & their fa m ilies f o m that p rovin ce to this state in
order to g e t out o f the reach o f British tyranny. And it bein g represented
that the said inhabitants ofB a rrin n gton fom a determ ined refusal o f trade
w ith the enem ies o f America h ave exposed them selves to grea t hardships
thro' w a n t o f suchprovisions as are necessary to support them until they be
rem oved; therefore....

The people o f Ragged Islands realized that the Nova Scotia government could
not shield them. Not only close blood ties but the need to buy American protec­
tion led the people o f Ragged Islands to allow the privateers to use their port as a
base for their raids and for unloading plunder. The Halifax jails and prison ships
could not hold the many American prisoners o f war and the authorities gave them

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parole and were lax in its enforcement. The escapees made their way westward
along the shore and ended up with shipwrecked privateers in the homes and around
the dinner tables of the Nova Scotian New Englanders, who could not feed them
long. Using the escaped prisoners as a passport through privateer lines, several
Ragged-Island captains conveyed them and contraband goods to New England
and brought back much needed provisions. Some mariners o f Barrington, Yar­
mouth and other places used the trick of petitioning the Massachusetts Congress
for leave to return with their families and effects and then used the issued pass that
directed the captains of the warships and privateers o f the state to let them pro­
ceed on their voyage without interference or molestation. Halifax knew what was
going on but could do nothing about it. Settlements like Ragged Islands pros­
pered. The only Atlantic port in Nova Scotia that could protect itself from these
depredations was Halifax, where an armed ship, the Loyal Nova Scotian , and sev­
eral small vessels cruised off the harbour mouth. Seeing the wealth that had been
accumulated at Ragged Islands, the American privateers in 1779 bit the hands
that helped them. They began a number o f raids against the coastal communities
round about. W illiam Porterfield, John Matthews, Thomas Hayden and Jonathan
Locke sent a petition on 25 September 1779 to the Massachusetts Council com­
plaining that the crews o f three whalers captained by Charles Jenks, Samuel Briggs
and Gideon Hogsie had robbed their homes and stolen a ship. Fruitlessly asking
compensation, the petitioners expressed surprise because the people o f Ragged
Islands “having done so much for Am erica... helped three or four hundred Pris­
oners up along to America and Given part o f our Living to them, and have Con­
cealed Privateers and prizes too from the British cruisers, in this Harbor.”
One early morning the following year when the men were at sea fishing, trying
to recoup their lost capital, the women of Ragged Islands saw a privateer ship at
the port’s mouth. They gathered quickly at Cranberry Head, where now molds an
ancient cemetery, with red petticoats and hats.They draped the petticoats over the
branches in the undergrowth and put the hats on top so as to look in the distance
like a squad o f British soldiers. W hen the privateers landed some way off, the
women hid and brandished pitchforks and one lone musket and beat on wash tubs
to sound like drums. The privateers decided in favour of discretion.

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To sum up, until 1782 the Massachusetts government prohibited, but did not
enforce, such robbery of Nova Scotian homes. One o f the reasons for that ban was
to keep communication open with the South Shore, for during the early years of
the war, vessels from Barrington and Yarmouth and Ragged Islands brought m ili­
tary intelligence, shipwrecked privateers, escaped prisoners, dried cod, fish oil, salt
and lumber. Yarmouth was especially engaged in returning escaped prisoners and
in trading with New England rebels. After 1 August 1782, in a back-handed way,
the General Court allowed privateers to plunder on Nova Scotian shores by sim­
ply forbidding them from doing so in Yarmouth. C ertainly by then privateering
had fallen off because most o f the well-off homes had already been plundered. But
through it all, the New Englanders in Nova Scotia had a strong feeling o f kinship
with the people back home. They would have agreed w ith Simeon Perkins, who
wrote in his Journal: “W e hope for a Peace with ourselves, which God o f his mercy
Grant, that our N ation may no longer Ly under the awful Judgment o f Devouring
one an Other.”

RELIGIOUS AND SO CIAL

An intense religious revival captured the hearts and minds o f many new Nova
Scotians from New England. The Great Awakening, according to Rawlyk, was
not just an emotional religious experience but a highly significant social move­
ment that gave diem a sense o f identity, a basic reorientation o f values. The char­
ismatic H enry Alline o f the New Light movement believed he had an “omnicient
eye” to read the “map o f the Disordered world”. Bom in Newport, Rhode Island,
he came to Falmouth, in Hants County near W indsor, at the age o f twelve with
his parents. In 1775 at the age o f twenty-six this uneducated but not illiterate
farmer, for he read the Bible and religious books, found grace and began to preach
in his own and the neighbouring townships, finally being ordained in 1779. Like
his fellow evangelicals o f that movement, he was more interested in saving others
than in founding or adhering to a church and like them but unlike many o f today’s

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preachers o f radio and television, he underwent personal hardships and asked lit­
tle money from his adherents. His earnest belief and passionate eloquence af­
fected many in meetings through the country. H e wrote and published sermons,
nearly five hundred hymns and his Life and Journal.
Henry Alline believed that the Yankee townships of Nova Scotia were “CIT­
IES ON H ILL S”, whereas Massachusetts had become as corrupt as Britain and
that its people were agents of the Antichrist, for they had involved themselves in
a sinful war. Stricken with tuberculosis and realizing he had not long to live, he
began in August of 1783 a journey to Boston, where he had relatives, preaching on
the way, according to his strength, but died 2 February 1784 at North Hampton in
New Hampshire. His name is well remembered by the Baptists o f the province.
He gave many people on the South Shore, and certainly at Ragged Islands, a firm
religious base to their lives and reinforced in them the old Puritan values of self-
abnegation, hard work and frugality. But not a church structure. Brebner com­
ments that “Alline’s brief preaching career was within Congregationalism but not
o f it”.

...a n intensely individual seeker after God,... w hile he n ever tired ofdidac­
tic doctrinal debate w ith the clergy an d church members w hose spiritual lives
he so sorely disturbed, it w ould be difficult to define his creed absolutely... He
toured all the settlements o f Nova Scotia and shattered their congregations,
lea vin g his converts w ith consum ing m oral:z eal but w ithout an orderly church
structure. After his death som e ofh is follow ers became M ethodists , b u tfor the
most p a rt coalesced toform the p o w erfu l Baptist church o f Nova Scotia, (pp.
193-194)

The next preacher in the area was Rev. David George, a black Loyalist from
South Carolina who came to Shelburne w ith General Patterson in June o f 1783.
He was one o f the 2,000 blacks, some slave, some free, who w ith many thousands
of white Loyalists found temporary refuge on the shores o f that magnificent har­
bour. His first Sunday there he preached mainly to blacks but he soon drew white
people of Shelburne and nearby settlements to worship with him, including Abigail

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Mrs Jonathan Locke and her sister. Mr. George soon ministered to the people of
Ragged Islands, where his first convert was the young Elizabeth Ryder, wife o f
Jonathan Locke, Jr. Although not a few families o f the South Shore were A ngli­
can or Presbyterian, they eventually became Baptist or Methodist, for their only
access to church service was from the circuit riders o f those sects. Partly as a result
o f segregation, sm all farm allotments and exploitation o f their labour and partly as
a desire to return to their roots, almost 1,000 blacks left the port o f Halifax for
Sierra Leone in 1792. Rev. David George went w ith them. John Craig, a Dublin-
born weaver who had settled in Maryland and had fought on the British side in
the war, came to Nova Scotia in 1784 and began a missionary tour, which brought
him to Ragged Islands and marriage to M ary Locke, daughter o f “Dr.” Jonathan,
whose home was one o f the preaching stations. After ten years, in 1794, John
Craig was ordained by the Rev. John Burton, the founder o f the Baptist church in
Halifax, and became the pastor of the church in Shelburne, where he carried on
his ministry for another thirty years. In 1799 two Baptist ministers named M artin
and Pierson visited Ragged Islands and for the first time a baptism was adminis­
tered in the waters o f the harbour, the candidate being Abigail Perry, wife o f “Dr.”
Jonathan Locke. In 1822 the first Baptist church building at Ragged Islands was
erected. It was replaced in 1895 by the present church, the cornerstone o f which
was laid by Priscilla Locke Stuart, daughter of Jonathan Locke Jr. and o f Eliza­
beth Ryder, at the age of ninety-three.
The History o f Early Shelburne describes how the New England settlers worked
and housed and dressed themselves. They fished, farmed, lumbered and traded.
They grew oats, rye, flax, barley and Siberian wheat. For fruits they had strawber­
ries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, plums, cherries, pears and apples. They
pastured cows, oxen, pigs and sheep. The women spun wool and flax and wove
woollen cloth, w ith which they made clothes for the family. They made their own
yeast, baked bread, churned butter, made candles and starch, and worked soap
from fat, wood ashes lye. T hey grew herbs and gathered wild ones for brewing
home remedies and they concocted spruce beer by boiling spruce boughs and add­

340
 TO NOVA SCOTLA

ing molasses to die brew. The men fished and traded dried fish, salt fish and fish
oil in New England ports. T hey cut hay on the meadows and marshes and sold it,
as w ell as w ild geese, beef, vegetables, barrel staves and hewn timber to the Liver­
pool merchant, Simeon Perkins. They built and repaired ships.
T heir first houses were generally low, gable-roofed w ith a central door and a
window on both sides o f it, a large central chimney to heat as well as possible the
two or three low-ceilinged rooms downstairs and the loft upstairs. The setders
used their own logs for building at first and then hand-hewn timber and boards.
Sometimes they covered the exterior log walls with shingles or clapboards. Inside
they panelled the walls with planed boards or they plastered that part o f the wall
over the wainscoting with plaster they made o f sand and pounded clam shells.
T hey built their houses dose to the shore. The houses o f “Dr.” Jonathan Locke,
Jonathan Locke Jr. and Josiah Churchill were perched on the high land o f the
peninsula where Lockeport is now and there were other families along the west­
ern and the eastern shores o f the harbour. A comfortable house would be fur­
nished with pine and birch tables and chairs, chests, candle stands, a carpet, a
looking glass, bedsteads with bedding and bed warmers, firetongs and dogirons, a
spinning wheel and a loom, a butter chum and tub, a bake oven, teapots and
kettles, saucepans and skillets, jugs, dishes and cutlery.
John Robinson and Thomas Rispin, Yorkshire farmers, visited various parts of
Nova Scotia—Horton, Granville, Annapolia, Amherst, Truro, and so on—in the
summer o f 1774 on behalf of a group back home who were thinking o f settling in
the colony: They wrote:

The N ew Englanders are a stout, tall\ w ell-m ade people, extremely flu en t o f
speech and are remarkably courteous to strangers . .. The Sabbath is most reli­
giously observed . .. The children have a very engaging address, and always
accompany their answers w ith “Yes, Sir; or, No, Sir;"or “Yes, Ma'am"or, “No,
M am, * &c to any questions that are asked them, and on passing their superi­
ors, always m ove the hat and foot .

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 TO NOVA SCOTIA

The men w ear their hair queu'd', an d their cloathing, except on Sundays, is
generally home-made, w ith checked shirts; and in winter, they w ear lindsey-
woolsey shirts, also breeches, stockings an d shoes; instead o f which, in summer,
they have long trow sers... On a Sunday... m any o f them dress in ruffled
shirts, who, during the rest o f the week, g o w ithout shoes or stockings.;...
Thewom en, ingeneral, (except on Sunday) w ea r woolseys b oth forp etti­
coats and aprons and, instead o f stays, they w ea r a loose jacket, like a bedgown.
It is ow in g to the high p rice o f stays... . The women, in summer, usually go
without stockings or shoes, an d m any w ithout caps. They take much pains
w ith their hair, w hich they tie in their necks, andfix it to the crow n o f their
heads. On the Sabbath they... dress in silks an d calicoes, w ith long ruffles...
When at Church or M eetin g... they have a ll their fans.

The two Yorkshire farmers found nothing in favour o f the farm management in
Nova Scotia but envied the local farmers because their improvements to the land
were theirs whereas in England such efforts o f the tenant farmers only enriched
the landlords. Among the Nova Scotian farmers the visitors discovered neither
judgment nor industry. They were particularly hard on the New Englanders and
found them:

. . . a lazy, indolent people. In general, they continue in bed till seven or eight
o'clock in the m orning; and the first thing they do, after quitting it, is to g e t a
glass ofrum , after which they preparefor breakfast before they g o out to work,
and return to dinner by eleven. They go out again about two, and at fo u r
return to tea. Sometimes they work an hour, or tw o after, and then return
home, both masters and their servants, am ongst whom there seems to be no
distinction; and you scarce know onefrom the other.

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 TO NOVA SCOTIA

REFUGEES AND LOYALISTS

Three o f our ancestor families endured the rigours o f uprooting themselves and
establishing a home and livelihood in “Nova Scarcity” during or after the Am eri­
can W ar o f Independence. Two ancestors on the Fiske side brought wife and chil­
dren to the South Shore during that war and maybe considered as refugees. Timothy
Coveil, Sr. and his wife, Thankful W helden, had a daughter Lydia 22 July 1775,
according to the Barrington Township Records. John Fiske, III and Sarah Hill
moved from Sherbom, Massachusetts, to Cape Island, probably a little later than
the Covells. On the Locke side, Captain John McKillip was master of a transport
that brought his family and a group of Loyalists to Port Roseway in 1783. He
qualified as a Loyalist and was granted a lot there.
That long m ilitary struggle was the first American civil war, for it split families
and neighbours on whether independence from Britain or redress o f grievances
was the better way. Benjamin Franklin and his illegitimate son, W illiam , the last
royal governor o f New Jersey, who, like many Americans, chose loyalty to the
Crown, provided a striking example o f a family divided. Between a third and a
h alf o f the people tried to remain neutral, especially those whose religious beliefs
taught pacifism, but many were forced to supply aid to whichever m ilitary con­
trolled the area. Early in the war the states passed laws against treason, tried of­
fenders by civil tribunal or court-martial or conspiracy committee, and executed
or imprisoned some. Very large lines were exacted upon a “Tory” to force him to
join the Patriot m ilitary or upon a neutral family if a member joined the British
army or upon anyone refusing the test oath or aiding the British. Some states
applied die whip, the brand, the pillory and the ear-crop when line or property did
not answer the offence. The states raised millions o f pounds for the war by
confiscating “Tory” property. As in any war, there were depredations and growing
hatred on both sides. The time must have been frightening for ordinary people
and especially for the Loyalists towards the end o f the war, all those who had not
migrated to safety in the British stronghold o f New York. The United States Con­
gress agreed to article six in die peace treaty, recommending to the states that the

343
 TO NOVA SCOTIA

Loyalists be subject to no further confiscation, persecution and imprisonment.

Almost all states then disfranchised them, put them on proscribed lists and did
not deter the towns and villages from tarring and feathering and driving them out
and taking over their property.
Encouraged by Sir G uy Carleton, the new British commander-in-chief, many
Loyalists in New York, like the Port Roseway Associates, prepared to migrate to
Nova Scotia. T hey had first to prove that they had lived at least the past twelve
months in British-held territory, had paid their rent and all debts, and had pre­
sented a list o f articles, certified as their own, to be taken with them. Rear-admiral
Digby assembled a flotilla o f naval transports and private vessels, which were then
victualled and prepared for the Loyalists, disbanded soldiers, freed blacks, and
their baggage. Three thousand passengers, organized in sixteen companies, sailed
for Port Roseway 26 A pril 1783 and arrived nine days later. M any hundreds came
in private vessels during the summer and 7,000 more in the autumn fleet. The
settlers drew house lots in the centre o f the surveyed town or, later, water lots or
50-acre lo ts. They strove to build huts or houses against the coming winter and if
they could not, to find tents or a place aboard a remaining ship. In Ju ly the visiting
Governor Parr named the town and district Shelburne for the British prime m in­
ister who many Loyalists felt had not protected their interests when negotiating
the terms of the peace treaty. M any lived on the King’s supplies o f flour and pork,
supplemented by fish caught locally and the few vegetables they could buy from
coastal ships.The British government provided clothing and food, building mate­
rials, axe, spade, plow, hoe, equipped communities with grindstones and machin­
ery for saw and grist mills and also spent a large sum compensating those Loyal­
ists able to substantiate their claims o f considerable losses. The area did not have
the developed hinterland to support so large a town. M any of the educated classes
were not apt for the physical labour of farming, fishing and lumbering. The gov­
ernment found positions for the elite. W hen passions cooled, some of the refugees
returned to the southern states, which had offered to re-establish them. Others
returned to the less-forgiving northern states, where they could pass in the cities
or tough it out w ith the help of relatives. Many, however, stayed as proud Loyalists
and helped build a new land.

344
 TO NOVA SCOTIA

(References: John B. Brebner, The N eutral Yankees o f N ova Scotia; Duncan

Campbell, Nova Scotia, in Its Historical, M ercantile and IndustrialRelations;Q. Bruce
Fergusson, “Pre-revolutionary Settlements in Nova Scotia”; A . C . Flick, Loyalism
in N ew York during the American R evolution; Thomas Chandler Haliburton, His­
tory o f Nova Scotia; Ray G. Haling, “The Rhode Island Emigration to Nova Scotia”,
The Narragansett H istorical R egister: 7 (1889): 89-121; H enry C . Kittredge, A His­
tory o f Cape Cod; Carol M cLeod, “Privateeers and Petticoats”; Robert R. M cLeod,
“Old Tim es in Liverpool, N. S.”; Simeon Perkins, D iary; Edmund Duval Poole,
Annals ofYarmouth B arrington in the R evolutionary War; George Rawlyk, Nova
Scotia’s Massachusetts: A Study o f N ova Scotia-Massachusetts Relations, 1630-1784;
Marion Robertson, K ings Bounty:A History o f Early Shelburne; Robinson and Rispin,
Journey through N ova-Scotia; Leonard H . Smith Sc Norma Smith, Nova Scotia
Im m igrants to 1867; F. F. Tupper, Historic Liverpool; Claude Halstead VanTyne,
The Loyalists in the American Revolution).

345
 TO NOVA SCOTIA

Locke Family Streetscape M onument>Lockeport, N ova Scotia

346
 The Locke Connection

N EW H A M PSH IRE

Locke, John1, 1627—96 (#384L): The parish register o f W hite Chapel, London,
shows that Thomas Lock, o f London, married Christian French 26 July 1624 and
that their sons, John and Nathaniel, were baptized there 16 September 1627 and
11 November 1629. There is a good probability that these were the parents and
the brother of the pioneer John Lock and that this was the place and date o f his
baptism. T he two brothers emigrated to New Hampshire in the mid-1640 s. John
Lock settled at Portsmouth, where he is said to have built the first meeting house.
About the year 1652 he married Elizabeth Berry, the eighteen-year-old daughter
o fW illiam 1 Berry.
Berry, W illiam 1, died 1654 (#770 L): As one of Captain John Mason’s planters
and as a signer of the deed to the Glebe Lands, W illiam Berry must have been a
member o f the Church of England and most likely a man o f Devon. W hen he and
many others of the Piscataqua plantation came is not known but it was before
1631. Hubbard in his early history o f New England states that an attempt to plant
there began about 1623 and the indenture o f 3 November 1631 lists the stewards
and “servants”, including W illiam Berry, sent out by John Mason, Esq. but evi­
dently a number o f them had settled there some time before. W illiam Berry lived
first at Strawberry Bank, later called Portsmouth, and he was admitted freeman in
1642 and chosen a selectman in 1646 and a constable and grand juror in 1650.
Two years later he sold his land to Anthony Ellins because he had been granted
land at Sandy Beach on 31 January o f that year “upon the neck of land upon the

347
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

South side of the Litde River” (Getchell, p. 296). The Berry’s were thus the first
colonists o f Sandy Beach at Rye. Jane, Mrs. W illiam Berry, born about 1619 (her
age in 1686 was given as sixty-seven), may have been the daughter of a colonist
when, probably in Portsmouth, she married W illiam Berry about 1634-5, she
being no older than sixteen. So she bore their seven children and swept the floor
with her hemlock broom and wove on the loom he built for her. Their children
were John, Joseph, Elizabeth, M ary, James, Rachel and W illiam Jr. After W illiam
the father died suddenly in 1654, administration o f the estate was granted on 28
June to his thirty-nine-year-old widow. Her second husband was Ensign Nathaniel
Drake.
Berry, Elizabeth2, M rs John1Locke, cl634-aft 1708 (#385L) (W illiam 1), daugh­
ter of W illiam Berry and J a n e --------, married John Lock about 1652 and had
eleven children
(References: “First Settlers o f New Hampshire”, NEHGR, 2 (1848): 37-39;
Sylvia F. Getchell, The Berrys by the Beach; Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers o f
M aine and New Hampshire, p. 90)
To return to John Lock, the surviving entries of the earliest records mention
him: “And likewise John Lock is to have a house lott between John Jackson’s and
W illiam Cottons rails, the lott eight acres. A t a town meeting held the first day of
Januarie, 1656.” Four years later the town gave him four acres more. T hat same
year John and Elizabeth sold eight acres and their “new dwelling house” on the
Piscataqua River to James Drew for £32 10s. and four years later the other eight
acres to W illiam Cotton.
He subscribed five shillings for the Minister, M r. Moody, at a town meeting in
Portsmouth 8 March 1665-6 and the same year he was fined five (probably shil­
lings) but why, we know not. The Hampton records state that “he sat down on the
common lands at Josselyn’s Neck” and began clearing a farm. This peninsula south
o f Rye Harbour on the Atlantic Ocean was later known as Lockes Neck, until
two hundred years further on, when the name changed to Straw’s Point because
Governor Straw bought much o f the land and built houses there. W hen John
Locke took up land there, Portsmouth and Hampton both claimed jurisdiction.
On 24 M ay 1666 the inhabitants chose a committee to pull down his fence and

348
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

f ir s t g e n e r a tio n in N o rth fo u rth g e n e r a t io n in

A m e r ic a N o rth A m e ric a

Jo h n m . Jo h n
E liz , B o w les m . S arah

E liz a b e th D o ro th y
d ie d y o u n g m . J e th r o L o c k e

JohnLock Nathaniel N a th a n ie l
1627-96 1661 ----- (toMaine)
m.ElizabethBerry m.DorothyBlake
1634 - T ry p h e n a
A lic e m . Jo h n K n o w les
m . N e h e m ia h B ern ,’
E liz a b e th
E d w a rd m . T h o m a s L e a v itt

ThomasLock m . H a n n a h Je n n e ss
m.26July1624 R achel
London,Eng. T ry p h e n a m . W illia m M o u lto n
ChristianFrench m . Jc h n W eb ster
Jo sep h
R ebecca m . M e c y N ix o n
(toRhodeIsland)
M ary
N a th a n ie l
m . W m H e p w o rth tn . A b ig a il P resco n

N ath an ie l
W illia m
T im o t h y
m . H a n n a h K n w le s
m . M ir ia m B rooke
(toRhodeIsland)
Ja m e s
m , H a n n a h P h ilb ric k Sam uel
m . J e ru s h a S h a w
Jo s e p h
m . S a lo m e W h it e D e b o ra h
'D r.’J o n a th a n
m , W illia m B u c k in g h a m e.1731
m . A b iga il P e r r y
J o n a th a n 1726-
1709-31 ------------
m . M a ry N orton Sam uel
m . L u c y B ill
I: FROM JO HN LOCK TO A b ija h
(toRhodeIsland)
“D R .”JONATHAN LOCKE
A lic e
N EW ENGLAND m . T h o m as E dm onds

M ary
m . G e o rg e B a n fie ld

M e h ita b le
m . M o s e s B la k e

349
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

the following M arch a committee “to warn him to desist from improving the
towns land, and to notify him that the town is displeased with his building there.”
Hampton named him a trespasser and required him to attend a meeting on 8
March 1667, which, however, voted:

Upon the m otion o f John Lock w ho desireth to y ield h im self to the tow n o f
Hampton as an inhabitant here am ong us, being already settled upon Josselyns
Neck in Hampton bounds, the tow n hath accepted o fth e said John Lockf o r
an inhabitant accordingly.

Because the Indians tried to destroy the settlements o f the white invaders, Rye
and Hampton had three strong-timbered garrison houses, one o f which was called
the Lock Garrison. Here the neighbours gathered in case o f an assault. Their
protector, John Lock, was called at one time or another Lieutenant or Captain.
Once he slashed the belly o f the canoes o f Indian raiders so that they lost most of
their plunder and arms. On 26 August 1696 a party o f eight surprised the sixty-
nine-year-old man while he was reaping grain at some distance from his gun. One
account says that when he was dying he found enough strength to sickle off a part
o f the nose o f one o f his attackers. A t any rate, the main fact was put down in the
Hampton records: “John Locke Senior was killed by the Heathen in his lott at
work upon August 26 1696.” Arthur H. Locke quotes the Journals o f Rev. John
Pike: “Lieut. Lock was slain by the Indians at Sandy Beach, Aug. 25,1696”
On 4 M arch 1706 the court granted administration o f the estate to John and
Joseph, the eldest and youngest sons. Although John had been given half of the
lands by his father in 1677, he now got a double portion and the rest of the estate
was divided among the nine other surviving children: Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Alice,
Edward, Tryphena, Rebecca, Mary, W illiam , James and Joseph. An inventory made
the following M ay contained these main items of value: house, land and meadow
at Josselyns Neck; two acres of salt marsh at Litde Harbour; two cows, yearling

350
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

and calf; eight swine; bed, bedding, feathers and two old coverlets; one sword; two
pewter and candlestick. On receiving the report o f 4 M ay 1708 from John and
Joseph, the court noted that they had not provided for the widow's thirds but it
was satisfied when they promised to maintain their mother.
Locke, N athaniel2, cl661—1734 (#192L) (John1) was bom about 1661, prob­
ably at Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), to John Locke and Elizabeth Berry, who
likely called him after his uncle Nathaniel. A t Hampton on 22 January 1688—9 he
married Dorothy Blake, daughter o f Jasper Blake and Deborah Dalton. W hen he
made a deposition about land in 1727 he described him self as a planter. H e and
Dorothy had sixteen children whose names are known but early fam ily tradition
gave them nineteen, some of whom m ay have died in infancy. On 2 February
1733-4, giving his age as about 73 years, Nathaniel Locke deposed that fifty years
ago he had helped build a barn in Scarborough, M aine, for the Algers family
Indeed Nathaniel J r . settled at Falmouth, now Portland. His wife, his sister Deborah
and infant, and a Mrs. Noyes were lost at sea going from Falmouth to Cape Ann.
Nathaniel, Sr. died 12 November 1734 at Hampton, New Hampshire.
(References: Arthur H. Locke, Genealogy o f Captain John Locke, John Goodwin
Locke, Book o f the Lockes', Moriarty, “Notes on Eighteenth Century Block Island”,
N EHGR, 105:263-4)
Blake, Jasper1, died 1674 (#386L): There is much supposition and some early
family tradition about this farmer, fisherman, self-styled mariner and early settler
o f Hampton. The sure facts are these. H e was first recorded in the colony as a
witness to a deed conveying land from James Davis Sr. to Rev. Tim othy Dalton
on 6 February 1647. H e married Deborah Dalton, who was bom in England
about 1625, and on 16 October 1649 they had their first child,Timothy, who later
fought in King W illiam s War. T hey had ten more: Deborah; Israel, veteran of
King Philips W ar died shortly after; John; Sarah, died in infancy; Sarah; Jasper
died at fifteen years, verdict o f inquest not found; Samuel, killed at age forty by
Indians in Queen Anne’s W ar, Philemon, part owner o f a ship; and M aria. Jasper
owned several tracts o f land, including his home lot o f eight acres and 100 acres
that Rev. Tim othy Dalton gave him as a “loving kinsman” in 1657. H e died on 5
January 1674 and his widow, Deborah, died 20 December 1678.

351
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Now the probabilities! Because Jasper is an unusual name and because it has
been found recurring in a Blake family of W im botsham in the English county of
Norfolk, family genealogists make a strong presumption, but with no connecting
proof, that our Jasper was the son o f Jasper Blake, born 1592, a churchwarden
who registered his pedigree at Herald’s College, lost his fortune and alienated all
his lands to Roger Pratt. H is wife was Frances-----------and she was living in
1624. Some family historians think it may have been this Jasper who emigrated
and married Deborah Dalton but, having sifted the data, Carlton Blake opines
that the Jasper* born in 1592 was most likely the father o f the emigrant. If that is
so, the Blake pedigree goes back to a grandfather JasperB, then to Peter0, then to
another Jasper0, gentleman, o f M anor Tonwalls, then to PeterE, o f the same, and
to another PeterKBlake, o f Southeney, who bought the manor o f Tonwalls from
John Skott in 1466.
Dalton, Deborah1, M rs Jasper1 Blake, c l6 2 5 -7 8 (#387L): The parentage of
Deborah Dalton, the wife o f Jasper Blake, is not known. She has been linked as
the sister (the age difference is too great unless the father remarried) or “replace­
ment daughter” for a daughter Deborah (who died at rive years in England) or a
close relative of Rev. Tim othy Dalton, who emigrated at age sixty and was the
teacher o f the Hampton congregational church for twenty-two years. Five of
Deborah’s children had Christian names o f his Dalton family. In 1657 he divided
his 300-acre farm among Jasper Blake and two of the relatives of his wife, Ruth
Leete, who returned to England as a widow and made bequests to the children of
her sister Phebe Leete Parkhurst.
Blake, Dorothy2, M rs Nathaniel3Locke, 1668- (#193L) (Jasper1), born to Jas­
per Blake and Deborah Dalton on 17 September 1668, married Nathaniel Locke
at Hampton 22 January 1688-9. She is said to have given birth to nineteen chil­
dren.
(References: Carlton E. Blake. Descendants o f Jasper Blake\ V. C . Sanborn, Notes
on English Ancestry ofJFive] American Families )
Locke, Jonathan3, 1705-31 (#96L) (Nathaniel2John1) (Nathaniel2John1), born
at Hampton 22 December 1705, is listed as the twelfth child o f the known six­
teen o f the brood o f Nathaniel Locke and Dorothy Blake. H e probably spent

352
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

some time in Attleboro and then certainly in Rhode Island. His brother Joseph
had settled at Shoreham on Block Island, married M ercy Nixon of that place,
and was made a freeman of Rhode Island. Through their son Nathaniel, Joseph
and M ercy were to found one of the prominent families o f Block Island (ref
Moriarty, “Block Island”). Brothers Timothy, Abijah and probably John also moved
to Rhode Island. In Newport, Jonathan met M ary Norton, whose father Samuel3
had gone there from Edgartown and had married Content Coggeshall. Mary,
born at Newport in 1708, was their second child. The Norton family moved to
M artha’s Vineyard and Jonathan Locke and M ary Norton were married on 1 Janu­
ary 1729-30 at Chilm ark.They had Jonathan and possibly Samuel. He died in his
mid-twenties, according to tradition “by falling down a bank in Rye” (Arthur H.
Locke, p. 22). M ary was made adminstrator of his estate in October o f 1731 and
she married M atthias King more than five years later. [ Norton, M ary4, 1708-
(#97L)
Locke, “Dr.” Jonathan4, 1731- (#48L) (Jonathan3Nathaniel2John1) was bom
probably in Chilm ark in 1731, according to the emigration document. H e was an
infant when his father died and he was brought up first in Chilm ark w ith the help
of his grandparents and then in Tisbury after his mother remarried. H e married
Abigail Perry, of Attleboro, daughter o f Jacob3 Perry and A bigail Sm ith. Sketches
o f her related families, Perry, Sm ith, Carpenter, Redway, appeared in chapter two.
Banks in his history o f M arthas Vineyard states that Jonathan Locke resided in
Chilmark and Tisbury and was a housewright who moved his family to Nova
Scotia (vol. 3, p. 237). Arthur H . Locke stales without documentation that Jonathan
“was a doctor in Boston” and he may indeeed have had some knowledge o f the
rudimentary medicine o f the day. He undoubtedly saw or heard o f the proclama­
tion about free land in Nova Scotia. [Perry, A bigail4, bom 1726 (#49L)]
(References: C. E. Banks, History o f M artha’s Vineyard, A. H . Locke, A History
and Genealogy o f Captain John Locke))

353
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

NOVA SC O T IA

In 1761 Jonathan and Abigail shipped with their three children—Jacob, 12, Samuel,
7, and Jonathan, 4— for Liverpool, Nova Scotia. About 250 acres each were granted
to Gilbert Binning, Thomas Hayden, John Matthews, Jonathan Locke Sr. and
Jonathan Locke Jr. The grants were confirmed in 1764 but they left Liverpool two
or three years later and settled farther down the coast at Ragged Islands. Colonel
Alexander McNutt and associates had been granted 20,000 acres in Hebron Town­
ship, in which Ragged Islands was situated, and by 1760 had brought out 300
Scots-Irish settlers. Lois Kerrigan, who researched the land deals, was unable to
find out whether M cN utt offered settlement to the Lockes and their friends or
whether they just squatted there. James T. Bebb in his well-researched book, Saga
o f the R ugged Islands (pp. 19-20), points out that M cN utt lost Hebron by escheat
for failing to satisfy the conditions of the grant and it was then that the new
settlers moved to Ragged Islands. No record of land grants to them exists al­
though descendants of the settlers stated that the record disappeared rather re­
cently. Bebb tells us that the old settlers were so unsure o f the boundaries o f their
lands that they sought confirmation o f their rights when the Loyalists came.
Benjamin Arnold, o f Little Harbour, sent a petition to John Parr, the new gover­
nor of Nova Scotia, who, to use J. M . Bumstead’s phrase, “found him self caught
between the pretensions o f the newcomers and the claims o f older settlers” ( The
Canadian Encyclopedia, II: 1366). Those at Ragged Islands were allotted 1,400
acres, almost identical to the present locale o f Lockeport town. Bebb tells us that
a deed o f 1792 mentions that Lockes Island, the best o f that parcel, had been
subdivided by lot, which evidently fell exclusively to the Churchills and the Lockes..
As time went by, the Locke grantees, Jonathan Sr. and Jonathan Jr., deeded parts
of their land to other family members in the part o f the town now called Lockeport.
“Dr.” Jonathan Locke and A bigail Perry had two more children, M ary in 1763
in Liverpool and A bigail in 1767, perhaps the first white child to be bom in Rag­
ged Islands. Their eldest, Jacob, married Viss Vernon and then M argaret Barry
and their immediate descendants lived around Jordan Bay and were baptized and
married in the Church o f England in Shelburne. Samuel did not marry and was

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

N . A m e r ic a I V N . A m e r ic a V N . A m e r ic a V I N . A m e r ic a V I I N. America VIII
N o v a S c o t ia I N o v a S c o t ia II N o v a S c o t ia I I I N o v a S c o t ia I V Nova Scotia V
G e n e r a t io n s
Jaco b L o c k e = Jo h n L o c k e = E liz a b e th L o cke ■ C a p t.Jo h n L o ck e ■
1750?- 1762-1869 1810- 1640-1906
M argaret B arn 1 M a r y H a rlo w W illia m S ta lk e r E lle n T o w n er

L e titia L o c k e = H e n ry L o ck e ■
1812- L o u isa C o n d o n
S a m u e l L ock e, S r « B rad fo rd H a rlo w
Sam uel L ocke = 1784-1881 ------------- E llen L ock e *
1755- L e titia M cK U lip E lean o r G . L o c k e » 1647-1921
u n m a rried 1768-1838 1815-62 A m a sa H o m e r F isk e
E n os C h u r c h il L o c k e 1640-1904
1814-1902
F ran k L o c k e =
Ja m e s L o ck e H o n . S a m u e l L ock e = L o u is e K em p ton
J o n a t h a n L ock e = 1786- 1817- E m m a M c M ille n
“D r . "J o n a t h a n Locke= 1758-1852 ---------- F ran ces S tric k la n d A n n C r o w e ll
1731- --------------- E liz a b eth R y d e r 1819- H a rrie t L o ck e
A b ig a il P e r r y 1762-1844 A b ig a il L o c k e = 1849-1861
1726- B e n ia h S p in n e y
E d w in L o c k e =
P ris c illa L o c k e = Ja c o b L o c k e = S o p h ia S n o w
1789-1885 1822-1886
M a r v L o c k e =» u n m a r r ie d E m e lin e Ja m ie so n A Jb rn L ocke
b. L iverp ool u n m a rrie d
1763-1847 M ary L ocke *
Rev, Jo h n C r a ig G o rd o n B ill E liz a b e th L o c k e -
E liz a b e th L o cke • R o b e rt E skin s
1792- Ann L ocke =
C a p t . S a m u e l Farrow 1826-99 A rth u r L o c k e
N. Y arm outh. M a in e L ew is C h u rc h ill 1855-62
A b ig a il L o c k e
1767-1861 K ath erin e L o c k e • L e d t ia L o c k e =
Isaac S tu a rt H o n . W y n n e Jo h n so n Jo h n H . G reg o r
M ary L ocke « T h o m a s B ro w n
C a p t. G e o rg e C a in S e n a to r Jo h n L o cke
Y arm outh.N S 1830-72

C o lin C a m p b e ll L o c k e =
1830-1908
A m e lia Ja n e S h e y

11: LOCKES IN NOVA SCO TIA

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

“probably lost at sea”, according to Arthur H. Locke: actually Samuel died 15

M arch 1844 at the age of 89, as his tombstone in the old Locke cemetery records.
M ary married the Reverend John Craig, an itinerant preacher who had served in
the British army during the American W ar o f Independence. Bebb recounts how
in 1797 Christopher Cottman, with a wife and four children, with his house and
lands mortgaged to Perkins, with a son indentured to Perkins to pay off the debt,
conveyed his grant of fifty acres at Ragged Islands to M r. C raig for “having the
gospel preached among us". W h at religious devotion! W e blush to add that the
deed was witnessed by Jonathan Jr. and Samuel Locke, brothers-in-law o f John
Craig. M ary Locke died at Ragged Islands 19 April 1847, age eighty-four, the
widow o f Rev. John Craig, Baptist. “She was bom in Liverpool, in 1763, o f parents
recently from Massachusetts. She was converted under the preaching o f Rev. Henry
Alline, and was baptized in Liverpool by Rev. Handley Chipman." (Robert Long,
p. 810)
Abigail married Isaac Stuart, the son o f a British Army surgeon. This notice
appeared in the L iverpool Transcript o f 2 M ay 1861: “Death at Green Harbor 24
Mar. M rs. A bigail Stuart aged 94, daughter o f Jonathan Locke, pioneer.”
W h at do we know of “Dr.” Jonathan? Robert Long (p.63) stated that six docu­
ments referred to Jonathan Locke as a housewright. Simeon Perkins in his Journal
wrote under the date of 12 M ay 1767: “I agree with Jonathan Locke and Benjamin
Parker to board, shingle, lay floors, make window frames, etc. for clapboarding on
the place I bought of Isaac Warner for £7 10 and a gallon o f rum.” W h ile the
family was getting established, Dr. Jonathan’s son Samuel also went to work for
Simeon Perkins, the great Liverpool enterpriser-shopkeeper, trader, diarist and
forecloser. In 1773 Perkins foreclosed on a debt owed by Jonathan Lock and got a
200-acre lot, a meadow lot and a fish lot for the knockdown bid o f £6 6s. and two
lots totalling 500 acres for £2 5s. at a rime when a 100-acre lot was going for £8.
Jonathan was not as unlucky as his friend John Matthews, who in 1771 lost a
house and thirty acres on the east side o f Liverpool harbour to Mr. Perkins, who
bid £15 4s. for the property in public auction to satisfy Matthews’ debt to him.
Two years later for a debt unpaid within the time lim it Perkins stripped Matthews
o f 467 acres in Liverpool for £18 8s. It must be stated, however, that Perkins,

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

although he somewhat exploited the people o f the outposts o f Liverpool, often

had to scramble in order to pay off his creditors in Halifax, Boston and elsewhere.
Indeed, as far back as 1766 he was feeling a capital pinch when on 9 October he
wrote in his journal:

F inding it hard to g e t money, I w rite this advertisem ent: 'Allpersons that

h a v e a c c o u n ts w ith me, are desired to settle them immediately. And those that
h a v e b e e n l o n g in m y d e b t, either by book or note , are desired to p a y their
r e s p e c t i v e b a la n ce, o r t h e y m a n y expect to be sued in February Court. And as
I d e t e r m i n e t o a lt e r m y m e t h o d o f dealing, I desire that no person w ould
a p p ly to m e f o r a n y a r t i c l e o n cr e d it. ’ (p . 1 2 )

To return to “Dr.”Jonathan Locke, who was having a hard time getting started
in this new country: in 1772, probably because he was unable to pay die quitrent,
his undivided land lapsed to the government, which sold it to Theodosius Ford
for a pittance, £1 5s., and two years later he lost 130 acres to the province, which
auctioned the lot to Samuel M ack for £2 8s.
We know that “Dr.” Jonathan made his house available for spiritual meetings
and that the ardent Rev. Henry A lline preached there. During A lline’s visit to the
south shore he found the people lost in “midnight darkness”, for they had not
heard a sermon in fourteen years. He wrote in his Journal at Ragged Islands, “1
found a dear child o f God.”
Jonathan Locke and Thomas Hayden complained to the House o f Assembly
o f Massachusetts that Americans had come ashore, accepted their hospitality
and then robbed their hosts. Indeed, a privateer sloop took a small Ragged-Is­
lands schooner w ith its cargo, a loss o f £200 to its owners, Hayden, M atthews and
Porterfield. Such actions were “very surprising”, because the people at Ragged
Islands had helped three or four hundred escaped prisoners “up along to America
and Given part o f our Living to them, and have Concealed Privateers from the
British Cruisers, in this Harbor.” (Robert Long, p. 308) Brebner says that some
places “such as Port Mouton and Ragged Islands (Lockeport) were so American
in sympathy as periodically to serve as advance bases for American privateers and

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

for the disposal o f their captures.” (p. 317) Bebb comments w ryly: “It seems
significant that alone among the settlers o f Ragged Islands, the Lockes were only
once reported as having been molested by the various American privateers and the
Churchills not at all” (p. 37). Simeon Perkins wrote 29 September 1781: Jacob
“Lock says two privateers went into Jones harbour. I am afraid they have taken the
sloop Betsy which went there for Hay.” Yes, the Americans did take the schooner
Betsy, Archelaus Smith, master, with its cargo o f fish into Salem but when Obadiah
W ilson reminded them that he and his father had provided for the crew of the
American privateer M ercury in distress, they released both ship and cargo, an ex­
ceptional act!
Benoni d ’Entremont lost his schooner Bonaventure to an American privateer
off Ragged Islands or near Port LaTour and the crew, all but a Frenchman, were
set ashore. Benoni gathered his friends together, Jacob Locke and his son Ebenezer
of Jordan Bay, a Locke in-law John Barry, and Archelaus Crowell. Not far off
shore, on account o f a storm, lay the anchored schooner. The five men piled into a
dory, muffled their oars, and pulled silently through the darkness. To their surprise
all was silent aboard the ship and no watch appeared on deck. Evidently the Ameri­
cans had drunk too much o f their prize’s wine and were sawing it off. The party
made a great noise so as to seem more numerous than they were and, with the help
o f the Frenchman, they took back the ship. T hey put the downcast Americans
ashore to find their way home as they might. Benoni rewarded his stout-hearted
helpers. (Jacob Locke, the eldest son o f Dr. Jonathan, married (2) M argaret Barry:
their son Jacob Jr. married Catherine Guyon and they had six children: Peter,
Abram, Ebenezer, Vernon, James and Catherine).
(References: James T. Bebb, Saga o f the R ugged Islands ; Robert Long’s Records,
PANS; M arion Robertson, K in g’s Bounty)
Locke, Jonathan* Jr., 1758-1852 (#24L) (Jonathan4 3NathanieFJohn1) was born
in 1758 and at the age o f three came with his parents, Jonathan Locke and Abigail
Perry, to Liverpool and a few years later to Ragged Islands. There on 18 Decem-

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

ber 1780 he married Elizabeth Ryder, born about 1762. Their family Bible was
continued by their son John and his wife and a copy o f the family record pages was
donated to the Public Archives o f Nova Scotia by a descendant, Elizabeth Ann
(Capstick) Warner. Jonathan and Elizabeth had seven children:
■ John, 1 January 1782-July 1869, married M ary Harlow
■ Samuel, 28 Nov. 1784-10 Feb. 1881, married Letitia McKillip
• James, 14 M ay 1786—1872, married Fanny Strickland
• Priscilla, 12 September 1789-1885, remained single
■ Elizabeth, 29 Sept. 1792, m. Capt. George Cann, ofYarmouth
• Mary, 19 Apr. 1795, m. Capt. Sam Farrow, N. Yarmouth, M E
■ Abigail, 19 March 1802, married Enos Churchill
Ryder, Elizabeth, M rs Jonathan5Locke, cl762-1844 (#25L) is still of unknown
parentage. In A History and Genealogy o f Captain John Locke (1916, p. 86), Arthur
H. Locke’s undocumented identification o f her as “M ary E. Ryder o f Rhode Is­
land, who was born in 1762” has been echoed with due reference to him in the
IGI, in Fremont Riders three-volume compilation and in volume 80 o f the American
Genealogical Biographical Index. M arion Robertson’s history o f Shelburne refers to
her as M ary Elizabeth. H er first name m ay indeed have been “M ary” or it may
have come from a misreading o f Mips, o f the long s that was common then as the
first s o f double s, in the fam ily Bible record she wrote: “Jonathan Locke Married
to M iss Elizabeth Ryder” 18 December 1780. H er signature with its flourished
capitals is Elizabeth R yd er.
Elizabeth probably had a close relative, John Rider, who lived at Jones Harbour
on the mainland across from Ragged Islands. Bebb lists him among eighteen heads
o f families at Sable River, which included Jones Harbour and Port l ’Hebert (p.
20). John Rider is listed at Jones Harbour in the census o f 1787 as a single man
and owner of land. H is name appears on a list o f those paying a capitation or poll
tax in Shelburne Township “to pay the debts o f the province”. In 1791 he is listed
with Jonathan Lock, Jonathan Lock, Jr., Samuel Lock and James Rice (Letitia
Rice McKillip’s brother) and others paying 5 shillings (PANS, 144: no. 52). In

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

1792 John Ryder, farmer, was paying twice to five times as much as the rest (PANS,
R G l vol. 444, no. 57). In 1793, with 4 cattle he paid 2 shillings. In an article
entitled “A Pioneer o f Religion” in the S u b u r b a n (Bedford, no date on copy) about
Elizabeth’s son Deacon John, Fred E. Crowell writes:

A fte r b is m a r r i a g e [ in 1 8 0 4 ] J o h n L ock e took h is y o u n g w i f e to l i v e w i t h h is

m a t e r n a l u n cle, a n o l d m a n w h o o w n e d a h o u s e a n d m a n y a cr es a cr o ss t h e
b e a c h o n t h e m a in la n d . H e r e th is y o u n g w o m a n l i v e d f o r y e a r s : w h i l e h e r
h u s b a n d w a s a w a y o n l o n g v o y a g e s s h e w o u l d b e h e r e w i t h o n ly t h e o l d u n c le
a n d h e r l i t t l e c h ild r e n ... . A fte r th e s e y e a r s t h e f a t h e r g a v e u p s e a - f a r i n g l i f e
a n d s t a r t e d a l a r g e b u s in e s s o f h is o w n . . . . S o h e, h is w i f e a n d t h e y o u n g e r
c h ild r e n m o v e d in t o t h e n e w h o m e — t w o o r t h r e e o f t h e s o n s a n d d a u g h t e r s
w e r e l e f t t o a t t e n d t h e ca ttle , p o u l t r y a n d p i g s w h i c h h a d a c c u m u la t e d o n t h e
fa r m .

If this account is correct, John Locke would have moved to his new home at
Ragged Islands after 27 September 1825, the birthdate o f Patience, their elev­
enth and last child (family Bible). If the maternal uncle was old in 1804, he must
have been an elder brother o f Elizabeth, who would then have been forty-two.
Was he this John Rider, whose name was sometimes spelled Ryder?
An indenture (Shelburne County, Book 5, pp. 36-37) which was signed and
sealed 20 June 1809, witnessed by Thomas Townsend and Enos Churchill, and
registered 3 August may help to establish this relation. For £100 John Rider, yeo­
man, sold to John Locke, farmer, both o f Ragged Islands, a tract o f 230 acres at
Jones Harbour, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, bounded on the north by lands
granted to Charles W hite, on the east lands granted to Jacob Rude, and on the
south and west by the sea, also a parcel of marsh lands there bounded in the east
by Timber Brook and in the west by Still W ater Brook “with the Islands there­
unto belonging”, and also land at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and vicinity, described
as follows:

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Two Acres and an h a lf Acre o f Wood Lands at R iders Orchard situate lying
and being in the Town and County o f Plymouth in the State ofM assachu­
setts in the United States o f America Also one Seventh undivided p a rt o f
E ighty Acres o f Pine Wood Land lyin g Southerly o f the Great South Pond
Also one seventh undivided p a rt o f an old House and sm all Lot o f Land
w here Nathan Dotan sometime ago lived . .. Also onefourth p a rt o fa n Acre
o f Land called Cedar Swamps in South M eadow Swamp in the Town o f
C arver in the County and State aforesaid Together w ith the Houses and
Buildings on the said Lots...

Fred E. Crowell’s account locates John Locke and his bride, M ary Harlow, on
the farm of his old maternal uncle “across the beach on the mainland” but some of
the details are wrong. T hey might well have gone there to live after their marriage
in 1804. Indeed, on 4 M arch 1804 Simeon Perkins describes John Lock as of
Jones Harbour, which suggests that even before his marriage at age twenty-two he
was living with John Rider, for John Locks parental home was at Ragged Islands
By June o f 1809 John Rider had moved to Ragged Islands and had sold his farm
to John Lock. W hile Captain John Locke was on his voyages, M ary brought up
their growing family on the farm they owned at Jones Harbour.
We hoped to find a petition for a grant which m ight give us the names o f John
Rider’s wife and children and the immigration date. The Public Archives o f Nova
Scotia reported to me 11 M ay 1997 that there was no such petition and that John
Reder was listed in the 1789 collective grant o f 17,000 acres at Sable River to
Jacob Rude and others (Libra 4, Folio 41., No. 326, Book 19, page 97). T hat was
a retroactive grant made to “old settlers” who beset Governor John Parr with their
concern that the lands they occupied m ight be given to the Loyalist newcomers.
The description of the Plymouth property that John Rider sold to John Lock
enabled us to identify the Rider family from which he sprang. It led us to a deed in
Plymouth town (Plymouth County Land Records, vol. 58, page 1):

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

K now a ll men by these presents that w e Solomon R ider o f Plymouth seafar­

ing man , and John R ider o f said Plymouth now at Nova Scotia seafaring
man and Lydia Sutton ofsa id Plymouth , Nathaniel Doten ofsa id Plymouth
seafaring man an d M ersey his w ife & Sylvanus Howes o f said Plymouth
and Thankful his w ife f o r the consideration o f the sum o f seven pounds three
shillings to us p a id by our brother Ebenezer R ider o f Plymouth shoreman...
the p a rt o f the land our fa th er Ebenezer R ider late o f Plymouth . . . , that is to
say fiv e seventh parts o f said lands £s?buildings. The other 2/7th belonging to
said Ebenezer as the eldest son o f our deceased father.

That deed, dated 1 December 1773, was signed by all the parties except John
Rider, who was in Nova Scotia, and therefore his one-seventh of the property was
never sold until John Lock bought it 20 June 1809. Eight days later John and
M ary Locke, o f Ragged Islands, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia sold those par­
cels of land in the Plymouth area to W illiam Davis, Jr. o f Plymouth for “13
pounds, 10 shillings, 2 pence current money o f said Province.” (Plymouth Co.
Land Records, vol. 113, pages 146-148)
Now we know for sure the ancestry o f John Rider back to the pioneer Samuel
and we find John's birth at Plymouth 12 October 1733 to Ebenezer Rider and
Thankful Silvester, whose last child was born in 1740 (Plymouth Vital Records,
p. 159; M D , 14 (4): 243).Therefore John was not a brother of Elizabeth Rider nor
an uncle ofjohn Locke. He was the John Rider who married Priscilla Churchill at
Plymouth on 3 December 1757. After that there is no record of them in that area.
Were they the parents o f Elizabeth Ryder Locke, who called her first daughter
Priscilla and her first son John? W e cannot apply the Preponderance of Evidence
Argument. The arduous search for probably non-existent records leads us to this.
We do not know when or where Elizabeth Ryder was born nor prove who were
her parents. The Appendix w ill trace the ancestry o fjo h n Rider and o f Priscilla
Churchill so that if proof follows my speculation that they were the parents of
Elizabeth, we shall know immediately the people who went before. M y hypoth­
esis is that after their marriage, this couple came with her small inheritance and
his savings to Nova Scotia and created a farm at Jones Harbour.

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 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Robert Long mentions Elizabeth Locke in “From the Beginning: Queens

County in History” (PANS microfilm): “Elizabeth Locke filled the same place on
Locke’s Island that Deacon Isaac Dexter occupied in our own township [Liver­
pool] . She lodged and fed every tired and hungry New Light preacher who tramped
and rode along the South Shore. T hat she took an active part and was an essential
link in the underground railroad which shifted so many American prisoners out o f
the Province during the Revolution is certain.”
W hen we think o f this group o f second and third generation Locke’s in Nova
Scotia we think o f longevity. Jonathan Locke Jr. (1758—1852), shipowner and ex­
porter to the W est Indies, lived to be 94, his brother Samuel to be 89 and his sister
Abigail Locke Stuart to be 94. H is son Samuel, our ancestor, and also his daughter
Priscilla lived to be 96. His sons James and John lived to be a mere eighty-six and
eighty-seven.
The diary entry o f Simeon Perkins on 8 M arch 1804 ran as follows:

John Lock, o f Jones Harbour, was married last night to M ary H arlow,Josiah
Harlow's daughter Mr. Locke informs me that tw o o f Thomas Haydens sons,
William and Josiah, w ere com ing home fro m Shelburne in an open boat. A
storm came on, and they w ere missing. Search has been m ade f o r them a ll the
w ay on the shore, but no signs o f the boat, or anything that was in it.

Although not in our line of descent, John Locke, 1782-1869, the eldest son of
Jonathan and Elizabeth, is sketched here for living a well-rounded life and for
parenting with his wife, M ary Harlow, daughter o f Josiah Harlow and Olivia
Hunt, an interesting branch of the Locke family. John learned quarter-deck rou­
tine and navigation at a boarding school at W est Green Harbour kept by Captain
Jenkins, ex-Royal Navy. He sailed in vessels in which his father had a part interest
and he became master o f the brig N ova Scotia. He and M ary had eleven children:
Samuel Bradford, 1804-54, married Patience Churchill; Eliza A lline, 1806—10;
John W inslow, captain, 1807-37, lost at sea; O livia Harlow, 1808-95, m. Stephen
Kempton; Priscilla Perry, born 1810, m. Capt. Alexander Hammond; M ary Eliza,
1812—99, m. W illiam Kempton; Enos Churchill Locke, 1814—1902, m. Eleanor

363
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

G. Locke, then Jane Kerris; Jerusha Collins Locke, born 1816, m. Capt. Robert D.
Todd, who was lost at sea, then Hon. Thomas Johnson; George James, 1819-38,
lost at sea; Jonathan Locke, 1821-1909, m. Bethia W est Locke, widow of Capt.
George Longhurst, Sr., whose ship foundered in a hurricane; and Patience bom
1825, m. Capt.JohnM cA lpine. Their father, John, bought a farm from John Rider
and finally gave up the sea and started a large fish-export business of his own. He
and his two brothers, Samuel and James, had twenty-eight children. They built a
meeting house, where deacon John preached, and they provided candles and wood.
He served also as a justice o f the peace and captain o f the m ilitia. O f his five sons,
two went down with their ships and the three others were successful in business.
John Locke admired Hon. Joseph Howe and entertained him.
James Locke, 1786-1872, the youngest o f the three sons o f Jonathan Locke
and Elizabeth Ryder, also followed the sea and traded with the W est Indies. Perkins
mentions in his diary o f 30 August and 23 September 1811 that James Lock, a
crewman in the Speedwell, “came home sick w ith fever.”James and his wife, Fanny
Strickland, had seven children: Henry Ryder, died in infancy; in 1810 [?], accord­
ing to the wooden plaque in the old Locke cemetery; Bethia W est Locke, 1819-
1913, married (i) Capt. George Nixon Longhurst, Sr., lost in the Trident (their
daughter Catherine Longhurst married Capt. Edward Alfred Capstick), and (ii)
her first cousin Jonathan, son o f John Locke and A nn Harlow; James Locke, Jr.
married 16 October 1844 Priscilla Locke MacKenzie; H enry Ryder 1823-54;
Sarah, born 1825, m arried C apt. Lym an C ann; E lizabeth married Thomas
Dam(n)e; and M ary C ., born 1828, married Charles Boucher.
Locke, Samuel6 Sr., 1784—1881 (#12L) (Jonathan^N athaniel-John1) was born
on 28 September 1784 to Jonathan Lock Jr. and Elizabeth Ryder. H e and his elder
brother John and his younger brother Jam es, both mentioned above, went early to
sea to fish.
The first recorded trip by Ragged Islands fishermen to Labrador was in 1810
in the Speedwell, George Giffin master, w ith Samuel and James Locke and Tho­
mas and Charles Hayden among the crew. In September o f the next year the
captain, Hugh M cLarren, died o f the fever and John Lock became master, with
Samuel and James among the fishing crew. By 1823 the Lockes were fishing and

364
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

trading. James and John Locke and W illiam M cM illan shipped 200 quintals (100
pounds each) o f codfish in the brigantine Fanny to Collins and Allison in Halifax.
In 1829 Samuel Locke shipped to the same firm for the European market nearly
150 quintals of dried codfish. In the same year the schooner Thistle of Ragged
Islands caught and cured 572 quintals and delivered them to Messrs Locke and
Churchill. A t that time a subsidy o f flour was provided to fishermen because it was
thought they were so engaged at sea as to be unable to provide their families with
staples and because it would encourage men to go to sea and perhaps provide
seasoned sailors for the Royal Navy in time o f war. In April o f 1833 Samuel Locke
under oath was given a perm it to sell and dispose o f 294 barrels o f flour for the use
of the fisheries and nearly £88 was paid to Locke and Churchill for that purpose.
Bebb reports that James and John Locke got seven barrels each while some other
fishermen got only half a barrel.
Until the W ar of 1812 Ragged Islands had to look to Halifax firms to move
their fish to the W est Indies and Europe. Now vessels captured from the Ameri­
cans and sold at a reasonable price gave the Ragged Islands merchants ships large
enough for the W est Indies trade. That is how John Lock got the Polly o f 30 tons.
In 1815 she brought a cargo from Boston o f flour, tar and Indian corn and in the
following year w ith Sam uel Lock as master she carried lfom the United States
the same kind o f cargo along w ith household goods and farm implements. Their
biggest vessel, the N ova Scotia, a brigantine o f 86 tons, was built in Ragged Is­
lands in 1818. On 7 A pril 1820w ith John Lock as captain she came back from the
W est Indies w ith rum, sugar, cotton wool and molasses. The firm sold her in 1823
to John Barss o f Liverpool. Locke and Churchill got the schooner Betsey, built at
Argyle, which in 1822 w ith Samuel Locke as master brought from New Bruns­
wick salt, rice, onions and apples. In 1824 under Captain Enos Churchill she
carried 400 quintals (20 tons) o f dried fish to Barbados and in M arch o f that year
Captain John Locke sailed her to St. Vincent and Montserrat with fish and brought
back 714 gallons o f rum and in Ju ly Captain Enos Churchill (Abigail Locks hus-

365
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

band) took the helm and returned from St. Lucia with 135 hundredweight of
sugar, 750 gallons o f molasses and 203 gallons of rum. They paid no duty on
imports produced in British colonies except on rum but the duty was refunded
when rum was re-exported to other British North American colonies.
The partners and brothers-in-law Samuel Lock and Enos Churchill captained
their own ships until about 1820, when they came ashore to run the mercantile
business in which other partners were brothers John and James Lock, Daniel
Farrington and John M acKenzie.In 1825 George Cann, who six years before had
married Elizabeth Locke (John, Samuel and James’s sister), became captain of the
schooner Fame , which had just been built at Ragged Islands by W illiam Stalker,
the husband of Elizabeth Locke, Samuels eldest child. In 369 days with a crew of
four Captain Cann sailed the Fame to Demerara with a cargo of dried fish, pickled
fish, fish oil, boards, staves and hoops, back to Ragged Islands with the usual West
Indies cargo, then to Halifax, to Boston, to Halifax, to Yarmouth, to Barbados, St.
Lucia and Montserrat, to Ragged Islands, to New Providence on a charter, to
Halifax, Liverpool, Ragged Islands, Yarmouth, Ragged Islands, Antigua and back
home. Lock and Churchill had become the main trading company in the area
from Liverpool to Yarmouth.
Other ships they had. T he schooner Carriboo o f 88 tons they sold to Lewis
Piers, o f Halifax, with whom they did much business. Samuel’s son-in law W illiam
Stalker built in Shelburne a schooner of 51 tons christened the Thistle, which
worked on trading voyages for five years till she was sold in Grand T urk The John,
a brigantine o f 73 tons, was launched in 1823 and sold the next year to Pryor
Collins, o f Halifax. Then in the 1830s came a succession o f ships, many o f them
built at Ragged Islands or nearby Green Harbour, some quickly sold: Collector,
Reindeer, Fisher, Sarah, Greyhound, Pilot, Van, Kingfisher, Otter, Leopard, Beaver,
Emma, Hyena, M ermaid, Osprey, Nancy, Lion. Sometimes Locke and Churchill
chartered vessels when they did not have enough space in their holds. One o f their
most active shipmasters, a son o f John Locke and M ary Harlow, was lost at sea.
The fam ily Bible records his death thus: “John W inslow Locke sailed Feb 10th
1839 aged 32”. The M arch before they had lost their son George James to the sea,
aged 19.

366
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

According to early Barrington Methodist records, Samuel Locke and Letitia

McKillip were married 6 December 1806. They had eleven children:
• Elizabeth, bom 1810, married W illiam Stalker
• Samuel Jr., bom 16 October 1813, married Ann Crowell (our ancestors)
• Letitia, born 1814, married Bradford Harlow
• Ann, born 1814, married Lewis Churchill
• Eleanor (Ellen), bom 1815, married her first cousin Enos Churchill Locke
• Katherine, bom 1818, married W ynne Johnston
• Abigail, bom 1821 married Benniah Spinney
• Jacob, bom 1822, m. Emeline Jamieson, dau. o f a British naval surgeon
• M ary, bom about 1824, married Gordon Bill
• John (later senator), bom 15 September 1825, married Elizabeth Churchill
• Colin Campbell, bom 1831, married Amelia Jane Shey
M cK illip, L etitia2, M rs Samuel6Locke, cl788—1839 (#13L) (John1): Letitia
M cKillip, wife o f Samuel Locke, died 17 M ay 1839. The plaque in the old Locke
graveyard gives her age as fifty-one. She and her sister M ary were baptized on 9
September 1791, according to the same Methodist records. She must have been
born in 1787 or 1788 but possibly not at Cape Negro, for the fam ily may have
gone away for a time, as mentioned later. Fourteen months after her death the
Acadian Recorder o f 25 July 1840 carried this item: “3 July at Ragged Islands by
Rev. J. Melvin: Samuel Locke/Mrs. Ann Hayden.” Ann died 19 August 1877 and
Samuel died 10 February 1881 at the age o f ninety-six.
Locke, Sam uel7, Hon., 1813-93 (#6L) (Samuel6Jonathan5"3 Nathaniel2John1)
was born 16 October 1813 to Samuel Locke Sr. and Letitia M cKillip. C utting his
schooling short at the age of thirteen in order to go to sea, he was largely self-
taught. A t the age o f nineteen he became a captain in the W est Indies trade and
continued so twenty years, after which he joined the mercantile house o f Samuel
Locke and Brothers, later Samuel Locke and Sons. He was elected to the legisla­
tive assembly as a Conservative. H e resigned from the Nova Scotian delegation to
the conference on confederation in 1864 because he believed that the representa­
tives should come from both parties. In March of 1881 he was sworn in as a
member of the legislative council. The complete entry about him in the C a n a d ia n

367
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Biographical D ictionary o f 1881 is given at the end o f this chapter. His younger
brother John, merchant, justice o f the peace, long-tim e Reformer and Liberal
member o f the legislative assembly and the legislative council, was called to the
senate o f Canada in 1867. He died suddenly 12 December 1873 at the age of
forty-eight. Samuel Locke, Jr. died 10 June 1893 at Lockeport.
McKillip, Jo h n ', c l 739-1827 (#26L) (also spelled w ith the op and up ending
and M cCilep) was born about 1739 in Ireland: The Canadian Biographical Dic­
tionary, which must have got its information from Hon. Samuel Locke, states
that M rs. John McKillip was also Irish and Edwin Crowell gives her maiden
name as Letitia Rice. James Rice may have been her brother. According to Sabine,
James came unmarried at the age o f twenty-four from Pennsylvania to Shelburne
via New York at the end o f the W ar o f I ndependence. Jam es witnessed a power o f
attorney given to John McKillip 25 M arch 1785 and a conveyance ofland to John
12 November 1799 and became a namesake o f the eldest son o f John McKillip Jr.
and also o f a son o f Richard King, who was him self a son o f Elizabeth M cKillip. A
cordwainer and a grantee, James Rice purchased a water lot 21 January 1784 and
200 acres in 1791, According to Edwin Crowell (p. 568), Jam es Rice married
M ary Smith, who was born in 1767 to Nathaniel Smith, Jr., grantee and his sec­
ond wife, Patience Swain, daughter of Chapman. The 1791 census showed a James
Rice living in the Barrington area. The Barrington M ethodist Records list the
baptisms on 16 A pril 1799 of three children o f James and M ary Rice: Nancy, John
and Catherine, born 1775,1776 and 1778, and the Letitia Rice who married John
King at Barrington 28 December 1808 was likely an older daughter of James and
Mary. Unfortunately the Barrington M ethodist records started only in 1790 and
did not catch the birth of this Letitia Rice.
Edwin Crowell states that Captain John M cKillip was master o f a transport
that brought Loyalists from New York to Shelburne. Lorenzo Sabine has this at
page 549:

M cKillip,John. O f Philadelphia. At the peace, accompanied by hisfam ily o f

three and a servant, he w en t fro m N ew York to Shelburne, N ova Scotia,
w here the Crown gran ted him one tow n lot.

368
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

T he International Genealogical Index for New York State lists Elizabeth

McKillop, daughter o f John and Letitia McKillop, as having been baptized 14
June 1782 at the Reformed Dutch Church in New York (born 8 April, according
to her King family Bible). Elizabeth was a sister o f the Letitia McKillip who
married Samuel Locke.
Search has been made in Ireland for the origin o f John McKillip and Letitia
Rice. In the eighteenth century the surname McKillip was found exclusively in
the old Province o f Ulster and especially in county Antrim. The surname Rice is
common in Antrim and surrounding counties. According to Edward M acLysaghts
M ore Irish Families (p. 138), McKillop o f Ulster is a branch o f the Clan MacDonald
orM acD o n ello f Keppoch, Scotland. The 1659 census o f Ireland shows it among
the “Principall Irish Names Sc som Scotch” in the barony o f Glencarne o f County
Antrim. Although they may not have been closely related to our John McKillip,
Ruling Elder John McKillop was a representative to the general Synod o f the
Presbyterian Church held at Antrim 21 June 1743 and his son David, bom in
1728, was a captain o f the Royal Navy, as was John, bom in 1787, o f these
McKillops o f Glenarm.
Our John M cKillip, born about 1739, may have come from such a family or
from one that had held the land for some time in a coastal county and, possibly,
being a younger son without land to inherit, went to sea, as did many young men
in his case. There are no lists o f landholders o f the 18th century but in the 19th-
century lists M cKillip is found in counties Antrim, Armagh and Londonderry.
The Index o fW ills o f the dioceses in the old Province o f Ulster shows a number
for McKillip but those wills were all destroyed in the civil war except that o f John
McKillop o f Ardclinis in 1819 and the Rice w ills for Conor diocese have not
survived. For the period o f our Johns baptism very few records o f the Presbyterian
Church o f Northern Ireland have survived because they were the personal posses­
sion o f the ministers, who could preserve them or not as they saw fit.
The Shelburne County Genealogical Society has recently acquired copies from
the Frye Collection in the Fresno Genealogical Society, California, material com­
piled and most often carefully referenced by Alexis Everett Frye, an educator
who was included in Whos Who in America for his work in Cuba, the Philippines

369
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

and California. His mother was Jane King, who until age sixteen lived with her
grandmother Elizabeth McKillip at Northeast Harbour, across from Cape Negro,
and at the age of nineteen moved with a great aunt to North Haven, M aine. Eliza­
beths husband, Thomas King, died in 1824 at age 49 and she died on 28 January
1871 at age 88 (vital records at PANS). Dr. Frye had a picture o f Elizabeth and a
candlestick that Captain John McKillip had brought from New York in 1783,
according to Dr. Frye’s letter o f 21 October 1915 from Redlands, California, to
M rs. Susie M cKillip Stilson, of Brooklyn, New York, a granddaughter of John
M cKillip, Jr..
W ithout citing references, Dr. Frye makes a few statements about John McKillip
and the Rice antecedents that seem mostly to have been have been passed to him
by his mother from her grandmother Elizabeth: “Before the Revolution John
McKillip was a sea captain and ship owner. On one voyage he carried as passen­
gers a M rs. Rice and three daughters. One of these [Letitia, born in 1749, he
states later] married John McKillip in 1780.” “John was a Loyalist; was wealthy
and his name is seen scores o f times on the register of clubs (especially the Union
League Club of New York).”
Dr. Frye’s application for membership in the Society o f Mayflower Descend­
ants contains a note that I hoped would be a clue to the family origin o f Letitia
Rice and indirectly o f John McKillip. Even as magnified (see next page) the note
is hard to read:

It is said that L etitia Rice came to America on Johns ship w ith her mother
an d sisters. She also had a bro. Letitia Rice’s mother it w as said by [ ? ?]
w as L etitia Ferguson w ho eloped w ith Jam es Rice. Miss Ferguson w as said
to be a R elative o f Lord Ca[------ ?—], B art o f Ireland, & w as disow nedfor
eloping. The Rice fa m ily may have lived in Ballyc[ ----- ]le.

M y genealogist in Belfast resumed the search. First, as to the lord’s name, which
looks like Cartaglase or, at worst, Cartafase, no peer with such a name or with a
remote variant o f it was found in the index o f A Biographical Peerage o f Ireland
(London: Bensley and Son, 1817) nor in Burkes Family Index to Peerage and

370
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

In v.

m . 2v -.s .

Inv. If .1 . s • (Mf»
. /! A

Dr. A. E. F ryes Application to M ayflow er Society: His Origin ofL etitia Rice

371
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Baronetage nor in the R oyal Book o f Crests. And certainly no title like that with the
family name o f Ferguson. Second, I thought the place name might be Ballycastle
but the genealogist read it as Ballycamble, which does not exist among the thou­
sand placenames in Ireland beginning w ith Bally, which means tow n — 181
townlands in the 1871 census o f Ireland were listed alphabetically between
Ballycagan and Ballycoe. Finding no place like the apparent spelling, we settled
for Ballycastle. Remembering that James Rice, Jr. was born about 1759, we sought
data for the period 1730-1780. A ll the records o f that parish were destroyed ex­
cept the burials from 1805 to 1831, and extant Presbyterian Church records started
in 1829. The index to the History o f the Parish o f Ramoan (Ballycastle) by H .A.
Boyd (1930) yields no Rice nor McKillip. “T he Account Book o f a Ballycastle
Merchant, 1751-4” (T104/1) has among 307 names on accounts no M cKillip and
one Rice, named Pat. T he Personal Names Index PRONI shows a James Rice
renting at Bishop Street, Derry in 1746 but he died ten years later and so could
not have been the father o f our James and Leritia Rice. The 1766 census recorded
a James Rice at Anahorish, county Derry and a James Rice leased property in
1770 at Magheralone, county Down.
Finally, the “Index, 1737-1800, to the Belfast N ewsletter yielded ten mentions
of the name McKillip or a variant but only two for time and place. One turned out
to be a captain of the Royal Navy who by a letter o f 11 August 1782 related that a
Leeward Islands fleet had arrived at Waterford. Our John was captain o f a mer­
chant ship. The other instance was of a McKillop, of Drumnasole, who on a hot
summer day rode into the sea on his horse, which threw him. Neighbours in alarm
ran for the nearest boat, a quarter of a mile away. Finding it loaded with turf, they
frantically “disloaded her, and rowed off to look for the corpse”. W hen they came
to the spot of his fall, in the bright sunshine they could see him standing on the
bottom of the deep water. “T hey put down the oar, which he caught, and kept the
hold until they brought him into the boat; he told them that if he had known the
way to the shore he could have waded out, but lest he should have gone further to
sea, he thought it safest to stand still.”

372
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Lorenzo Sabine wrote that John McKillip had gone from Philadelphia to New
York to Shelburne. Certainly if John and Letitia were married in 1780, it was not
in Philadelphia, for the British evacuated that city on 18 September 1778 and
their troops and many Loyalists crowded into the last royal stronghold, New
York City. If Letitia Rice’s year of birth was 1749, that would make her 47 when
her last child, Nancy, was born in 1796. Letitia was bom at least four or live years
later than 1749 perhaps.
The Shelburne Deed Books give us an idea of John McKillip’s means and inter­
ests after he drew a rather poor uncleared lot in the North Division. On 4 Decem­
ber 1783 he paid W illiam Sm ith, a seaman, 10 guineas for a good house lot (1:
149) On 25 January 1785 he bought for £3 the grant o f 100 acres east o f the
Jordan River, including the island in the river, that had been drawn by Alexander
MacLean, late o f the 76th Regiment (2: 39). On 25 M arch 1785 Peter Rogers of
the 63 rd Regiment gave a power o f attorney for the administration o f his property
of 100 acres to his “trusty and loving friend”, John M cKillip, merchant. On 1 M ay
1785 John paid Peter Coffin, a Barrington farmer, £4 for a share o f land on Cape
Negro Island and a share o f marsh. From then on, John seems to be absent from
the records, including the 1786-7 assessment list and the 1790 poll tax, till the
baptism o f two o f his children in 1791 at the M ethodist Church in Barrington,
there being no Presbyterian church nearby. Like many others, the family may have
left the area and like some others, returned. On 13 M arch 1793 he paid Peleg
Coffin of Cape Negro £6 for all his rights and grants (4:329). Then from Jonathan
Smith o f Cape Negro £1 10s. for a 11/2 share of marsh or meadow (4: 330); from
Colin Campbell for £16 two water lots with house and buildings thereon (4: 536);
from M rs. Susanna Armour 50 acres for £4 (6:136); from W est Crowell, mariner,
for £1 one share and right throughout Cape Negro Island (5: 26); from Eleazar
Crowell and B. Gardner for £1 another right or share of land and meadow there
(5: 614). Edwin Crowell says that John McKillip had a herd o f forty cattle on his
farm.
The children of John McKillip and Letitia Rice were:
■ Elizabeth, born 8 April 1782, married Thomas King
• John Jr., married M ary H all and moved to Delaware Co., NY in late 1851;

373
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

• Letitia, born about 1788, bp 9 September 1791, married Samuel Locke;

• M ary, bom abt 1789, baptized 9 Sept 1791, married W illiam M cQuahae ;
• Catherine (“ Kitty”), married W illiam Longhurst at the Trinity Episcopal Church
in New York on 20 August 1809
• Ann (“Nancy”), bom 17 June 1796 at Cape Negro, married James B. Palmer 22
June 1829 and moved to New York;
The Census o f 1827 notes John M cK illip as a Presbyterian farmer the numbers
o f whose household, male and female, would lead one to infer that living with
him and his w ife were daughter Nancy, son John Jr. and his wife and their baby
John, as w ell as a hired man. Nancy was most likely looking after her ailing par­
ents. M rs. M cK illip died at Cape Negro on 3 August 1827 and her husband died
one month to the day later. The N ew Brunswick R oyal Gazette o f 9 October 1827:

D ied 3rd Sept., age 88, John M cKillip, served as Master o f a transport in H.
M. S ervice during R evolutionary War, one o fth efirst settlers o f Shelburne,
N . S.

The Acadian Recorder, Halifax, o f Saturday, 6 October 1827:

D ied at Cape Negro on the 3rd o f August, very suddenly, Mrs. McKillip,
w ife o f Mr. John M cKillip o f that place, a native o f Ireland who also died on
the 3rd o f September a ged 88 years, after a confinement o f eight years to his
bed.

The w ill with the signature of John McKillip was drawn and witnessed on 8
July 1826. H e gave his wife, Letitia, all his real and personal property during her
natural life and after her decease: to Nancy, 100 acres and one right of land on
Point Blanche and on Cape Negro and a share o f the great meadows at Cape
Negro; to his grandsons George Nixon Longhurst 10 acres and one right on
Point Blanche and W illiam Jones Longhurst 10 acres and one right on Cape
Negro Island; to his only son, John, the rest of the real estate; to his children,
John, Elizabeth, Letitia, M ary and Nancy, an equal division of the personal prop­

374
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

erty. That John does not mention Catherine, Mrs. Longhurst in his w ill but makes
a bequest to her sons would indicate that she had died before 8 July 1826. Because
no gravestone or church record for Letitia (Rice) McKillip has survived, we do not
have that evidence o f her year o f birth.
[ Rice, L etitia1, M rs John1M cKillip, c l7 5 5 -l8 2 7 (#27L) ]
The Shelburne County Genealogical Society has the originals o f two interest­
ing McKillip letters, one dated 1855 from John, Jr., living with his wife, M ary
H all, and their children at Harperslield, Delaware County, New York State, ad­
dressed to nephews W illiam and Samuel King and to their mother, his sister,
Elizabeth McKillip, in the Shelburne area and the other in 1866 from John, III,
a cooper living at nearby Moresville with his wife, Agnes Barr, whom he had
married 20 October 1857 at Gilboa, Scoharie County, NY.
The register o f the united parishes of St. George and St. Patrick, Church of
England, Shelburne, records under date of 12 November 1839 the marriage by
the Reverend Thomas B. Rowland, LLD, of:

Samuel Locke, merchant, R agged Island, and Ann Crowell, o f Green Har­
bour, spinster, by licence w ith consent o f her father. Freeman C rowell

Witnesses: Enos Churchill Locke

Lewis Churchill

[Ann was only twenty and, therefore, needed parental consent]

Crowell, Ann7,M rs Samuel7Locke, 1819-98 (#7L) (Freeman6David5Jonathan4
Isaac3Thomas2Yelvertonl ), bom 15 November 1819, was a daughter o f Freeman
Crowell and Lydia Horton and a great granddaughter o f Jonathan Crowell and
Anna Nickerson. She was often known as Nancy. Anne (Crowell) Locke signed
her last w ill and testament on 6 October 1896 and died on 15 February 1898,
making her son-in-law Amasa H . Fiske her executor. She gave 200 dollars to

375
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

grandson Frederic, son o f Frank Locke, and divided the rest o f her estate equally
among her three daughters, Letitia Brown, o f Boston, Ellen G. Fiske, o f Lockeport,
and Elizabeth Eakins, ofYarmouth. (Shelburne Court o f Probate, Estate A 947,
19 M arch 1898)
Crowell, Jonathan4, 1714-68 (#56L) (Isaac3Thomas2Yelverton1), whose brief
sketch is in chapter three, came with his second wife, Elizabeth Parker, and fam­
ily to Barrington Township about 1760 and received a grant o f lot number 22. He
and Elizabeth had three children: Ruth, Freeman and Silvanus. Jonathan died
about the age of fifty before 10 M arch 1768, when his eldest son, David, 24, was
granted Letter o f Administration o f his estate by Judge Elisha Freeman. On 18
M arch 1769 four appointees reported on their division o f the lands among David,
Joannah, Deborah, Azubah, Jonathan, Ruth, Silvanus and Freeman Crowell, M ary
(Crowell) Nickerson, and the widow Elizabeth (Parker) Crowell. On 10 Decem­
ber 1768 the Queens County Court o f Probate and W ills granted Elizabeth Let­
ters of Guardianship o f her children, Ruth, Silvanus and Freeman. She and they
moved to Cape Cod.
(Reference: Queens Co. Deeds & Probate Office, W ill Book 1: 10-13)
Crowell, David5, 1743-1824 (#28L) (Jonathan4Isaac3'Thomas2Yelverton1) was
born at Yarmouth, Cape Cod, to Jonathan Crowell and Anna Nickerson. The two
brothers David and Jonathan, in the First Division got lots at Doctors Cove and
owned the most eastern island in the W est Passage. David Crowell married Lydia
Smith, daughter of Jeremiah Smith, III and Lydia Linkhornew (Lincoln). They
probably had nine children: the birth o f six o f them is found in the Barrington
Township Records, the others being Heman, Jonathan and a second Freeman: David
Jr., 21 August 1774; Stephen, 22 M ay 1776; Mary, 17 September 1777; Freeman,
6 October 1779, who m ay have died young; Jestus (Jesse), 15 M arch 1783;
Theophilus, 22 June 1787 and Freeman, 15 Ju ly 1789 (see below). Those Records
at page xxxvii show that David Crowell died on 20 February 1824. The following
April on the twelfth David Jr. made oath before Judge Gideon W h ite that he did

376
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

not know nor had heard o f any last w ill and testament made by his father and that
he would “well and truly Administer the Goods and Chattels, Rights and Credits
o f the said Deceased”. Unfortunately, the inventory and division o f the estate are
not found with the registered documents.
(References: Barrington Township Records; Shelburne Probate Office, Estate
A 249)
Crow ell, Freem an6, bom 1789 (#14L) (D avid5Jonathan4 Isaac3 Thom as2
Yelverton1), born in Barrington 15 Ju ly 1789, married Lydia Horton, daughter of
Lemuel Horton and Sarah Swain They had twelve children:
• David, 12 November 1812
• Conrad, 10 March 1815
• Nathan, 14 August 1817
• Ann, 15 November 1819
• Dorcas, 10 June 1821
■ Sophia, 23 April 1823
• James, 7 Ju ly 1825
■ Heman, 22 M ay 1827
• John, 4 M ay 1830
• Elizabeth, 27 July 1832
• Lewis, 1 November,1834
• Samuel, 22 Sept. 1837.
At Green Harbour, families lived by farming and fishing. Bebb (p. 144) states
that in July of 1838 Captain Freeman Crowell brought a cargo of boards, planks
and shingles from New Brunswick in the B eaver for Enos Churchill 6c Co. The
Christian M essenger reported for November 1841 under death notices: “On board
the brig ‘St. Fernanda’, believed lost, Captain Conrad Crowell, o f Ragged Is­
lands, mate Freeman Crowell, his brother.” The mates name was not Freeman,
but Nathan.
Freeman and Lydia moved to Lockeport but after his retirement they are re­
corded at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in the census o f 1860, living in the dwell­
ing house o f their son David, a ship’s carpenter there, and next door to the large
family o f their daughter Dorcas and her husband, Frederick Fader, who plied the

377
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

A n c e s tr y o f A n n C r o w e ll, M rs. S a m u e l L ock e

378
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

same trade. Freemans age is shown as 71, which lends credence to his birthdate o f
15 July 1789 given in “Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Families” and leads one to
conclude that the "Fremin”, son o f David and Lydia Crowell, who was bom 6
October 1779, according to the Barrington Township Records, must have died
young and that our ancestor was a second Freeman bom to these parents. The
Church Roll o f Ragged Islands, 1856-1888 showed that they had been “restored”
to membership 17 M ay 1862 but the minutes o f a m eeting on 29 February 1868
registered the fact that they were among those “found to have removed from among
us” and that the couple had gone to Marblehead (“Lockeport and Area Baptist
Church Records, 1788-1868”). Samuel Crowell stayed in Marblehead and was
recorded there in the census o f 1880, age 44. Frederick Fader and his wife, Dorcas
Crowell, were buried there, he in 1887 and she in 1901, Dorcas having been shown
in the 1900 census as living alone.
Sw ain, Chapm an2, 1708-84 (62L ) (“England” Jo h n 1) and his w ife, Sarah
Meader, and their eight children moved from Nantucket Island to Barrington in
1760. They had three more children there, whom Edwin Crowell lists as Sarah
(m. Lemuel Horton), Deborah (m. Elisha Dexter) and Ruth (m.Samuel Smith).
Chapman Swain’s will o f 21 June 1784 came to the Probate Court o f Queens-
Shelburne on 10 December o f that year. He gave all his personal estate to his wife
Sarah and he defined how the homestead farm property o f 22 1/2 acres at Port
LaTour, with meadows, mowing lands, house and buildings was to be divided
among three o f his sons, Zephaniah, Chapman, Jr. and Daniel. H e bequeathed to
his three other sons, Joseph, John and Ephraim, 30 acres each in the next division
of Barrington Township and the residue o f all the lands and personal estate not
designated in the will. H is daughter Sarah was to have 20 acres and, after the
death of her mother, a cow and a share in the household furniture. Patience, Judith
and Deborah were to have four sheep each and Patience and Deborah were to
share with Sarah in the eventual inheritance o f the furniture. H e named his wife
and his son Joseph executors. The inventory lists the livestock: 4 cows, 1 ox, 2
steers, 20 sheep and 3 swine. Next comes the list o f farm implements: a plough, a
pair of old plough irons, an ox chain 3 old hoes, 3 scythes, 2 sneads (scythe poles)
with tackling, iron bar, a whip saw, axe, grindstone, hammer, an old handsaw and

379
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

it :
Euurl ui' IftuUatB,

To the W orshipful s*3s£-.

Esquire,
Judge of tie r M ajesty's Court to r the P r o l a t e
of W ills, w ithin an d fu r the feWwdp r j
n f.

^l)c Petition of

^ / ' J M w r t ll $ U II» lk :
late of
"J the siml-Coduly, departed tb it life on
* T°' - ^ “ * 7 & leaviu(r ^ uh.ltaU, Md cradilii
'*‘UlU ‘h‘ "•'J ConulT- to b* admiuietered; aud haring 6 ret duly made and publi-hed
lust W ill m d Testament iu writing,
iUei«i
“ :L ^ ““ d.. w hereby*-^ appointed Your Petitioner Eaecul thereof

The) your p e titio n e r* willing to accept the trait

And pr»y,f therefore that Probate of the
“ M w **i ® o j b e g re e te d to

. l < >

•a

And ** ui duly buuuii, tScc.

*

Probate Petition Regarding Ann Crowell Locke

380
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

a scale beam w ith weights. Last of all the household furniture and utensils are set
forth: 3 beds and bedroom furniture, a “low case of drawers”, 6 chairs, 3 tables and
a looking glass. Also there were spits, trammels (fireplace hooks), tongs, bellows,
fireshovel, iron pots, kettles, copper tea kettle, earthenware pans, all for heating
and cooking. For dining there were 3 tablecloths, 6 napkins, 24 wooden dishes, a
dozen pewter plates, 4 pewter platters, 9 tin cups. Concluding the inventory val­
ued at £464 were pipes and tobacco, 2 spinning wheels and part of a boat.
Horton, Lemuel4, cl752-1814 (#30L) (PDavid3'2 PThomas1). Edwin Crowell
(pp. 455 8c 498) named Nathaniel Horton, a loyalist, as the husband of Sarah —
and the father o f Lydia Horton, who married Freeman Crowell. On page 586 he
says Sarah Swaine married Lemuel Horton and the pen-and-ink entry o f the
original Barrington Township Record (BTR) bears this out: “1785 Oct + Lemuel
Horton Barrington Sarah Swaine”. Edwin Crowell lists seven children: David, m
Letitia Snow (BTR, p. 92); Heman m.Temperance Swain (B T R ,p. 130); Frances
m. M artin Ryer; M ercy m. W illiam Dowling; Lydia m. Freeman Crowell; Cynthia
m. Sam uel Irving; Dorcas m. George Langdon. The BTR on page xiv shows the
birth on 11 November 1787 o f Jerusha Horten to Samuell Horten and Sarah
Horten but on page xxii to Elama Horton and Sarah Horton. The connection
between Freeman Crowell and Lemuel Horton is confirmed by court documents
dated 14 A pril 1815 by which Freeman Crowell, yeoman, was appointed to ad­
minister the “Goods, Chattels and Credits” of the estate after swearing in open
court: “I do not know or have heard o f any Last W ill and Testament made by
Lemuel H orton, late o f Portletore Carpenter”. ( Sw ain, Sarah3, M rs Lemuel
H orton, m. 1785 (31L)
M y search for the origin o f this Lemuel Horton and my speculation in chapter
six that he came from M ilton, Massachusetts, need to be explained. W ith the aid
o f the International Genealogical Index and ofJenks and Seymours’ book Thomas
Horton o f M ilton and Rehoboth, a Lemuel Horton emerges who seems to fit. He
was born at M ilton, M A , on 8 June 1752 to David Horton and Dorcas Littlefield.
H e m ay have been the Lemuel who married Fanny Famum in Boston on 29
February 1774. Jenks and Seymour could not find any vital record to indicate that
Lemuel and Fanny had a child. I f a record were found o f her having died early, our

381
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

A n ce s tr y o f H o n . S a m u e l L ock e

382
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

speculation would be strengthened. H e m ay also have been the Lemuel, some­

times recorded as Samuel, who served at various times in the Continental A rm y
from 1777 to 1780. Our Lemuel Horton is not listed among the Loyalist grantees
o f Nova Scotia and if he did enlist in the Continental Arm y he would not have
qualified as a Loyalist. W e need to know his age at his death at Port L a Tour in
1814: i f he was the man from M ilton, he would have been 62. Five circumstances
add weight to a presumption that this Lemuel Horton o f M ilton was our Lemuel:
1. Records do not turn up many Lemuel Hortons at that time. Two Lemuel
Hortons are found in M ilton, sons o f brothers David and Benjamin. The
Hortons seem to have derived the Biblical name Lemuel (“belonging to God”)
from the Badcocks, whom they married in the second and third generations
in America.
2. Lemuel, son o f Benjamin, served in the Continental Army, married Hannah
Holt, had nine children, and at the age o f 84 on 7 February 1846 applied for
an increase in his y earlyp en sio n o fS 7 2 .il at R utland, M aine, where he died
in October of 1851.
3. The mother of the older Lem uel, son o f David, was Dorcas Littlefield; our
Lemuel and his wife Sarah Swain had a daughter Dorcas and Lemuel’s daugh­
ter Lydia Horton, who married Freeman Crowell, had a daughter Dorcas,
and Lem uels daughter Dorcas, who married George Langdon had a daugh­
ter Dorcas (born 31 December 1834 and died the following February).
4. Two older brothers o f the Lemuel Horton o f M ilton, David Jr. and Levi,
were soldiers in Captain Sturtevant s company that on 25 A pril 1756 during
the Seven Years W ar went ashore at Port LaTour, where our Lemuel came
later to five.
5. Lemuel Hortons eldest child was named David, the given name o f Lemuel’s
father, grandfather and brother.
Horton, Lydia5, M rs Freeman6 Ciowell, 1796- (#15L) (Lemuel*1David3 2Tho-
mas1), daughter o f Lemuel Horton and Sarah Swain, was the wife o f Freeman
Crowell. Lydia Horton was bom in Barrington Township 16 September 1796.
She was the mother o f eight sons, two o f whom were lost at sea, and four daugh­
ters, including Ann, M rs. Samuel Locke. She is found in the 1860 census of

383
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Marblehead, Massachusetts, with her husband and youngest son Samuel, a ship’s
carpenter, living in the home o f David and his wife, Sarah. The census taker trans­
posed the digits o f Lydia (Horton) Crowell’s age and recorded it as 46, instead of
64.
(References: W . S. Appleton, The Badcock Family o f Massachusetts; Barrington
Township Records; Edwin Crowell, H istory o f B arrington Township; Jenks 6c
Seymour, Thomas Horton o f M ilton and Rehoboth; M ilton Vital Records; “Shelburne
County, Nova Scotia, Families”, Fam ily H istory Library film 1378309, chart 240;
U. S. Census of 1860 at Marblehead, M A , pages 129-130, dwelling 672, families
1158 and 1159)
Hon. Samuel Locke and Ann Crowell had ten children, two of whom died
young:
■ John Locke, born 1840, captain, W est Indies trader and postmaster, married
Ellen Towner, born about 1848. In the 1891 census o f Lockeport the family
was shown as M ethodist and four offspring were at home: M innie, 24, Arthur,
22, Eva, 17, and Alicia, lO.John died 20 December 1906 (Advance>2 Jan. 1907).
John Arthur, a builder of ships and houses, husband o f Ziba H. Leslie (daugh­
ter of W hitm an, o f Liverpool), died 28 January 1953 and was buried in the
Anglican Cem etery in Liverpool (Halifax Chronicle-Herald , 6 Feb). Eva mar­
ried Thomas Grady and A licia married Lawrence Barrow and went to live in
Somerville, M A . M innie married James Richard Ruggles, who became the prin­
cipal o f Lockeport school and later the customs officer. M innie died in her late
twenties, when her daughter Elaine was only eight years old. Elaine married
Rev. Thomas O. De Wolfe. A t this writing she, at the age o f 93, is firing in
Kennebunk, M aine, w ith her daughter Lillian De Wolfe Ingraham, who has
been a helpful correspondent by electronic mail.
• Letitia Locke, bom 14 December 1841, married (1) at Lockes Island in 1862
John H enry Gregor, who died 15 months later; (2) at Lockes Island 14 Sep­
tember 1868 Thomas Bolton Brown, born 28 February 1838 at Yarmouth, NS.
Letitia and Thomas lived first in Yarmouth, where they had five o f their eight
children, then in the late 1870’s in Washington, where two more were born and
one died. T hey returned to Yarmouth and then moved permanently to Boston

384
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

in the early 1890’s. Thomas died 2 April 1911 in Boston but was buried in
Yarmouth. Letitia died at Boston 21 M ay 1925 and was buried in nearby New­
ton. Richard Capen, of Avila Beach, California, her grandson, has provided
interesting information. His mother, born Pansy Virginia Brown on 8 October
1878 at Washington, D .C .,died at Lexington, M A , 16 August 1959. She mar­
ried at Concord, M A , 3 Ju ly 1913 Edward W inslow Capen, who was born 17
M ay 1892 at Stoughton, M A , and died 27 November 1968 at Concord.
• Harriet Locke, born 17 M ay 1844, died in 1861
• Franklin Locke, born 10 Ju ly 1846, m arried(l) M ary Louise Kempton, daugh­
ter of Joseph Kempton and M ary Gorham Hammond, and they had one child,
Fred 0 . 23 A pril 1878 at St. Charles, Illinois, where Louise died. Frank mar­
ried (2) Emma M cM illen, born 29 April 1862, and they were recorded in the
1901 census o f Lockeport (Shelburne, Dist. 40 Sub h) with their three children,
M arion, 8, Ivan, 4, and Alberta, 2, along with his older son, Fred, 22.
■ Locke, Ellen8, 1848-1921 (#3L), born 7 A pril 1848, married Amasa Homer
Fiske (see next chapter).
• Henry Locke, born 7 A pril 1850, m. Louise Condon
• Edwin Locke, born 30 September 1852, married Sophia Snow. In the 1891
census he was shown as a painter and decorator and this Church o f England
couple had three children, Samuel, 7, Randolph, 4, and Frances, 18 months and
in the 1901 census the name M urray took the place o f Randolph and Beryl, 3,
was added.. The art o f Edwin is seen in the striking geometric painting o f the
ceiling, in the Victorian wallpaper he hung, in the general decor and in his
paintings o f land and sea scapes and o f a bearded fisherman in a sou’wester, all
found in the Henry Ryder house, which is owned, lived in and carefully pre­
served by H elen Ghent, a Lockeport family historian.
• Arthur Locke, born 11 June 1854, died 1862
• Elizabeth Locke, born 15 Nov. 1857, married Robert Eakins, ofYarmouth, NS
• Albert Locke, born 8 July 1862, remained single
The Locke families and their business firms grew numerous. Often the daugh­
ters married men who were made captains o f Locke ships, except the artisan
Harlows and the shipbuilding Stalkers. For example, John s daughter Jerusha mar-

385
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

ried Captain Robert B. Todd and daughter Priscilla married Captain Alexander
Hammond. James’s daughter Bethia W est Locke married Captain George Nixon
Longhurst o f New York, who was lost, November 1847, in the schooner Trident
when, outward bound from Trinidad, she foundered in a hurricane. James s daughter
Sarah married Lyman Cann, who became a Locke captain. Then there were the
Locke sons, the fourth generation in Nova Scotia, John’s sons Samuel Bradford
Locke, who married Patience Churchill, and Enos Churchill Locke who married
his first cousin, Ellen Locke, Samuel’s daughter, and Jonathan Locke who married
his first cousin, the widowed Bethia W est Longhurst, daughter o f Jam es; Samuel’s
sons, Samuel Jr., who married Anne Crowell, Jacob, who married Emeline Jamieson,
John, who married Elizabeth Churchill, and Colin Campbell Locke, who married
A m elia Shey —all had to make their way. Then there was James’s son, James Jr.
The names o f their companies shifted from time to time and the initials are con­
fusing: J. and E. Locke, J. and J. Locke, Jacob Locke, Locke and Fisk, Samuel
Locke and Brothers, Samuel Locke and Sons, Howard Locke and Bros., H. and
A. Locke, and Clifford Locke and Co. Howard and Clifford were o f the fifth
generation in Nova Scotia. The Lockes and the Churchills were almost the sole
residents of Locke’s Island although much daytime work was done by sailmakers,
coopers, blacksmiths, and tenders of the cod-drying flakes (see the streetscape at
the end o f this chapter).
As the W est Indies trade expanded so did ship-building. M any ships were built
at Ragged Islands and were owned by Locke and Churchill companies and by
various fishermen and smaller traders. James Bebb tells us that the first tem schooner
or three-masted schooner in maritime history, the Port o f Spain, was built by Samuel
Bradford Locke Jo h n ’s son, for owners Enos and L. P. Churchill and was launched
in 1840 at Ragged Islands.This was followed by the tern schooners Trident , M oun­
taineer, and Convocate. About fifty vessels were built there and in the vicinity in the
1840’s. They made voyages to England, New Brunswick, Quebec, Boston, Phila­
delphia, New Orleans and many ports in the Caribbean. The establishment o f a

386
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

Customs Office at Ragged Islands with W illiam Stalker, the shipbuilder, as col­
lector provided records from then on of the great export-activity there. His brother-
in-law, Samuel Bradford Locke, was one of his sureties. James Bebb compares the
ports of western Nova Scotia for the period 1850-1867 and some time afterwards:

Figures show that . .. Shelburne, though active in shipbuilding had nofishing

fle e t w hatsoever and w as incapable o f ca tch in g"enoughfish to make a chow ­
d er' (as the local saying goes) and therefore had no, or very little export and
import business. Yarmouth which d a llied for a w hile in the realm o f oceanic
freigh tin g which soon declined also saw a parallel reduction in its fish in g
effort; L iverpool had a v ery lively an d voluminous export an d im port trade ,
especially lumber products and w as actively engaged in vessel construction
but boasted little in the w ay o f a fish in g fleet; R agged Islands on the other
hand, had a large fish in g fleet, considerable export and import business, and
in addition built locally the ships used in the trade ofth e province, or infishing.
Lunenburg by comparison, produced very little in any o f these areas. It was
not until the 1870ies that this port makes much o f a show ing in the trade o f
the province, or in fis h in g ... (p. 150)

Ragged Islands in 1858, for instance, was second only to H alifax in the export
o f codfish and the import o f rye flour and salt. The interruptions o f the American
Civil W ar presented Ragged Islands entrepreneurs like John G. A llen, Charles H.
Boucher, Jacob Locke, and J. C . W illiam s w ith the chance to invest in large brig­
antines and barques for oceanic freighting. A n example o f the eighteen locally
built ships o f this kind was the William Rennie, a barque o f270 tons which, launched
in Shelburne in 1862, was owned by Samuel Locke Jr., Jacob Locke, John Locke
and W illiam Decker. Up to 1867 voyages o f that ship are recorded from C ardiff to
Brazil, W est Indies, United States and British North America. She was sold to
foreign interests in Liverpool, England, in 1868. Incidentally, John G. Allen started
out as the schoolmaster at Ragged Islands and then bought out the trading estab­
lishment o f Captain Robert Dickinson Todd, who was lost at sea in 1854, and he
became prominent as a retailer; shipbuilder and W est Indies trader. Allen was

387
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

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388
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

succeeded as schoolmaster by Am asa Homer Fiske. Another interesting enter­

prise o f that time was the Lockes Island M arine Insurance Company. Bebb re­
produces a policy dated 12 Ju ly 1872 insuring for $4,000 the cargo o f the schooner
F red Locke in its voyage to M artinique and listing thirty-nine underwriters at vari­
ous amounts from $15 to $300. Amasa H. Fiske was there for $100.
After due notice twenty-two district ratepayers met at Joshua Chadsay’s sail
loft at two o’clock on Wednesday, 16 February 1870, to choose a name for the
community then known as Locke’s Island. The first ballot recorded one vote for
Locke’s Island, 6 for Seaport, 7 for Lockeport and 8 for Ragged Island. Evidently
the meeting felt that the result was too close and held a run-off ballot between the
two favourites, concluding w ith 13 votes for Lockeport and 9 for Ragged Island.
“Moved by James G. Allan, Esq. and seconded by M r. S. B. Hammond that Chair­
man James McDonald, Secretary Brown and Howard Locke be a committee to
communicate with the Customs and Post Office to have the port now called Port
of Ragged Islands and the post office called Locke’s Island changed to Lockeport.”
( The Weekly Citizen, Halifax, 26 February, 1870, p. 4, col. 3)
The children of Samuel and Ann, or Nancy as she was often called, were o f the
eighth generation of Lockes in North America and fifth in Nova Scotia. Their
grandchildren make two more generations and they are now dead or in their
older years. G randchildren further along make twelve generations in North
America, and undoubtedly some o f them have children to make the thirteenth on
this continent. If they are also descended from the early Pilgrims they could add
another generation. Com plicating the tracing, many descendants went to live in
the United States. Nova Scotia was hard hit by the poor terms dealt to it in con­
federation and by the tariff imposed to protect the industry o f central Canada.
Those conditions along w ith the replacement o f sailing ships by steam freighters,
which required much capital, greatly diminished the seaborne traffic o f the mer­
chants o f Halifax and western Nova Scotia.
Some o f us have visited a small private burying ground on the place that once
belonged to Colin Campbell Locke. There on a bluff facing Cranberry Island are
about four remaining gravestones and also a wooden plaque naming, in rustic
lettering, those buried there (picture next page):

389
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

HONORABLE SAM U EL AND SENATOR JO H N LOCKE

The Canadian Biographical Dictionary: And Portrait G allery o f Eminent and

Self-made M en: Quebec and M aritim e Provinces. Toronto: American Biographi­
cal Publishing Company, 1881, pp. 512—513:

"The subject ofthis notice, a m em ber ofth e L egislative Council o f Nova Scotia,
dates his birth at Lockport, county o f Shelburne, on the 16th o f October, 1813.
His father, Samuel Lock sen., w as a n ative o f the same place, an d a West
Indian merchant. Hisgrandfather, Jonathan Locke, cam efrom Rhode Island,
and w as a pioneer settler at Lockport, the place being nam ed f o r him. His
mother, whose maiden name w as L etitia M cKillop, w as bom in Shelburne
County, her parents being fro m Ireland. In his youth, Samuel had a lim ited
education , being principally self-taught; a t thirteen w en t to sea; became master
o f a vessel at nineteen, an d fo llo w ed a seafaring life about tw en ty years,
being principally in the foreign trade. Since about 1846, Mr. Locke had been
a merchant at Lockeport, a tfirst in the fir m o f Samuel Locke and Brothers,
and latterly in the firm o f Samuel Locke an d Sons, theirs being one o f the
leading mercantile houses in that village.

"Mr Locke was sworn in as a m em ber o f the L egislative Council on the

5th March , 1881, and has attended only p a rt o f one session in that body;
hence in law-m aking he is a ‘raw hand ’ He has go o d sound sense, a practical
business turn o f mind, and w ill be likely to do well. In politics he is a con­
servative; in religion a Methodist.
Tn 1840 Mr. Locke was jo in ed in m atrim ony w ith M iss Ann Crowell,
daughter o f Freeman Crowell, fisherm an andfarm er, o f Shelburne County,
the issue ofth eir union being ten children, a ll liv in g but two. John an d H enry
are in partnership w ith their fa ther; E dwin is an artist a t Lockport; Frank,
a merchant in the same place; Albert is com pleting his education; Letitia is
m arried to Thomas Brown, Yarmouth; Eleanor, to Amasa Fiske, Lockport,
an d Elizabeth, to Robert Eakins, Yarmouth.

390
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

“Hon. John Locke, w ho d ied a fe w years ago, w hile a m em ber o f the Senate
o f the Dominion, w as a you n ger brother o f our subject. He serv ed fo r eight
years in the Nova Scotia Assembly before becom in g a senator and fo r a w hile
he w as in the executive council o f the province. He left a w id ow an d three
children, w ho reside a t Lockport. H e w as a w ell-inform ed man, thorough­
go in g and honest, a good counsellor, w idely and very much esteemed, his memory
still being w arm ly cherished. ”

ELLEN LOCKE’S DESCENT FRO M EDW ARD I TH RO UGH JO H N TH RO CKM O RTO N

1. Edward I, King o f England, 1272-1307, = Eleanor o f Castile

2. Joan Plantagenet, Countess o f Kent = Gilbert de Clare, 3rd Earl o f Glouces­
ter, 7th Earl o f Hertford
3. Eleanor de Clare = H ugh le Despencer, 1st Baron Despencer
4. Isabel Despencer = Richard FitzAlan, 9th Earl Arundel
5. Sir Edmund FitzAlan = Sybil Montagu
6. Philippa FitzAlan = Sir Richard Sergeaux
7. Phillipa Sergeaux = Sir Robert Pashley
8. Anne Pashley = Edward Tyrrell
9. Phillipa Tyrrell =Thomas Cornwallis
10. W illiam Cornwallis = Elizabeth Stanford
11. Sir John Cornwallis of Brome * M ary Sulyard
12. Elizabeth Cornwallis =John Blennerhasset
13. Elizabeth Blennerhasset = Lionel Throckmorton
14. Bassingborne Throckmorton = M ary H ill
15. John Throckmorton = Rebecca----------
16. Patience Throckmorton =John Coggeshall, first president of Rhode Island
17. Content Coggeshall = Samuel Norton
18. M ary Norton =Jonathan Locke
19. “Dr.” Jonathan Locke = Abigail Perry
20. Jonathan Locke, Jr. = Elizabeth Ryder
21. Samuel Locke = Letitia McKillip

391
 THE LOCKE CONNECTION

22. Honorable Samuel Locke = Ann Crowell

23. Ellen Locke = Amasa Homer Flske

Lines 1 to 15 are from The R oyal Descents o f 500 Im m igrants to the American
Colonies or the United States, by G ary Boyd Roberts, director o f special research
projects, New England Historic Genealogical Society (Baltimore: Genealogical
Pub. Co., 1993)
The ancestry of John Throckmorton is largely based on articles by George
Andrews M oriarty in the New England Historic Genealogical Register: vol. 98
(1944) at pages 6 7 -72 ,111 -12 3 and 279 and vol. 117 (1963) at page 234.
John Throckmorton is in the Ancestral Roots or M agna Carta, 1215 series edited
by F.L. W eis, W . I. Sheppard, Jr. and David Faris.

392
 XII
The Fiskes

ENGLAND

Two genealogists, G. Andrews M oriarty in the 1930’s and Jack O wenjevons in

the 1980’s, have studied the English origins o f our Fiske family w ith careful his­
torical process. In an article in the N ew E ngland Historical and Genealogical Regis­
ter (86: 406—435), M oriarty criticized two earlier works, an American one by
Frederick C. Pierce in 1896 and an English one by H enry fHske in 1902. He finds
in the Pierce book little useful m aterial on the family in England, numerous er­
rors, im portant omissions and incorrect conclusions and H enry ffiske had
uncritically borrowed from that book. M r. Jevons told me in a letter that Mr.
M oriarty had died suddenly and was unable to finish the last instalment o f his
serialized article. M r. Jevons has conducted further research by examining parish
registers, wills, muster rolls, taxation and court records, deeds and charters, local
histories and genealogies as well as the two pedigrees prepared in England long
ago by M atthias and Philip Candler. T he result is his Descendants o f Richard Fiske
o f Laxfield (Boulder, CO : compiler, 1987). M r. Jevons is descended from Richard
Fiske, whom he takes as his point o f departure because the genealogy is fairly sure:
before that it is based on probabilities. “From early times the family was very
prolific, and the records o f its various members about the beginning o f the six­
teenth century are, as is unusual in the case o f a yeoman fam ily o f this sort, very
voluminous and therefore confusing.”(p. 1) Mr. Jevons has assured me that Pierces
book “seems to be reasonably accurate on the American lines.” This chapter owes
much to the searches o f my son Jonathan at the Boston Library.

393
 THE FISKES

The earliest mention so far found o f Fiske in Suffolk goes back to 1 M ay 1208,
when the men o f Laxfield, including Daniel Fisc, received the park of Digneveton
as a grant. H e was probably a forebear o f Hugh Fiske, who was one of the jurors
appointed to inquire into the value of the ninth part of the sheaves and other
harvest of all churches, prebends and benefices in the Hundred o f Hoxne. A deed
of property dated 1345-6 in Edward the T hird’s reign is made in the name of
Hugh Fisqs. He was probably the father or grandfather o f another Hugh, born
about 1370, who in turn begot Simon Fiske, born about 1400 at Laxfield.
Now Simon Fiske was a wheelwright. He seems to have been married twice, his
first wife o f name unknown, his second Katherine, perhaps Crispe. His first wife
bore him perhaps the first four or five of his nine or ten children: W illiam , Geoffrey,
John the Elder, Edmund, M argaret, three daughters of name unknown, John the
Younger and Simon. His will o f 22 December 1463, proved by his widow Katherine
and John the Younger, gives interesting information.
G eoffrey*'F iske, bom possibly about 1435, married M argaret, whose maiden
name is unknown. They had five children. Both died in 1504 and left wills, which
were proved by M aster John, a priest.
Geoffrey^* Fiske (Geoffrey F(-)) and his son John were executors and residuary
legatees in 1536 o f Sir John Fiske, o f Laxfield, priest. By “elimination and the
repetition of the name Geoffrey in the family o f Richard”, M oriarty concludes
that Geoffrey Jr. was probably the father o f Richard o f Laxfield, from whom our
Fiske family is descended. Jevons concurs.
Richard15Fiske o f the Broadgates in Laxfield, bom about 1480, was the great-
great-grandfather o f M atthias Candler, who prepared a family pedigree but w ith­
out naming Richard’s father and mother. Unknown are Richard’s wife’s name, the
details o f his life and the date o f his death. The Candler pedigree credits Richard
with eleven sons but names only seven o f them.
Robert0 Fiske (Richard0), born about 1518 in Fressingfield, Suffolk, became a
wheelwright. In 1556 he fied to St. Jam es, South Elmham, according to the
Candlers, “for religion in Q[ueen] M aries dayes.” He married first Mrs Sibilla
Barbour nee Gold, who was buried 30 April 1571, and second Joan (surname
unknown), who was buried 3 August 1587. His sons Jeffery and Eliezar, his ex­

394
 THE FISKES

ecutors, proved his will in 1602 at M etfield, Suffolk. He devised his copyhold
tenement to his eldest son W illiam and a life estate in his freehold lands to his son
Eliezar, as w ell as sums o f money to his daughter Elizabeth, son Thomas, grand­
children and the poor.
Jeffery® Fiske (Robert0 RichardD), yeoman, born about 1552, lived most o f his
life at St. James. After the death o f his wife, M ary Cooke, in M ay o f 1614 he
divided his property among his children and spent his last days in Great Bentley,
Essex County, with his daughter M artha Underwood and her husband.
NathanAFiske (Jeffery® Robert0 Richard13) was born to Jeffery Fiske and M ary
Cooke in St. James about 1592. H e and his wife, whose name is unknown, had ten
children, five o f whom, including their eldest, Nathan Jr., emigrated to the M assa­
chusetts Bay Colony.

N EW ENGLAND

Fiske, N athan1, c l6 1 5 -7 6 (#256) was born about 1615 at St. James, South
Elmham. He emigrated to New England and settled in Watertown, where, prob­
ably, about 1641 he married Susan or Susanna, who regrettably belongs to the
sisterhood o f anonymity in that men-run society. H er maiden name may have
been Brown. T hey had their first child, Nathan Jr., 17 December 1642 and Sarah
next perhaps, whose birth is not recorded, then John 25 August 1647, David 29
April 1650 and N athaniel 12 Ju ly 1653. Nathan was admitted freeman 10 May
1643 and bought land 10 September o f that year. H e was chosen a selectman in
September o f 1673. H e died at W atertown 19 January 1676, leaving a will which
he had signed two days before and which was proved in October (Middlesex, 4:
249). H is sister M artha Underwood testified that before he died “he was very
crazy in his memory.” Susan, M rs. Nathan Fiske must have died before him , for
she is not mentioned in his w ill. H e bequeathed 30 shillings to Nathan Jr., “he
being already thorow the mercy o f God w ell provided for with my help formerly.”
To his son John he gave his house, barn, four upland acres and ten meadow acres
as w ell as some household goods and livestock. To David and Nathaniel he left
thirteen acres “lying in the further plain, to be equally divided between them.” He
mentions Sarah, whose husband, Abraham Gale, was a well-off selectman.

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 THE FISKES

Fiske, Nathaniel2,1653-1734(#128) (Nathan1) was born at Watertown 12 July

1653 to Nathan and Susan Fiske. There on 13 M ay 1677 he married M ary (W ar­
ren) Child, daughter o f Daniel Warren and M ary Barron and widow of John Child,
all ofW atertown. He was a weaver. Nathaniel and M ary Fiske had eight children,
the names o f whose spouses are in parentheses: Nathaniel, born 9 June 1678
(Hannah Adams); Hannah, born 30 August 1680 (Joshua Bigelow); John, bom
17 March 1682-3 (Lydia Adams); Sarah, bom 4 Ju ly 1684 (John Hastings); Lydia,
born 2 December 1687 (John Warren Jr.); Mary, baptized 20 April 1690 (James
Knapp); Elizabeth, born 24 June 1692 (Captain Benjamin Flagg) and Abigail,
born 28 August 1698 (Allen Flagg). Mary, wife and mother o f eight, died 12 M ay
1734. Nathaniel’s will of 10 June 1735, was proved 3 October.
Fiske, John3, 1 , 1682-1731 (#64) (Nathaniel2 Nathan1) was bom to Nathaniel
Fiske and M ary Warren on 17 M ay 1682 at Watertown, where he lived till he was
twenty-one, when he and his brother Nathaniel moved to Sherborn. Like his
father, he was a weaver. He married his cousin Lydia Adams, daughter o f Moses
Adams and Lydia W hitney on 31 July 1706 in her home town o f Sherborn. They
had eight children: John, born 1709; Lydia, 1712-1715; Isaac, 24 August 1714;
Daniel, 1716; Lydia, 1720; Peter, 1723; Abigail, 1727—1727; Nathaniel, 1730-
1756. John the father died on 8 M ay 1730 at the age o f forty-eight years, leaving
an infant and many other young children. The court granted to his widow the
administration o f the estate on 13 September 1731 after she had set out charges
for “supporting the deceased four youngest children sixteen months” and paying
M rs. Hannah Fiske (probably a sister-in-law, Nathaniel's widow) for nursing.
Fiske,John4, II, 1709-54 (#32) (John3NathanieP Nathan1) was bom at Sheibom
8 M ay 1709 to John Fiske and Lydia Adams. On 21 September 1731 he married
Abigail Leland, daughter o f Hopestill Leland Jr. and o f M ary (Bullard) Babcock,
widow o f Ebenezer Babcock. T hey had seven children: David, married Sarah
Bullard; Hannah, m. Mr. Fairbanks and Caleb H ill; Amos, m. Anne Bryant;John,
m. A b igail--------; Joel, m. Ruth Reed; Jonas, m. M ary H ill; M artha, died young;
Sally, remained single. John went to Boston on business, became ill and on return­
ing home died suddenly at the age o f forty-four on 7 March 1754 o f “what was
known in those days as the ‘great Holliston fever.’” David, his eldest son, was

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 THE FISKES

appointed administrator of the estate, the inventory o f which totalled £820. The
four younger boys, Amos, John, Joel and Jonas, who were between nineteen and
fourteen years of age, were placed under the guardianship o f their uncle Isaac
Fiske by order of the court in June of 1754.

NOVA SC O TIA

Fiske, John5, III, 1738-1817 (#16) (John4-3Nathaniel3 Nathan1) was bom at

Sherborn on 16 March 1738 to John Fiske and Abigail Leland Babcock. There on
25 October 1764 he married Sarah H ill, daughter o f Samuel H ill and Elizabeth
Partridge. They had six children, the names o f their spouses in parentheses): Abigail
(Capt. Samuel Learned); Sarah (Dr.Tapley W yeth); Ede (Aaron W hitney); John,
born 2 December 1778 (M atilda Coveil, then Catharine M unro); Sally, born 19
January 1783. W hen they moved to Nova Scotia is not recorded. No Fiske is listed
in Sm iths Pre-confederation Imm igrants to Nova Scotia. They may have emigrated
in the first years of the American W ar o f Independence. Because John (IV) was
born on 2 December 1778 at Barrington that sets the latest date o f their coming
to Nova Scotia. Edwin Crowell says o f John the father: “John Fiske was a cooper
who came to Cape Island. A fisherman and famous duck hunter” (p. 480). Pierce,
who does not mention the move to Nova Scotia, states that Sarah H ill died at
Sherburne 27 September 1813, that John Fiske married (2) A b ig a il_____ , and
that he died 20 November 1817
Fiske, John6, IV, born 1778 (#8) (John5 3Nathaniel2Nathan1), was bom to John
Fiske and Sarah Hill on 2 December 1778 at Barrington [?]. H e was living in
Lockeport on 10 March 1808 when he married M atilda Coveil, then eighteen or
nineteen, the daughter ofTimothy5 Coveil Jr. and Keziah Gardner. They had four
children: the twins Freeman and Kate, born 28 December 1808; Alfred, born 23
October 1812; Amasa, born 10 April 1815. M atilda died at the birth o f Amasa:
“M etilda Fisk W ife to John Fisk Deceased A pril 10th 1815.” “John Fisk 6c
Catharine Munro his 2nd W ife were M arried together Septr 10th 1816, per S. O.
Doane.”John and Catherine Fisk had one son, John, who died at two years of age,
and seven daughters, M atilda, Louisa, Eda, Delia, Catharine Ann, Ruth and Mary,
all listed in that order with birth dates in the Barrington Township Records (p.

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 THE FISKES

45). The eldest daughter, M atilda, married W illiam Cunningham o f Cape Sable
Island and they had four children. W illiam left Clark’s Harbour for Boston in his
ship with a cargo o f dry and pickled fish on 9 February 1860 and was lost the next
day in a severe storm. M atilda died at Centreville 2 February 1904. Their third
child Jo h n Fisk Cunningham, died there 21 M ay 1933 ten years after the death at
W altham, M A o f his son Roy, grandfather o f Nancy Cate o f South Carolina, one
of our e-m ail cousins.
Covell, Tim othy4 Sr., 1730-1812 (#36) (James31) was bom at Edgartown in
1730 to James Coveil and M ary Dunham. The last record o f his residence in
Martha’s Vineyard is dated 1757. On 26 February of thatyearThankfulW helden,
daughter of Elisha W helden and Lydia Nickerson, entered intention to marry
Tim othy Covell, o f Edgartown. The family emigrated to Nova Scotia and settled
first at Roseway. As Tim othy was moving his wife and children to Barrington, an
American privateer captured his vessel and landed them at Cape Negro. Accord­
ing to the Barrington records, Lydia Covell, daughter o f Tim othy and Thankful,
was bom 22 July 1775 (p. iii). Tim othy was living in Barrington in 1776 when he
was among those who signed a petition to the Massachusetts Congress for per­
mission to buy and transport supplies for their destitute families. In 1780 the
family occupied the lands forfeited by Captain James Bunker on The H ill in the
eastern part. T hey had two sons, Jonathan and Timothy, Jr.
Jonathan Covell married Parnel, daughter o f Simeon Gardner and Sarah Long,
and they lived at Cape Island and had six children, M argaret, m Seth Freeman,
lost at sea, then John Cheney; Jethro, m .R u th Smith and had six children; Sarah,
went to England as housekeeper ofjudge Haliburton and died there; Deborah, m.
Reuben Sm ith; Elizabeth, m. Archelaus Newell; and Lydia, m. Isaac Kenney and
then John Kendrick. M anager o f John Sargents m ill, Jonathan Covell drowned in
Barrington in 1812.

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 THEFISKES

Tim othy Coveil Sr. and Thankful had three daughters: Thankful, who married
Zebulon Gardner; L ydia who married H ezekiah Snow; M ary, who married
Barnabas Crowell, who was lost at sea in 1803, and then Samuel Westwood. The
Barrington clerk recorded the death o f Thankful, wife o f Timothy, but not the
date. “Thankful Covil W ife to Tim othy Covil Deceased”; “Timothy Covil died
Febry 29th 1812.”
Covell, Tim othy5Jr., 1765—1836 (#18) (Timothy4Jam es31) was bom 6 March
1765 at Yarmouth, Cape Cod, to Tim othy Coveil Sr. and Thankful W helden. He
married Keziah Gardner, bom 19 August 1769 (BTR, p.xvi) to Simeon Gardner
and Sarah Long. T hey settled on Cape Island at Centreville and later moved to
Liverpool, possibly in 1801. According to the Barrington Township Records (p.
6), between 1789 and 1806 Tim othy and Keziah had seven daughters: M atilda,
M aria, Dinah [D iana], Thankful, Elizabeth, C ynthia and Roxana. According to
Tim othy’s w ill, as we shall see, they also had a son Simeon, whose birth is not
found in the Barrington Township Records but who m ay have been the eldest.
W ithout giving dates, the B T R (p. 6) states that Tim othy and Keziah died at New
Settlement, Liverpool, probably meaning the northern district o f Queens County.
According to the obituary of Amasa Fisk in the L iverpool Advance o f 27 June
1900, Tim othy Covell, Jr. and his household moved to the Brookfield area about
1821. He is shown as a member of North Brookfield Baptist Church in 1830. In
1831 he bought land from the heirs o f Joshua H arding (Book 9, p. 623) and he
sold land to his grandson Amasa Fisk 14 November 1831 but after the first few
lines the text of the filmed deed is too faint to read (Book 11, p. 478).
Tim othy Covell made his will 9 April 1836 at Pleasant River, leaving all his
personal property to his “beloved wife Kezia to be used during her lifetime, and
after her death to be disposed o f in the following manner”: a cow to Jane, widow of
his son Simeon; five shillings each to daughters M aria (Mrs. Elisha Freeman),
Diana (M rs. Edward Burk) and Roxana (Mrs. James Dean Freeman) and to grand­
sons Freeman Gardner Fisk (M atildas eldest, bom 28 Dec. 1808: BTR), Raymond
Porter Fisk [?]. and Alfred Fisk; six sheep to grandson Simeon Gardner Covell; a

399
 THE FISKES

bed to granddaughter Emeline Covell; and the residue to grandson Amasa Fisk,
his executor. Evidently his children Thankful, Elizabeth and Cynthia had died
before this date. The drafter o f the w ill wrote the name C ovil and once Cove/ but
the testator signed Timothy Covell. (Queens County Probate, Estate A230).
Coveil, M atilda6, M rs John6Fiske, 1789-1815 (#9) (Timothy5 4James31), die
eldest child ofTim othy Covell Jr. and Keziah Gardner, was bom in 1789. In 1808
she married John6 Fiske, IV, o f Lockeport, when she was eighteen or nineteen.
M atilda had four children and died in her mid-twenties in the birth o f Amasa on
10 A pril 1815.
Gardner, Simeon5, 1728—1817 (#38) (Jonathan4James3Richard2Thomas1), one
o f the eleven children o f Jonathan Gardner and Patience Bunker, was born in
Nantucket 14 September 1728. He married Sarah Long, daughter o f Samuel Long
and Lydia Coffin. Simeon and Sarah moved to Nova Scotia in 1762. He was a
grantee in Barrington and gave some o f his land to his sons-in-law, Jonathan and
Tim othy Covell. Simeon and Sarah had three daughters and four sons. Through
their daughter Keziah they were grandparents o f Alfred and Amasa Fisk. F. F.
Tupper says that Simeon Gardner, a Nantucket Quaker, looked for a second wife
in Liverpool but her name was not Mrs. Kempton, as Edwin Crowell states, but
her daughter had married a Kempton. Simeon moved to Chebogue, near Yar­
mouth, in 1797 to be with a son and died in January of 1817.
Gardner, Keziah6, M rs Timothy5Covell, 1769- (#19) (SimeonsJonathan4James3
Richard2Thom as1) was born in Barrington 19 August 1769 to Simeon Gardner
and Sarah Long. She married Timothy5Covell Jr. and had a son and seven daugh­
ters, including M atilda Covell, the mother o f Alfred Fisk and Amasa Fiske Sr.

These are the immediateforebears o f Alfred and Amasa Fisk(e), the tw o broth­
ers whose ancestors and descendants, along w ith those o f their w ives, are the
subject o f this book. The sections to fo llo w are:first, the branch o f Amasa and
his wife, Abigail Smith, w ith a particular look at the line o f her mother, Eliza­
beth Barss; second, the branch o f Alfred and his wife, M ary Emma Smith,

400
 THE FISKES

w ith special attention to the line o fh er probable mother .; Patty Collins; third,
the descendants ofAmasa Homer Fiske, son o f Alfred and M ary Emma, and
his w ife , Eleanor (Ellen) Locke, daughter o f Hon. Samuel Locke and Ann
Crowell.

A M A SA FISK E -A BIG A IL SM ITH FAM ILY

Fiske, A m asa7, 1815-1900 (#4) (John63 Nathaniel2Nathan1), was bom to John6

Fiske, IV and M atilda Covell, who died in giving him life. The Barrington Town­
ship Records show his mothers death as 10 April 1815 and his birth the day after.
W hen his father remarried he probably was cared for by her parents, Timothy5
Coveil Jr. and Keziah Gardner, at Liverpool. The T. B. Smith Collection (PANS,
M G l, vol. 2394, no. 4) indicates that Tim othy Covell had moved there in 1801.
How and when Am asa went to Brookfield, Queens County, appears in his obitu­
ary in the L iverpool Advance, 27 June 1900:

The greater p a rt o f his life w as spent a t Brookfield, to which p la ce he came out

a child o f six years, fro m Barrington, Shelburne Co„ w ith his grandparents
Mr. and Mrs. Colville , who travelled a ll the w a y by horseback, there being no
carriage road at that tim e in this p a rt o f the province.

Actually the boy Amasa rode horseback w ith his grandparents to Brookfield,
not from Barrington but from Liverpool, which was far enough in those days. W e
know from the School Records of 1828-1834 at the Queens County Museum
that Amasa, 13 years, was attending Pleasant River School in 1828. Amasa Fiske
Sr. spent most of his life as a farmer in Brookfield. He and Abigail Smith were
married at Brookfield on 14 September 1842 by Reverend J. M elvin, according to
the family Bible. They had eleven children over twenty-four years.
Smith, Stephen5II, 1725-1807 (#40) (Stephen4John3Samuel2Ralph1),the only
child of Deacon Stephen4 Smith and Hannah Collins, was baptized on 18 De­
cember 1725. at Chatham, Cape Cod. After his mother died soon after his birth
he was brought up by the Collins family. A t Chatham about 1746 he married

401
 THE FISKES

Mehitable Eldredge, who had been born in 1729 to Nathaniel Eldredge and Sarah
Conant. They moved to Liverpool in 1760. Coming with them were their chil­
dren born in Chatham: Jonathan, born 27 August 1747, who married Elizabeth
Harrington; Stephen, III, 23 M ay 1749; Hannah, 8 M arch 1752, who married
Capt. John McIntyre; Bethiah, 5 M arch 1754, who married Benjamin Harrington;
Lodowick, 22 August 1756, d.y.; and Tabitha, 20 March 1759, who married W illiam
Cahoon (Chatham Birth Records). Stephen Smith, II did not like the lot he drew
for his main farm and so returned it but kept a town lot and built a house there.
He moved his family to Ragged Harbour at Port Medway, where he cleared land
for garden crops and fed his cattle on marsh hay. Additions to the family in the
Liverpool area were Sarah, born 1 July 1761, who married Ebenezer Harrington
Jr.; Mehitable, 12 M arch 1764, who married Abel Chadsey; Betty, 12 M ay 1765,
who married John Roberts; and Nathaniel, 22 June 1769, who married Ruth Millard
(V ital Records of Liverpool). Stephen Smith, II had a school and helped found
the Baptist church there. American Revolutionary invaders took their guns and
some supplies but did not harm them. About 1787 Stephen and M ehitable went
back to Liverpool to live, where he died on 9 September 1807 at age 82 and she
died on 4 September 1815 in her 86th year.They, their son Nathaniel and his wife
Ruth are buried in the Liverpool M ain Street Cemetery.
The w ill that Stephen Smith, II made five days before he died was probated 26
September 1807: “To my loving wife M ehitabel the whole o f my estate both real
and personal that I hold in the Township o f Liverpool except my wearing apparel
so long as she remain my widow and in case she should m arry then I give her one
cow and also the improvement of one third of my estate during her natural life.”
To his son Jonathan he gave the land at the shore “between m yself and Jonathan
Crowell” and also a town lot, all other land not given to Stephen and Nathaniel,
and in a codicil £20. To Stephen, III he gave a 30-acre lot at Sandy Cove and to
Nathaniel “my now dwelling and barn with the land they stand on”, two 5-acre
lots, and 70 acres more. Hannah, Bethiah, Tabitha, Sarah and Betty were to share
equally the household furniture. Hannah, Bethiah and Betty were to have 10 acres
each and Hannah was to have “the privilege o f living in my now dwelling” with

402
 THE FTSKES

use o f the garden as long as she remained unmarried. The w ill also remembered
the children o f Lodowick, who had died 15 November 1789, “being lost in a boat
bound to LaHave” (Liverpool V.R.). Nathaniel was named sole executor. Stephen
Smith X his mark. (W ill Book 2, p. 43)
Sm ith, Stephen6, III, 1749—1827 (#20) (Stephen5^*John3Samuel3 Ralph1) was
born at Chatham, Cape Cod, 23 M a y 1749 and came as a boy with his parents,
Stephen Smith and Mehitable Eldredge, in 1760 to Liverpool. He married Susanna
Godfrey, daughter o f Josiah Godfrey and Eunice Godfrey, on 1 August 1772 and
they settled at Great H ill, near Liverpool. These births are shown in the Vital
Records of Liverpool: Josiah, 7 A pril 1773; Stephen, IV, 31 March 1775; Susannah,
14 July 1777; Samuel, 24 April 1779; Eunice 7 November 1781 (d. 11 April 1801);
M ehitable, 31 December 1783, Lodowick, 10 July 1786-1817. After Susanna died
in 1795 Stephen Smith, III married Rebecca Nickerson, widow o f Joseph Free­
man. Stephen died 24 June 1827, age 78.
The w ill that he had made and signed with an X on 24 M arch o f that year,
naming his son Josiah and his brother N athaniel as executors, m ay be seen in W ill
Book 3, pp. 52-53, of the Queens County Probate Court. H e gave his wife Rebecca
a specified lot at Sandy Cove w ith one-half o f the house and a third o f the house­
hold furniture “during the Term o f her natural Life”. A fter her death a fourth of
the estate was for Joseph and the rest was the be divided into five equal shares: for
Hannah, wife o f David Barss; for M ehitable, wife o f Thomas W eeks; for Mary,
wife o f Stephen Emery; for the children o f his [dead] son Stephen; and for the
children o f his [dead] son Lodowick.
(References: Anne Borden Harding, “The W ills o f the Stephen Smiths, Father
and Son. o f Chatham ,M ass., and Liverpool, N.S.”. NEHGR, 122:49-50; Robert
L. Smith, “Smith”, PANS, vol. 28, no. 69 ,1979; probate and vital records)
Godfrey, SamueF, 1703-67 (#84) (Moses3George1) was bom at Chatham, Cape
Cod, about 1703 to Moses Godfrey and Deborah Cooke. Samuel Godfrey mar­
ried Thankful (?)Knowles - M rs. W hite deduces that her maiden name was prob-

403
 THE FISKES

ably Knowles. H is name was on the tax list o f people who moved from Chatham
before 1763 and was at the top o f a return o f settlers o f Yarmouth, Nova Scotia,
that was taken in June o f1764. He died there before 1767, when his widow Thankful
filed his will.
Godfrey, Josiah4, bom 1728 (#42a&h) (Samuel3Moses2George1) was bom at
Chatham in 1728 to Samuel Godfrey and Thankful (?)Knowles. On 7 Ju ly 1748
he married his first cousin Eunice Godfrey. H e served at Annapolis Royal in 1759
during the Seven Years W ar. Josiah, Eunice and probably six o f their children
came to Nova Scotia, where he was listed as an original proprietor with a grant of
1275 acres. H e paid £40 for John Clemon’s grant and sold it the following year.
H is fam ily appears in the Barrington census o f 1770 as one man, one woman,
three boys and five girls. T hey were living at Chebogue Point and then moved to
Liverpool. T hey had three sons, Josiah, Alexander and Moses, and six daughters,
M artha, Susanna, R uth, Elizabeth, Sarah and Mar}7.
Godfrey, M oses3, born ca 1705 (#86) (Moses2George1), a brother o f Samuel,
was bom at Chatham about 1705, a son o f Moses Godfrey and Deborah Cooke.
About 1726 he married M artha Collins, daughter o f John Collins and Hannah
Doane. After their fam ily was grown up they, Moses and M artha, were part o f a
Godfrey migration to Nova Scotia that included their children, Eunice, John and
Joseph, and M oses’brothers, David and Samuel. Simeon Perkins mentions Moses
in a journal entry o f 16 February 1773.
Eunice4 Godfrey, M rs Josiah4 Godfrey, 1731- (#43) (Moses3"2 George1) was
born at Chatham 24 February 1731, a daughter of Moses Godfrey and M artha
Collins. She married her first cousin Josiah Godfrey. In 1759-60 they moved to
Nova Scotia with probably six children. After her husband died, Eunice lived in
the home o f Simeon Perkins, “to school his children.”
Godfrey, Susanna5, M rs Stephen5 Sm ith, 1753-95 (#21) (Josiah4 Moses3'2
George1) was born at Chatham, Cape Cod, about 1753 to Josiah Godfrey and
Eunice Godfrey, first cousins. A t about age seven she moved with her parents and
siblings to Nova Scotia. At Liverpool on 1 August 1772 she married Stephen5

404
 THE FISKES

tiioa i3/la_,
* l i«M a'O nilK D HflMRT WMaMM4Pfi*FT
*2 lioanHea. GEO. BOU£R/W3aiMv.8ARB.SHnM
# 3 0664. OtO a,as& x,im4. STEPHEN HflPWWS
■6H- lif iS tL -.jJS i, a«Wa. & A SR IE L W M O V l
^yi«Wa,aBfr7fl. WKRm>^lK#ttr
■*6 l3 # - 4 a t f « ? H .8 u » r e * < M r r e o « E

Ancestry o f Abigail Smith, Mrs. Amasa Fisk

405
 THE FISKES

Smith, III, son o f Stephen4 Smith, II and Mehitable Eldredge. She gave birth to
nine Sm ith children, Josiah, Stephen, Susanna, Samuel, Eunice, M ehitable,
Lodowick, Lathrop and Alexander. Susanna died 29 M ay 1795 at the age of forty-
one. (Queens County Museum, A 93-98-10, Robert L. Smith, p. 18)
Smith, Josiah7, 1773-1852 (#10a) (Stephen6'4John3 Samuel2 Ralph1) was born
at Liverpool on 7 April 1773, the firstborn of Stephen Smith and Susannah Godfrey.
There on 3 January 1797 Rev. John Payzant married him and Esther Collins,
daughter of Stephen Collins and Ruth Collins and they had two children, Lewis
and Eunice. Esther died on 6 February 1803. Josiah Smith married a second time
at Liverpool on 5 January 1804, to Elizabeth Barss, daughter o f Captain Joseph
Barss and Elizabeth Crowell. Josiah was an able sea captain who fished in the
G ulf o f St. Lawrence. James More says that at the outbreak o f the W ar o f 1812
Captain Josiah decided he would have nothing to do with privateering. H e and
Elizabeth and their four little girls moved to the Northern District o f Queens
County and bought a property at Brookfield from W illiam Burke, who was prob­
ably the first white man to explore the interior o f the county. In 1798, urged by
him, some merchants o f Liverpool and Bristol, including Elizabeths father, Joseph
Barss, petitioned the governor, S ir John W entworth, to grant lands along the road
that had just been built north o f Liverpool to open up the district. A share was
2,000 acres and a half share 1,000. Josiah Smith likely had the backing o f his
father-in-law. Josiah “built the first framed and boarded house, and also a grist
mill. .His hospitable doors were ever open to the needy,. . . ” (R . R. M cLeod, p.
107). Josiah Smith and Elizabeth Barss had seven daughters and three sons:
Susannah, born 3 October 1804; Ann, 17 October 1806; Olivia, about 1808; Eliza­
beth, 1 March 1811; Roxanna,24 February 1813; Lydia, 10 October 1814; Abigail,
13 February 1818; Lewis, 21 M arch 1819; Stephen; and Sam uel,19 M ay 1824
(V ital Records of Liverpool, p. 198). Josiah lost his wife on 30 July 1848 at the age
of 68 and he followed almost four years later on 6 A pril 1852 at the age of 79.
Their graves are in the Pioneer Cemetery.
Smith, A bigail8, M rs Amasa7Fiske, 1818-86 (#5a) (Josiah7 Stephen6"4John3
Samuel2Ralph1) was born 13 February 1818 to Josiah Sm ith and Elizabeth Barss.
Her birth was registered in Liverpool but she may have been born in the family

406
 THE FTSKES

home in Brookfield. Abigail married Am asa Fiske and she gave birth to eleven
children over twenty-four years. She died in 1886 at the age o f sixty-eight.
Barss,Joseph5, H on., 1754—1826 (#22a) (Joseph4Benjamin3Joseph2Augustine1)
was baptized at Barnstable, Cape Cod, 14 A pril 1754, the son o f Joseph Bearse
and Lydia Deane. H e came as a boy to Nova Scotia w ith his mother and step­
father,Thomas Annis. On 18 November 1773Joseph married Elizabeth Crowell,
a daughter o f Jonathan Crowell, a Liverpool grantee, and Anna Collins. They had
twelve children in this order between 1774 and 1802: Lydia, Joseph, John, Eliza­
beth, James,Thomas, Eunice, Caroline, Tryphena, Sophia, M ary and A bigail (Liv­
erpool V .R .,p.56). Captain Barss commanded the L iverpool Packet, 67 tons,which
took nineteen prizes in two cruises. On her third cruise she was forced to strike to
an American privateer, the Thomas, twice her size. He was taken prisoner and is
said to have been kept in close confinement at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by
order of the American government. James More wrote that during the Napo­
leonic W ar Captain Joseph was taken prisoner by the French and kept for two
years, during which his family did not know where he was. One evening Elizabeth
and the children were surprised when he opened the door, much like the return of
Ulysses, only Elizabeth was not surrounded by suitors and her cupboard was al­
most bare. Impoverished, Joseph Barss, hauled timber w ith an ox and made shin­
gles for sale. A French privateer entered Liverpool harbour and fired at Fort M or­
ris but overshot so that the cannon balls landed around the Barss house. After
spending the night sheltered under a rock the family returned and found no great
damage done. Joseph became prosperous enough in trade by 1798 to build a large
home at Deans Point. At intervals, however, he lost almost £4,000 to French
cruisers. In 1813 the French took his brig Caroline , commanded by his son John,
and landed the crew at a neutral island in the W est Indies. John chartered a ship
and came back to Liverpool with a cargo. Despite ups and downs, Joseph Barss
became a successful shipping merchant and ship owner and a member o f the Leg­
islative Assembly. H e was one o f a group o f merchants who opened up the north­
ern district o f Queens County and got large grants o f land. In 1824 he turned over
the business to John and James and to his son-in-law W illiam Taylor. He died at
Liverpool 11 August 1826.

407
 THEFISKES

( Reference: Jam es F. More, History o f Queens County, pp. 154—6)

Barss, Elizabeth6, M rs Josiah7Smith, 1780- (# lla) (Joseph5*4Benjamin3Joseph3
Augustine1) was bom at Liverpool on 2 June 1780 to Joseph Barss and Elizabeth
Crowell. Elizabeth Barss married Captain Josiah Smith at Liverpool on 5 January
1804 (V .R .,p. 198).T hey moved to Brookfield about 1812. She was the mother o f
seven daughters and a son.
Crowell, Jonathan5, 1719-76 (#46a) (Paul4John11), son o f Paul Crowell and
Elizabeth H allett, was born at Chatham, Cape Cod 25 February 1718—9. He
married on 13 Ju ly 1738 Anna Collins, daughter o f John Collins and Hannah
Doane. They moved to Nova Scotia about 1760 with seven children to take up a
grant o f land. On 16 M ay 1762 they had a daughter Abigail (Liverpool V.R.,
p.8.). H e died 15 February 1776 at the age o f fifty-seven.
Crowell, Elizabeth6, M rs Joseph Barss, born 175? (#23a) Crowell, (Jonathan5
Paul4John3'1) was born 24 December 1756 or 1759 at Chatham, daughter of
Jonathan Crowell and Anna Collins. She married Captain Joseph Barss. She was
the mother o f eight daughters and four sons.
Fisk, A m asa7, 1815-1900 (#4a): Having traced connected families, we return
to Amasa Fisk and A bigail Smith at Brookfield, where they had eleven children,
whose names and years o f birth are
Em ily 1843
John 1845
Eliza 1846
Raymond 1848
Adelia 1851
Joseph B. 1852
S. Alena 1854
M ary Ida 1857
Ralph Busby 1859
Amasa E. 1860
Annie E. 1863

408
 THE FISKES

The family is shown as Methodist in the 1881 Census (dist. 12, sub 11, p. 18,
family 73, PANS Reel 13650). Some time after Abigail died in 1886, Amasa went
to live with his son Busby in Clarence, Annapolis County. His name appears in
the 1891 census o f that place (Dist. 26, Sub 7, Family 23) and he died there. He
was buried beside his wife in the South Brookfield Community Cemetery. The
rest o f the obituary that appeared in the Liverpool Advance on 27 June 1900 reads
as follows:

It may be said ofM r. Fiske that he possessed a strict individuality ofh is own,
an d being a man o f deep research, he w as very interesting to converse with.
He also possessed a spirit o f humor, w hich made him a frien d o f you n g people.
Early in his life he was converted and baptized by Rev. Jam es Parker, who
w as pastor o f Brookfield at that time. The Saviour o f his youth rem ained
precious until death. He had a fa m ily ofeleven children, o f whom seven are
still living: M rs Simon Douglas, o f P ort Joli; John Fisk, Houston, Texas;
R aym ond Fisk, Musquodoboit; Mrs. Gilbert Gardner, Liverpool; Busby Fisk,
Mrs. Fred Banks, Clarence, and Amasa Fisk, Washington, DC.*

*Fisk, Emily8, b 1843, daughter of Amasa Fisk and A bigail Sm ith was bom at
Brookfield 21 June 1843. Em ily Fisk married Simon Douglas, o f Port Joli, son o f
W illiam Douglas, a Scottish immigrant. Simon, who was thirteen years older than
his wife, died 14 M ay 1918 at the age o f seventy-five. In the 1891 Census (Queens
Co, District 40, Sub-district 4b Port Mouton), Simon was shown, age 59, as a
M ethodist farmer and fisherman, Emily as age 47, w ith five Douglas offspring:
John, 22: farmer-fisherman
Ada, 19: school teacher
M innie, 15‘; Janet, 13; Lina, 11: scholars
In the 1901 census, the household appeared as follows: Simon Douglas, born
14 June 1831; Emily, 21 June 1843; son John, 4 November 1867.
*Fisk,John8,1845-1927(A m asa7John63 Nathaniel2 Nathan1) the second child
of Amasa and Abigail, bom in 1845, married at Brookfield on 4 M arch 1869
Amanda Morse, daughter o f Constant Church Morse and Frances Sangster (bom

409
 THE FISKES

at Lakeville, Kings County) and a descendant o f a M orse who helped to found

Dedham as well as o f W illiam Nickerson, the founder o f Chatham. John was
shown as a farmer in the 1871 Census o f Brookfield. (PANS Reel 13622, no. 84)
Amanda was twenty-one and they had a year-old son, W illiam . On 23 September
1875 the family moved to Crete, Nebraska, accompanied by A m andas mother
and father, who gave her a Bible to commemorate that day and who died there five
years later. John, Amanda and their three children moved to Houston, Texas in
1895 and he engaged in farming, lumbering and oil production. T hey had three
more children. John died 12 March 1927 and Amanda lived to be 96,outliving
three o f her children and dying 16 October 1946. The children o f John Fisk and
Amanda M orse were:
1. W illiam Valentine Fisk, 1870-1924), m. Elizabeth W heless,1878—1935
(1) Elizabeth Rae Fisk, born 1947
(2) Lyndith Ann Fisk, bom 1949
2. Carrie M aude Fisk (1873—1913), m. Fred Eichwurtzel
(1) Esther Morse Eichwurtzel,1909-52, m. Gilbert Prince, 1902-1972
a. Freddie Prince, bom 1938
b. Carolyn Prince, born 1940
3. Guy Blanchard Fisk, 1874-1937, m. Caroline Sharman, 1880-1963
(1) Glenn Harley Fisk, 1900-1995 m. B essie-------
a. Glenn Harley Fisk, Jr. m. Delores Lozano
(a) Shane Fisk
(b) Sheila Fisk
(c) Sherry Fisk m. David Hart
/I/ Kyle Hart
/2/ Christie Hart
(2) Harvey Guy Fisk, 1902-1951 m. M ary Isabella Nias, 1904-1964
a. M ary Isabel Fisk, b. 1927 m. (i)Robert V. Burnett, born 1917
(a) M ichael L Burnett, b. 1947 m. Sharron Diane Little
/l/ Maryellen Burnett m. Scott David Greene
/a/ Andrew C . Greene, b. 26 Sept. 1996
/2/ Catherine Ann Burnett

410
 THE FISKES

(ii) Julio Gonzalez

(3) Jesse Alton Fisk, 1904-1956 m. Margaret Stevens, bom 1917
a. Jesse Alton Fisk, Jr.
b. Carolyn Ann Fisk
(4) Aubry Blanchard Fisk, 1912-1988 m. Elizabeth Carson, born 1911
a. Aubry Blanchard Fisk, Jr., b. 1943 m. [i]V icki Casey, b 1946
(a) Stacy Ann Fisk, born 1970
(b) Shannon Casey Fisk, bom 1976
[ii] M ary Ann M iller
4. Lena Belle Fisk (1883-1958), m. W . Abraham Smith
(1) Gordon Smith
5. Ruth Morse Fisk, 1890-1972 m Robert Harris Kenady Davis
(1) Lloyd Kenady Davis, born 1919 m. Helen Liebert
a. Susan Davis
b. Terry Davis
c. Kenneth Davis
(2) Joyce Carolyn Davis, born 1923 m. W illiam Thompson
6. John Robert Fisk, 1892-1955 m Ila M organ, died 1971, no issue
The Fisk family have been engaged in the electrical business since John and
Amanda’s sons W illiam and Guy set up an electrical contracting partnership, which
was succeeded by the Guy B. Fisk Electric Company. A t one time there were
twenty-two electricians in the Fisk family o f Texas. Fisk Electric now operates
world-wide. M ary Isabel Gonzalez is retired from her accounting position in the
firm. H er son, M ichael Burnett, is a banker.
(References: Canada Census 1871, Brookfield; e-m ail letters from M ichael
Burnett and his mother, M ary Fisk Gonzalez, Houston; Lalia Estey (Fiske) Corbett
Sc Edson Eugene Dailey, unpublished “Stories o f the Fisk Family”, 1966)
*Fisk8, Eliza, 1846-63:To continue with the children o f Amasa Fisk and Abigail
Smith! In the South Brookdale Community Cemetery there is a gravestone for
Eliza Fisk, who was born 3 June 1846 and died 18 January 1863 at the age o f
seventeen.

411
 THE F1SKES

*Fisk, Raymond8, 1848-1932 (A m asa^ohn^N athanieFN athan’) was born 1

August 1848 in Brookfield. M argaret (Peggy) Hamilton has passed on a story
about Amasa and his son Raymond: “The family had at least one very hard winter,
existing mainly on potatoes. It was necessary to slaughter an ox for food. Raymond
, my great-grandfather, was to hit it over the head. He could not do the deed so he
ran and hid in the woods for the day. Amasa had to do it himself.”
Raymond Fiske married Elizabeth Fisher at Halifax in 1872. They moved to
Upper Musquodoboit, Halifax County, with all their goods piled in their horse-
drawn cart. For a time he made his living as a river driver, a very heavy but active
man. The Census of 30 A pril 1891 lists him as a 42-year-old Presbyterian farmer.
(Dist. 24, sub 22 , p. 44) His household comprised his wife, nee Elizabeth Fisher,
40, her mother, Esther Fisher, 79, and the couple’s children:
Elsie 17 Anne 16 Edson 15 Frank 10 Clarence 5 M abel 3
The 1901 census of M iddle Musquodoboit, District 33b, showed:
Raymond and Elizabeth; Edson, bom 19 October 1875; Annie, 31 M ay 1879;
Frank [Raymond], 11 December 1880; Clarence, 4 A pril 1886; M abel, 28 June
1887; Elma, 28 A pril 1893.
Raymond died 12 February 1932 . H is surviving children were his three sons,
his daughters, M rs. P.P. Holman, M iddle Musquodoboit, Mrs. H. Crowe (Annie),
o f Tulsa, Oklahoma, and M rs. H. Parsons, Verdun, M anitoba, as well as his sib­
lings R. Busby Fisk, M rs. Ida Gardiner and M rs. Fred Banks.
Elsie Ida Fisk, born in 1873 (according to the family Bible) to Raymond Fisk
and Elizabeth Fisher, married Prescott Holman, o f M iddle Musquodoboit, who
died in September o f 1941. Surviving her were her daughters M rs Roy McCurdy'
(A lice) and M rs. W esley Fox (A nnie) and her H olm an sons Raym ond o f
W atertow n, M a ss., E arl o f M attap an , M ass., Ira and F rank o f M id d le
Musquodoboit and John o f Nanaimo, B.C. as well as two brothers, Frank Fisk o f
M iddle Musquodoboit and Clarence Fisk o f Knox, Indiana.
Clarence Fisk, bom 4 A pril 1886 to Raymond Fisk and Elizabeth Fisher, mar­
ried M ary Kaulback o f M iddle Musquodoboit, who moved w ith him to Knox,
Indiana, and survived him when he died about 1962 at the age o f seventy-seven.

412
 THE FISKES

Frank Raymond9 Fisk, born 11 December 1880, was a son of Raymond Fisk
and Elizabeth Fisher. His first wife was the mother of two small children when
she died. Frank Fisk married his second wife, Elsie Ferguson, 20 A pril 1911 and
they had six sons, three o f whom died in infancy. Frank died in 1966.
Guy10 Hubert Fisk, born in 1915, one o f the surviving sons of Frank Fisk and
Elsie Ferguson, married Jean Archibald in 1941. T hey had three daughters,
M argaret11’ (Peggy), Heather and Sandra. Peggy Hamilton was a teacher in a re­
gional school near W indsor and is now with the Regional Library in Windsor.
[* llth Fisk(e) generation in North America but 13th generation, taking descent
from Stephen Hopkins, M ayflow er passenger]
(References: 1891 and 1901 Census o f M iddle Musquodoboit, N .S.; Corbett
and Dailey, pp. 65-66; E-m ail letters from M argaret Hamilton to me 21 October
and 3 November 1996)
*Fisk, Adelia8, 1851 -b ef1894, was born at Brookfield 18 January 1851, daughter
of Amasa Fisk and A bigail Smith. Adelia Fisk was married 30 October 1879 at
the age of twenty-eight to Newton M inard, son o f W heeler M inard and Lydia
Barss Collins. They lived in Harmony M ills. The 1891 Census (Queens Co. Dis­
trict 40 Subdistrict 13C Kempt) found Newton, 42, Methodist, farmer, and Adelia,
40, and three sons and two daughters, named Minard:
Tracy 8 Jay 6 Freeland 6 Z illa 3 Lydia 1
Adelia died in January o f 1892. On 16 M ay 1894 Newton M inard married
Lydia Jane Peters, fourteen years younger than he, and in the 1901 census they
had a six-year-old child named Lillian, born 7 March 1895. By this time Tracy
was out o f the home, at least on census-taking day, but Zilla, born 12 January 1888
and the twins, Ja y and Freeland, bom 20 M ay 1884, were still at home. The youngest
child o f the first marriage, Lydia, who would have been 11, was not in the home
on census day and may have died. Newton died in 1924 at the age o f seventy-six.
** Fisk, Joseph B8., born 11 Ju n el85 2, and Fisk, A lena8, born 24 M ay 1854,
were the next to arrive in the fam ily o f A m asa Fisk and Abigail Smith. T hey lived
short lives. Joseph Fisk died o f heart disease 18 M ay 1870 at the age o f eighteen
and Alena Fisk died 7 February 1878 when she was twenty-three.

413
 THE FISKES

* Fisk, M ary Ida8, 1857—1942, known as Ida was bom 15 April 1857. Ida Fisk
married at Liverpool in October o f 1884 Gilbert Gardner, a member o f the Bap­
tist Church who lived on the homestead at Sandy Cove, near that town. In 1900
they were living in Liverpool. In 1891 the census o f Brooklyn, Queens Co. Dis­
trict 40, showed Gilbert Gardner, a 47-year-old ship carpenter, and his wife, M ary
Ida, 34, without any other member in the household. I could not find them in the
1901 census. Ida died at Clarence, Annapolis County, 24 March 1942.
* Fisk, Ralph Busby3, 1858-1939, (Amasa7John6'3Nathaniel- Nathan1) was bom
27 September 1858 at Brookfield, the ninth child o f Amasa Fisk and Abigail
Smith. Known as Busby, he and a friend found a vein o f gold at M olega, about
three miles from his home. Not having the capital to develop the mine, they sold
the find to a company for $3,000 each. Busby was a farmer 22 years old in the
Brookfield census o f 1881. H e m arried L illie M ay , daughter o f David H.
MacPherson and Lavinia Parker, at North Brookfield 27 September 1883. In the
census ten years later he was farming at Clarence, Annapolis County, where he
had used his gold-mine stake to raise a herd o f Herefords and eventually to buy a
sawmill. In the census household were: L illie, his wife, 28, and their daughters,
Cora L., 7; Eva M ., 4; and Nina, 6 months; as well as Amasa Sr., 76, a widower,
and his daughter Annie, 27, a dressmaker. (District No. 26 Annapolis, sub-district
7, family no. 23)
In the 1901 census Busby and Lillie had one more child, Raymond David, bom
22 M arch 1897. Other birthdates were: Cora, 18 M ay 1884; Iva, 17 February
1887; Nina, 6 October 1890. A son, Ralph Amasa had died at the age of two.
Busby died at Clarence 15 A pril 1939 and Lillie died at the home o f her daugh­
ter Cora, M rs Vernon Messenger, at Paradise, Annapolis County, 21 January 1944.
Raymond David Fisk, born at Clarence 22 M arch 1897, son o f Busby Fisk and
L illie MacPherson, married Jean, daughter o f John Sutherland and Catherine
Reid, at Holme Rose, Scodand, 12 December 1918, just after his service in the
first world war. They built a new house in Clarence and had seven children, two
daughters who died shortly after their birth, and five sons: Donald, Frederick,

414
 THE FISKES

Leon, John and Ralph. Raymond farmed, managed the Valley Fruit Company
and then worked in the provincial Department of Agriculture. His wife died 18
February 1961 and he died at the Soldiers’ M emorial Hospital, Middleton, 24
November 1972 after a long illness.
1. Donald Sutherland Fiske, born 28 January 1920, attended Acadia Univer­
sity. A sergeant-pilot, he was shot down over the North Sea in October of
1941 and was buried in Denmark.
2. Frederick Lockhart Fiske, born 25 M arch 1922, m. Ella, daughter o f Col.
Edgar Power and Ella M cN eil; managed a large farming and stock-raising
company and later worked w ith the Department o f Agriculture, Dairy Herd
Services. Lives at Lawrencetown. 3 ch.:
a. Donald, m. Jud y Brown; 3 ch.: Kimberly, Lynda and Donya
b. Edgar m. A lice Baker; 3 ch.: Nicole, Colin and Shannon
c. Raymond m. Deborah Taylor; 2 ch.: Tammy and Jennifer
3. Leon Gordon Fiske, born 15 M ay 1924, m. Shirley, d/o Howard and Lula
Corbett, February 1944. Leon developed a form machinery business, de­
stroyed by fire in 1966; president o f Mid-Valley Cable, which he later sold.
Leon and Shirley, of Lawrencetown, have 2 ch.:
a. M elanie and her husband, Gary Dill, live in Windsor, NS
b. Jeffrey m. M ona Steadman; 2 ch.: Jeffrey, Jr. and Chelsea
4. John Raymond Fiske, bom 6 A pril 1926, m. Lynne McNerney, dietitian. A
graduate o f Acadia and the NS Technical College, with degrees in civil engi­
neering and traffic engineering, John became the provincial traffic authority
in 1957 but left three years later for a construction company which became
Fiske and Stevens. As president o f Historic Properties, Ltd., he assembled
twenty-two old waterfront buildings and developed a fascinating group of
shops, the home o f the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the moor­
ing place o f Bluenose II. Order o f Canada and honorary doctorate. Five chil­
dren: Patricia, Julie, Jock, Sharon and Joan.
(References: Halifax M ail-Star , 30 January 1975, pp 1 6t 16; Fourth
Estate, 11 February 1976, p. 5; Stonier, as below)

415
 THE FISKES

5. Ralph Ferguson Fiske, born 1 July 1931, m. Clare Longley. A motel owner o f
New Glasgow, Leon was elected member for Pictou Centre in die NS House
o f Assembly, was M inister o f the newly formed Department o f Develop­
ment; resigned to become president o f the NS Liberal Association; chairman
o f the NS Lottery and Casino in 1996. Three children: Heather, PhD Psy­
chology; Allan (US); and Shari.
(Reference: Jan (Sarsfield) Stonier, The Descendants o f Timothy C ovel and John
Sutherlandy\997)
Fisk, A m asa E.8, bom 1860, the last child but one o f Amasa F isk and A bigail
Smith, was bom at Brookfield in 1 8 6 0 .1 have not been able to trace Am asa E.
Fisk since the 1881 census. That census showed Amasa, 66. M ethodist, farmer;
Abigail, 63; M ary Ida, 24; Busby, 22, farmer; Amasa, 21, labourer; and Annie, 17.
W e read in his fathers obituary that young Amasa emigrated to W ashington, DC.
From her father, Guy Fiske, M argaret H amilton has learned: “Amasa E., who
went to Washington, disappeared forever. Efforts were made to trace him by his
father but he had no success. It was generally assumed that he had met with foul
play. At the time his immediate fam ily felt he would not just forget about them.”
His father’s obituary in 1900 still listed Amasa Fisk, ofW ashington, D. C ., among
the seven children still living although some members of the fam ily speculate that
he stayed and died somewhere in Canada.
* Fisk, Annie8, 1863-1959, was born in Brookfield 1 August 1863, the young­
est child of Amasa Fisk and A bigail Smith. Annie Fisk married Fred W . Banks, of
Clarence, son of Isaac Banks and Eliza Foster, on 6 June 1892 in her brother
Busby’s home, whither she had moved with her aged father. In 1901 the census
showed the couple living together without issue. Fred’s birthdate was 3 February
1865 and he died 4 June 1951 at age eighty-six. Annie died at Clarence 18 M ay
1959 at age ninety-five.

ALFRED FISK -M A R Y EM M A SM ITH FA M ILY

Fisk, Alfred7, 1812-83 (#4) (John6'3Nathaniel2Nathan1), the third child ofjohn

Fisk and M atilda Covell, was born 23 October 1812 in Barrington Township
(B.T. Records, p. 450). Unlike his younger brother, Amasa, who was brought up in

416
 THE FISKES

Liverpool Township and then from 1821 in Pleasant River by his grandparents
Timothy Covell J r . and Keziah Gardner after their mother died in 1815 and their
father remarried, Alfred seems to have found a home with one of his mother’s
married sisters who lived in the Brookfield area, perhaps Roxana, M rs James Dean
Freeman. The Queens County School Records, 1828-1834 list Amasa, age 13, at
the Pleasant River School in 1828, whereas Alfred, age 14, is listed at the Brookfield
School in 1829. The teacher had trouble with ages: he was at least 16.
This family was actively Baptist. The North Brookfield Baptist Church Record
Book, 1827-1857 (Acadia University Archives) begins with “A short sketch of the
first Emigration into the Country of Brookfield and Pleasant River in the year of
our Lord 1798” and recounts the move from Liverpool o f W illiam Burke, James
Daily and Simeon Freeman. “November the 21st 1822 whereas the Lord in his
providence has Sent his Gospel into their wilderness”, Brother Ainsley preached
his first sermon. The Records o f 1837-1917 state, “The first Baptist Church in
this place was financed by the Rev Thomas A insley on the first day o f December
1828.” The name o f Alfred Fisk, now sixteen years old, was on the list o f those
who in that year “Related their Experience expressed a Desire to be Baptized and
Embrace the articles.” Most of the relatives and neighbours belonged to this church
which included North Brookfield, Kempt, Caledonia and Pleasant River. The
records report the meetings o f “the committee”, subscriptions, the admission and
‘dismission’ o f members, but no registration o f marriages, births, deaths or burials.
If the minister kept such a record book, he either destroyed it or took it away with
him. W ithout compulsory registration then o f such vital information, the modem
historian of those families must fervently hope for the survival o f family Bibles.
Alfred Fisk married M ary Emma Smith, according to the unpublished “Stories
of the Fisk(e) Family” by Corbett and Dailey. Alfred and M ary were probably
married in Brookfield about 1834, for their first child was born in late 1835. On
28 July 1838 Alfred Fisk, farmer o f Kempt, paid £100 to James Dean Freeman
and his wife Roxina, o f Pleasant River, for a farm o f 200 acres (Lot 10 in the

417
 THE FISKES

.•SvYCorrsuBC
B£V-r,mv
r_

5 S ® 5 ?S v ‘

Ancestry o f Alfred Fisk

418
 THE FISKES

Second Division) with house and other buildings (Registry o f Deeds, vol. 12, p.
256). Roxina, a daughter o f Timothy Coveil and Keziah Gardner, was Alfred’s
aunt. Two other Covell aunts in the county were M aria, married to Elisha Free­
man, of Pleasant River, and Diana, the wife of Edward Burke, of Liverpool.
Alfred Fisk subscribed two shillings to the church in 1829 and five shillings in
each of the next three years. In 1844: “Brother Alfred Fisk to be a circulator and
collector for Brookfield.” The same in 1847. His daughter M atilda, sixteen, was
received for baptism in 1851. In 1852 and 1855 he was appointed to “the commit­
tee”. L iverpool Transcript, 11 October 1855: “M arriage at Brookfield, on Tuesday
the 2nd instant, by the Rev. H enry Angell, Mr. James S. Dailey and M atilda Covel,
eldest daughter o f Mr. Alfred Fisk, all of Brookfield.” No mention of the mother
of the bride! Alfred and M ary Fisk appear on the North Brookfield church list of
1857 but not after. Their granddaughter, Helen Fiske,M rs. Charles Jackman, told
her daughters that M ary was a matron or housekeeper at Acadia College while
Helen’s father, Amasa Homer Fiske, was studying there. The university has been
asked whether a record o f M ary Smith Fisk survives despite two fires there, in
1877 and 1920, but it has not replied. Acadia College Catalogues 1861— 89 shows
Amasa Fisk, o f Wolfville, as a student for the years 1858 to 1862 and his younger
brother Samuel Fisk, o f Wolfville, for only one year, 1861. The census o f that year
shows the fam ily neither in Brookfield nor in Wolfville, but that census was less
than efficient in recording households. On 1 April 1861 Alfred and M ary Fisk, o f
Wolfville, sold for £130 to Thomas R. Patillo, merchant o f Liverpool, a farm of
100 acres “lying and being in the Northern Part o f the County o f Queens” (Reg­
istry of Deeds, vol. 18, p. 103). Note that there is no record o f Alfred Fisk buying
land in Kings County, a fact that supports the supposition that he and his wife
were probably employees o f Acadia College from 1858.The census o f 1871 shows
Alfred and M ary Fisk and their daughter Loemma as members o f their household
in Wolfville. W here was Laleah? Perhaps she, too, was teaching in a country school.
Corbett and Dailey state that Alfred and M ary and the twins, Laleah and Loemma,
joined their son Samuel in St. Charles, Illinois in 1872. One, finds, however, a
record o f the grave o f Loemma N. Fiske, died 14 August 1873, age 23 years, in the
Lockeport Church St. Cemetery. Was Loemma visiting her brother Amasa Homer

419
 THEFISKES

Fiske when she died or had her family moved briefly to Lockeport, Nova Scotia,
before leaving for St. Charles? A t any rate, Alfred was sixty or a year more when
he moved away. He died in November of 1883 while visiting his son, Rev. Samuel,
at Duarte, CA, and was buried there.
Smith, M ary Emma8, M rs Alfred7 Fiske, 1811-93 (#5h) : (hypothetical line,
Alexander7 Stephen6'4John3 Samuel2 Ralph1) Only Corbett and Dailey call her
M ary Emma: she appears as M ary Fisk in records of church, land deed, census
and newspaper report of death, but there is no reason to doubt the middle name,
for she called one of the twins Loemma and her daughter M atilda named a daughter
M ary Emma. Corbett and Dailey give the date of birth o f M ary Emma Smith as
12 October 1811 but another chart by D ailey shows 1812, and they give exact
birthdates for Alfred and M ary’s five children without citing a source, which, in
view o f the absence of public record, must have been the family Bible or a copy of
its vital entries. The two family historians did not know M ary’s parentage and
wondered whether she was related to the “1761 Smiths” who came from New
England to western Nova Scotia about then.
If M ary Emma Smith had been born in Barrington or Liverpool, which kept
vital records, or if her parents had belonged to the Congregationalist Church o f
Liverpool or the Anglican Church o f Shelburne or a Roman Catholic church, as
an infant she would have been entered into the written history o f her birthplace.
The search for her parents and her place o f birth is, therefore, difficult after 185
years. A t die Public Archives o f Nova Scotia in Halifax, I looked at writings and
notes, w ills, deeds and marriage bonds relating to the Smith families o f Shelburne,
Queens, Lunenburg, Hants and Kings Counties. I sought a M ary Smith born at
that time who did not marry a man other than Alfred Fisk. I looked for a Samuel
Smith who m ight have been her father or her brother, for she called her second
son Samuel Smith Fisk. I had in mind that in every generation among the de­
scendants o f Ralph Smith there had been a Samuel. For a time I hoped that Samuel,
born at Liverpool 24 A pril 1779 to Stephen Smith and Susanna Godfrey, and
brother o f Captain Josiah, m ight turn out to be M ary Emma’s father. Simeon
Perkins’Journal o f August 1797 recounts how Samuel Smith and a son o f Joseph
Barss had been impressed by the Royal Navy and how Captain Joseph had them

420
 THE FISKES

*' GEa6»*fc»<- SARS-SWiTTH

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Ancestry o f M ary Emma Smith, Mrs. Alfred Fisk

421
 THE FISKES

released. According to Perkins’ entry o f 29 M ay 1800, Samuel had died aboard the
Goodfortune on a voyage to the W est Indies. H e was only twenty-one and was not
likely married. His father in the will o f 1827 did not make a bequest to children of
Samuel as he had to the children o f his deceased sons Stephen and Ludowick
(Queens Co. Probate Court, W ill Book 3, pp. 52-53).
M ary Sm ith, the daughter o f Alexander Sm ith and Patty Collins, was probably
named for Alexander s sister who married Stephen Emery and received 3/20 of
the estate o f her father, Stephen Sm ith, III. Alexander’s daughter M ary would
have been a pupil at Brookfield School when Alfred Fisk was there and had finished
school when he was listed in 1829. By the process o f elimination this M ary Smith
seems to be the only one o f that name, age and geographical area that could have
married Alfred Fisk. In that tight little pioneer area the families were so bound
together that contiguity and relationships would influence matches. Amasa mar­
ried about 1841 A bigail Smith, a daughter o f Josiah Sm ith. M y strong presump­
tion, but without genealogical proof, is that Alfred married (in 1834 or early 1835)
M ary Smith, a daughter ofjosiah’s younger brother Alexander. The wives Abigail
and M ary in that case were first cousins. Alfred would have met M ary at Brookfield
School and the Baptist Church. As for the name Samuel Smith that she gave to her
second son, it was probably in memory o f her uncle Samuel who died at sea at the
age of twenty-one. One hopes that some evidence may be found to prove or
disprove this hypothesis. Having moved to St. Charles, Illinois, with her husband,
Alfred Fisk, M ary Emma died there 16 November 1893, age 83 years (.Liverpool
Advance., 6 December). If she was the daughter o f Alexander Smith and Patty
Collins (h with the ahnentafel number being a reminder o f the hypothetical na­
ture of the connection), her ancestry is as follows:
Sm ith, A lexander7, cl7 9 0 -1 8 3 1 (#10h) (Stephen6'4John3 Samuel2 Ralph1):
Robert L. Smith at page 18 o f his unpublished Smith genealogy (Queens Co.
Museum, A 93-98-10) lists Alexander Sm ith as the ninth and lastbom child of
Stephen Smith, III and Susanna Godfrey. No date o f birth is given but it was
about 1790. The genealogy states that Alexander Smith married Patty Collins.
Alexander was a tanner, o f Brookfield, whose w ill, dated 28 October 1829 and
proved 17 January 1832, left a pound currency to his daughter M ary and half a

422
 THEFISKES

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W^V/o f Alexander Smith

423
 THE FISKES

dollar to his other children, Susan and Richard. “And I leave to my Beloved wife
M argaret Smith my W atch Goods Sc Chattels Sc every thing else I die Possessed
of.” (Queens County Probate, Estate A 215). M argaret was his second wife, for
Patty had died eight years before he made his will.
Collins, Patty6, M rs A lexandeFSm ith, 1784—1830, (#1 lh ) (Paul5Joseph4John3
Joseph2 H enry1), born at Liverpool 27 September 1784, was a daughter o f Paul
Collins and Hannah Parker. She married Alexander Sm ith, o f Brookfield, Queens
County and had six children by him, o f whom two were lost at sea and two died
young, one at twenty-two and the other at six. Patty herself died rather young, at
the age of thirty-six on 19 December 1830 (T.B. Smith Collection, Epitaph, p.
19).
Collins, Paul5, 1754-1840, (#22h) (Joseph4John3Joseph2H enry1), the father o f
Patty, was born at Chatham, Cape Cod, 27 M arch 1754 to Joseph Collins and
Abigail Crowell. About age six he came w ith his fam ily to Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
A proprietor o f Liverpool, Paul Collins married Hannah Parker, daughter o f
Benjamin Parker and M ary Snow, there on 18 Ju ly 1780. T hey had six children, all
born at Liverpool: John, 19 December 1781, lost at sea in September o f 1801;
Patty, 27 September 1784; W illiam , 2 M arch 1787, lost at sea in 1810; M ary 15
August 1789-4 M arch 1811; Rebecca, 17 Ju ly 1792; and Paul Parker Collins, 22
November 1795, died at age six. Some two years after Hannah died 19 December
1830, Paul married M argaret Smith in 1833. H e died 12 December 1840 at the
age of eighty-six. M argaret, who married James Dechman, o f Halifax, died in
April of 1861 at age seventy-one, according to the LiverpoolTranscript o f 18 April.
Paul must have been 78 and she 43 when thev married.
Collins, Joseph4, 1713-71 (#44h) (John3Joseph2 H en ryl1), the father o f Paul,
was born at Eastham on 14 August 1713, son o f John Collins and Hannah Doane.
He moved to Chatham and about 1735 he married Abigail Crowell, daughter o f
Paul Crowell and Elizabeth Hallett, o f that place. Eight children were bom there:
Hallet, December 1736, dy; Ruth, 21 October 1739, died at 16; Joseph, 5 Novem­
ber 1741, married Desire Parker, died o f smallpox 1779 while loading his schooner
at New York; Benajah, 29 October 1743, who became a privateer, shipping mer­
chant and judge, moved late in life to a mansion in Danvers, M A , and died im ­

424
 THE FISKES

mensely rich; Stephen, 31 October 1745; H allet, 1749; Enos, 1 June 1750; John,
21 M arch 1752; Paul, 27 March 1754; and Peter, 10 August 1756. Joseph Collins,
Abigail and nine children moved in 1760 to Liverpool, where he became an origi­
nal proprietor. He died there 12 January 1771 at the age o f fifty-seven H e and
A bigail are buried in the old Congregational cemetery in Liverpool
(References: Annals o f L iverpool an d Queens County., pp. 732—733; Fred E.
Crowell, No. 23; Liverpool VR, p. 130; Smith, D ictionary o f Im m igrants to Nova
Scotia, 1: 52;T.B. Smith, Collection o f Family Histories)
Parker, Benjamin4, born 1734, (#46h) (Jacob3 Benjamin2Robert1), son o f Jacob
Parker and Rebecca Tobey, was born in Yarmouth, M A , 1 M arch 1733-4. He
married M ary Snow, daughter o f Prence Snow and Jane Collins, o f Chatham,
M A , on 7 September 1757 (M D , 13:31). They moved to Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
The V ital Records of that place (NEHGR, 126: 97) list their children in this
order but in all cases but one the last number of the birthyear is missing: Snow
Parker, 16 M ay 1760; Benjamin, 17 July 176-; Hannah, 14 October 176-;M ary, 7
December 176—, Desire, 9 February, 176-; Thomas, 27 October 177—; Elisha, 5
September 177—,Moses, 5 July 177-; Martha, 5 October, 177—, and Jane, 24 June
178-
Parker, Hannah5, M rs Paul5 C ollins, 176?—1830, (#23h) (Benjamin4Jacob3
Benjamin2Robert1), was born to Benjamin Parker and M ary Snow at Yarmouth,
M A , on 14 October 176- and married Paul Collins, son o f Joseph Collins and
A bigail Crowell, at Liverpool, NS, 18 July 1780. Hannah Parker had three sons
and three daughters. She died 19 December 1830 in Liverpool at the age o f sixty-
six (T. B. Smith Collection, p. 19)
Returning to Alfred Fisk and M ary Sm ith, who had five children:
Fisk, M atilda Coveil8, M rs Jam es D ailey, 1835-1904, was born 15 December
1835. M atilda Fisk married at Brookfield 2 October 1855 Jam es Slocum Dailey,
had twelve children, and died at Rosette, north Queens, 25 January 1904. “A lov­
ing wife and mother; a good neighbour, ever ready with counsel and help; a house­
wife rarely skilled in all domestic arts, and o f tireless industry, M rs D aly s passing
leaves a void, not soon to be filled.” (L iverpool Advance, 3 February 1904) The
Dailey children were:

425
 THE FISKES

1. H oraceT.,b. 28 June 1856, m. Sara H ale: son Edson, 1883-1889m. Celina

Cole: no children
2. A lice,b. 5 Feb. 1858, m .John Smith; had 7 Smith children: Horace, Bessie,
Alzina, Parke, Locke, Randolph and Roscoe
3. Eliza, b. 11 Sept. 1859, m. Daniel Fellows 25 Sept. 1889; children: Howard,
Stephen and Laura Fellows
4. Annie, b. 17 Feb. 1861, m. George Colp: and had three Colp children:
Lloyd, Beatrice and Leland
5. Roland, b. 17 Feb. 1864, m. Annie Bohannon, Minneapolis; Dailey chil­
dren: Edna, Gerald, Doris and Alfred
6. M ary Emma, b. 15 Feb. 1865, m. W hidden Smith; Smith children: Leon
and Oliver
7. Eugene Dailey, b. 30 M ar. 1867, m. M aude DeLong, St. Charles, IL;
Elta, b. at St. Charles 1896, died at 6 weeks
Chester, 1902-1920
Juliet G, b 27 June 1906, m Alfred Carlson
Ivan Alfred 6c Carol June Carlson
M aude Elinor, b 6 M ar. 1915, m Donald F.; no children
Edson Eugene, b. 9 Feb 1898, m Gertrude Roselle M unn at Pensacola,
FL, 2 M ay 1923; W W l 6c 2; A ir Force Colonel
M ary Lynn, b 27 M ay 1924, m Gilbert Stambaugh
M ary, John, Sharon, M argaret 6c Virginia
Elinor, b Pens. 30 Nov. 1933, m. Robert G. Davis
Nancy Elinor Davis 6c Gerri Virginia Davis
Edson Eugene Dailey, Jr., b. Pensa. 22 June 1936
8. M atilda, b. 24 Jan. 1870, m M urdock Brison
9. James Edson, born 3 January 1872
10. Gertrude Blanche, b 30 January 1874, unmarried
11. Loemma, b 30 April 1876, unmarried

426
 THE FISKES

12. Harold Leighton Dailey, b 8 July 1878, m. Eunice Julia Gates;

Elaine, m. a Smith, Caledonia, NS
Kathleen, m. Kenneth Harding, Baldwinville, M A
Rosamond, m. W illiam Vessy, Charlton, M A
Rodney Dailey
Fiske,Am asa Homer8, son o f Alfred and M ary Emma, bom 9 September 1837,
graduated from Acadia University in 1862, school principal, chemist, married
Eleanor Locke, had nine children, and died 31 January 1904 (see later section).
Fisk, Samuel Sm ith8, 1840-1915, born 29 M arch 1840, was baptized in the
Wolfville Baptist Church in 1858, studied at Acadia Sem inary [high school] and
then at Acadia College for the year 1861; taught at Selma and then Windsor,
Hants County; married Eliza Hamilton (1844-1869), had two sons H enry and
Harold; in 1870 after Elizas death o f tuberculosis, took H enry to St. Charles,
Illinois, where his wife’s uncle, M itchell Smith, had settled; left Harold to be
brought up by Hamilton grandparents; became a Baptist minister in St. Charles;
went in 1876 to southern California, where he preached; married Lidie W ilson
and had a daughter Esther. He died in September 1915 at Delano, California. H e
was a grandfather o f Lalia Estey (Fiske) Corbett and a great granduncle o f Edson
Eugene Dailey, Jr., the two family historians whose work I have cited and from
whom I have drawn the following information about this branch o f the family.
1. H enry Alfred Fisk, son o f Samuel Smith Fisk and Eliza H am ilton, born in
Selma, NS, 16 August 1866. H e became a Baptist, then Presbyterian and
finally Lutheran minister in California. He married Clothilde Grunsky 12
Ju ly 1899. They conducted tours to Europe and the H oly Land.
(1) H arry Fisk, bom 26 April 1901, m. Dorothy Chaffee, who died 30 M ay
1942. H e married “Jo” and was professor at College o f M ines, Butte,
Montana.
a. Henry Eugene Fisk, son o f H arry and Dorothy, born 29 June 1936,
professor at Carnegie Tech, Pittsburgh
b. Robert Spencer Fisk, b. 21 December 1939, U o f Arizona

427
 THEF 1SKES

(2) Alfred Grunsky Fisk, b. San Francisco 22 Mar. 1905, m. Eleanor

M illard; Presbyterian minister. He and Eleanor conducted summer tours
1952—1956 to India, South America, Near East and Russia. He died 6
April 1959.
a. David Adams Fisk, 24 April 1632, graduate Swarthmore, post­
graduate at U C L A in psychiatric social work.
b. Ellen Lester Fisk, born 5 July 1935, married Eric Brauss.
(a) Scott Fisk Brauss, born 24 November 1964
(3) Samuel Fisk, b. San Francisco, 24 M arch 1907, Baptist minister, mis­
sionary to the Philippines; church at El Cerrito, CA; married H ilda
Riffel 12 June 1955.
2. Harold Fisk, born at Selma, NS, 14 February 1869 to Samuel Smith Fisk
and Eliza Hamilton, was brought up there by his grandparents, W illiam
Henry Hamilton and M ary Smith. H e married Margaret Estey at Malden,
M A , 30 June 1890 and they settled on the old Hamilton farm.
(1) Lalia Estey Fiske, born at Selma to Harold and M argaret on 3 February
1892, trained to be a nurse at Melrose, M A , studied laboratory tech­
nique in Boston, did m ilitary nursing in France and London in 1917,
married W infield Corbett at Selma 30 Sept. 1919.
a. Gordon L. Corbett, b 11 Dec 1920 at Melrose, flew 600 missions in
the Flying Tigers, China, W W 2; graduated from Yale Divinity
School; Baptist minister; executive secretary Kentucky Presbyterian
Synod; married W inifred Pickett.
(a) three daughters
b. Eleanor Corbett, b at Melrose 4 January 1922, m Kenneth
M cCasland, meteorologist, M IT radiation researcher in W W 2,
Oceanographic Laboratory, Instrumentation Co., Foxboro, M A
(a) Ronda Jean M cCasland, 9 September 1943
(b) Kenneth M cCasland, 29 M ay 1950
(c) Keith M cCasland, 29 M ay 1950
(d) Donald M cCasland, 12 July 1959

428
 THE FISKES

c. W inifred Corbett, b Jan 18 1923 at Melrose, studied at Mass. College

of Art, m Chester Roberts, divorce; Charles Toner, deserted; Sgt.
Arthur Glover, Ft. Lauderdale Police.
(a) M alcolm , born Sarasota, FL, 22 June 1944
(b) Paul Toner, bom at New York 14 June 1952
d. Malcolm Corbett, born at Wakefield, M A , on 23 December 1923,
was killed at Guam 23 July 1944.
(2) Georgina Fiske, bom 20 December 1894 to Harold and Margaret,
teacher, married Harold Stephens at the Fiske home in Selma on 1
August 1920. T hey owned woods, mill, and store with post office. They
moved to W indsor so that the children would be near a high school.
Harold died o f Rocky M ountain fever in M ay o f 1954 and Georgina
died at W indsor 1 M ay 1963.
a. M argaret Stephens, bom at Tennecape, NS 12 Sept. 1921, career
teacher, married Alba T. “Sam” Redden.
(a) Janet Lynn Redden, bom W indsor 7 October 1950
(b) Nancy Lee Redden, b W indsor, 8 September 1953
b. Keith Stephens, born at Tennecape 24 June 1923; lumber and con­
tracting business with father; m. Constance V. Shay.
(a) Sandra Christine Stephens, 21 Ju ly 1949
(b) Heather Constance Stephens, 29 December 1955
c. Elma Jean Stephens, born at Tennecape 20 April 1925; three-year
secretarial programme at Acadia University; m. Edward Swinamer,
own Lakeside Camp.
(a) Stephen Swinamer, 27 February 1952
(b) Lorna Swinamer, 18 January 1954
(c) June Swinamer, 12 October 1957
(d) Andrew Swinamer, 31 M ay 1964
d. Claire Irene Stephens, born 13 M arch 1927, registered nurse, married
Arnold Barker, W indsor, 11 September 1953.
(a) Philip Barker, 3 M ay 1957
(b) Sally Barker, 19 M arch 1959

429
 THEFISKES

(c) Jill Barker, 24 June 1960

(d) James, 29 Ju ly 1963
(e) M arla, 26 January 1965
e. Phyllis Stephens, born 15 September 1928; secretarial work in Nova
Scotia and at Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles.
f. Ronald Stephens, born 30 March 1933, owns trucking business; m.
Freda Brightman 30 June 1954.
(a) M ichael Stephens, born 21 March 1960
(b) Louise Stephens, 21 M ay 1964
(c) C arla Stephens, 17 July 1965
g. Jean Stephens, born 5 July 1937, teacher at W indsor; married David
Pulsiver 14 November 1963.
(3) Russell Fiske, born to Harold Fiske and M argaret Estey at Selm a on 3
March 1898, was working in Halifax at time o f the explosion in 1917,
then for a lumber company in Saint John and Moncton; m. Hazel
Carpenter, RN in Yarmouth 10 June 1927, no children.
(4) Gordon Fiske, born at Selma 17 October 1899, m. Blanche Sm ith in
Salem, M A 16 October 1926. H e worked for General Electric at Lynn,
M A and retired in 1964.
a. Virginia Fiske, bom 10 October 1932, operating room nurse, m.
Robert Currier, employee o f Boston 6c M aine Railroad, 20 March
1954. Home at Turners Falls, M A.
(a) Susan Currier, 1 April 1955
(b) Cynthia Currier, 27 March 1959
(c) Patricia Currier, 1 August 1960
(5) James Hamilton Fiske, b. 13 M ay 1941, BSc C ivil Engineering; Naval
Officers Candidate School, commissioned as ensign, 1966.
(6) M arcia Fiske, daughter o f Gordon Fiske and Blanche Smith, born 23
August 1945; legal secretary.
Fisk, Laleah8, M rs W infield Osgood, 1848- , was born 3 November 1848 to
Alfred Fisk and M ary Emma Smith. Laleah Fisk married 5 December 1870
W infield F. Osgood and had a son born in 1872. Lived and died in St. Charles,

430
 THE FISKES

Illinois.
F isk, Loemma8, 1848—73: Loem m a F isk was born 3 November 1848 at
Brookfield, Queens County and died 12 Ju ly 1873 at Lockeport, N.S.

A M A SA HOM ER FISKE-ELLEN LOCKE FA M ILY

Fiske, Am asa Homer8, 1837—1904 (#2) (Alfred7John61 Nathaniel2Nathan1) was

bom at Brookfield, Queens County, 9 September 1837 to Alfred Fisk and M ary
Emma Smith. A freshman at Acadia College, W olfville, in 1858, he was one o f
ten senior students in 1862, when he graduated w ith a Bachelor o f Arts degree.
The courses were rather different than those o f today. In his freshman year he read
Virgil’s Georgies in Latin and Xenophons Anabasis in Greek, composed in English
and the classical languages, and studied history, algebra and plane geometry. Amasa
and his fellow sophomores were treated to the odes o f Virgil, the orations o f Cicero
and the history o f Livy in their original form, had a choice o f Homer, Demosthenes
or Xenophons Memorabilia, and sharpened their minds with logic, rhetoric, and
analytical geometry. The considerations o f the everyday world were taken care of
with surveying, navigation, nautical astronomy, and the application o f trigonom­
etry to the mensuration o f heights and distances. T hird-year students pursued the
classics with Livy or Tacitus and Greek drama or Longinus and w riting and speech
with composition and declamation. Their “moral science” the British now call
moral philosophy. Chemistry they had. Their “natural philosophy” (mechanics,
pneu-matics, hydrostatics, etc.) we would dub physics. The ten seniors who sur­
vived this repast could finish off with a degustation ofTacitus or Juvenal; Longinus,
Thucydides or Plato; composition and declamation; intellectual philosophy; po­
litical economy; astronomy or calculus; botany, chemistry and physiology. During
the last three years classes m ight be formed in a modern language {Acadia College
Catalogues 1861—89).
Thus thoroughly prepared, Amasa Homer Fisk taught school briefly at Lower
Canard and then at Ragged Islands and became the principal o f Shelburne Acad­
emy. A t Ragged Islands as principal he succeeded James Glen Allen, who became
a successful merchant and shipowner. James Bebb quotes from a ledger entry of 17
February 1869 in which Robert H arlow is to send on a parcel for a Mrs. Clarke:

431
 THE FISKES

“Mr. Amasa Fiske kindly left with me to be sent to James G. Allen, at Barrington,
Casserly’s Jacob’s Greek Reader 1853, Xenophons Expedition o f Cyrus (in Greek)
1838...” (p. 238). Amasa Homer Fiske married Ellen Locke, daughter of Hon.
Samuel Locke and Ann Crowell. [ Locke, Ellen8, M rs A m asa Homer8 Fiske,
1848-1921 (#3L)
The Acadia Record 1838— 1953 states: “Later carried on business in Lockeport,
where he had a keen interest in the welfare o f the town.” H e was associated for a
time in the firm o f Locke and Fisk and was in 1872 one o f the forty underwriters
o f the Locke’s Island M arine Insurance Company. In the 1891 Census o f Lockeport
(family 114) he was a glue manufacturer, with many mouths to feed. In addition to
him self and his wife, Eleanor (Ellen), their eight surviving children were at home:
Marion, 21, a telegraph operator; Frank O., 20, a grocery clerk; Grace, 18; Harry
R , 15; Edwin W ., 12; Rupert E., 9; Helen H ., 6; Gladys L., 4; Jean, 2. A ll were
recorded as Baptist except Grace, who was o f the Church o f England. Interested
in chemistry, Amasa Homer developed a linament. He was fond o f horses and
racing and perhaps the linament was for them. In the 1901 he was described as a
commercial traveller. O nly two children were at home at census taking, Gladys,
14, and Jean, 12. Helen, the next oldest, was in private school at Annapolis (cen­
sus). In his later years he suffered severe headaches. The L iverpool Advance o f 17
February 1904 records his death and home coming:

AMASA FISKE, o f Washington, D. C. The remains o f Amasa H. Fiske, o f

Lockeport, who died o f apoplexy , at Corono, N. Y., on the 31st o f January,
a rrived here by steam er Boston on Saturday. They w ere accompanied by Mrs.
Fiske, her son and daughter.

After Ellen G. Fiske died intestate on 20 January 1921 in her 73rd year, her son
Rupert, o f Lockeport, was made administrator five days later by the Court of
Probate o f Shelburne County (Estate A 1270) and, in addition to him, the survi­
vors were listed as follows: M arion Henderson, of Roxbury, M ass., Frank Fiske, of
Everett, M ass., grocer; H arry R Fiske, of New York, draughtsman; Edwin Fiske,
Patterson, New Jersey, engineer; Helen Jackman, Oxford, N. S.; Gladys MacCallum,

432
 THE FISKES

tbe ,
PK(JVIM!£ OF NOVA 8CQTIA, jHn
_____! ■
Court ot (probate
IN T H E ESTATE of S', deeeaaed,

OTenty-ef "in the

1— '- '' • ------7*i »— » . ------• make oath and a y :—
T lw tle m ' tA / T < th e a i d & -£ £ l* t- deceas'd.
Tiiat the Mi<J deceased died on o r shout tbe &2O /5C______
^_ d jy
" 'P - *: „ and th a tth a naM detested mt the lime of h / > - <Jl e d ^ h u l fined piece of abode at
* -> in said tffuMy’of je
T in t I m i 4 i^ . ^ the peraoo^apply for administration of the property
.'.-.'iC , r> w ,
in the Cou'iity of V—
, late of
defeated.
H u t I made diligent and careful search in all place* where the d >4isutlly kept h.AA_ papers and in h ^ O
depositories. and m (he office of the Registrar of thin Court, in order to ascertain whether the deceased had or had
not left any W ill, but I have been unnlde to discover and W ill, Codicil nr Testamentary paper, and I verily believe
that the deceased Jied without having left any W ill, Codicil or Tentanentary paper whatsoerer.
T im the deceased died leaving 0*a following - .Jty.OA>i.a*C —

'yx ^ Ju J Z/. 7 n ^ Y d e^ u f-A tu c

Th .t I he value of the whole properly of said deceased which $lm in any .w ay died powcsseA, of or entitled to,
and for ami in ...peel w which administration is w ln> grunted is under feu-Sf ^ +IA-J

Tlml Uir value t.f the personal property and elTacta is under . tULms ^ r J?
dollars and of the real properly ia under g L i- ^ v 6 < "Pte^o, ___ dollars. *>
Sworn hofore mo «t
in ih" County of
ilii* <2- £ , day LM^ f A. D , t 9 # f

...................

*
Cl
c*i ^
0«
I*
4
II
«
" ft

Nova Scotia Court o f Probate Recordsf o r the Estate ofE llen G. Fiske

433
 THE FISKES

North Sydney; Mabel Jean MacLean, New York. Ellen Locke was the mother of
nine children. Ralph, born in 1875, drowned when he was six years old and Ellen
always bore the scar o f it. The remaining eight were, along with their descendants,
in so far as I have received information of them:
Fiske, M arion9 (# 1-1), born ca. 1869, married Arthur Henderson, New York
Jean10 Henderson
W illiam 10 Henderson
Fiske, Frank Osgood9, 1871-1926, (#1-2) married at Somerville, M ass., on 29
April 1897 Ellen Jane Shinners, of Sydney, Nova Scotia, daughter of George
Shinners and M ary Boland, from Ireland. Two children died in infancy.
Ethel M arian10Fiske, b. 1901, m. Noble M . Hartley, Binghampton, NY, who
died 1 Dec. 1996. In her 97th year, Ethel is living at Blyth House, 1 Hartford
Drive, Redbank, NJ 07701
John Fiske11 Hartley, b. 1929, m. Cathy Hardy
John Fiske12 Hartley Jr., b. 31 Dec. 1963
Bruce Montgomery12 H ardey,b. 16 Feb. 1965
David Noble11 Hartley, b. 1932, m. Teresa Hanlon
David Noble12 Hartley, Jr., b. 10 Sept. 1960
Lora Monroe12 Hartley, b. 21 Ju ly 1963
Harold Edwin10 Fiske, 1904-1971, m. Eudora Gardner, no children
W allace Grant10Fiske, b. 2 Mar. 1908, college teacher 6c Unitarian minister, m.
(1) Helen E. Everett, 1903-1987; (2) Linnea B. DeAnglelis
Robert Bruce11 Fiske, b. 9 Apr. 1933, forestry consultant at Old Town, Maine,
married June Ellen M illet, b. 2 June 1936
Douglas E.12 Fiske, b. 1 Nov. 1959, lawyer, Hartford, CT, m. Ellen Laurie
Saltzman, b. 26 Feb. 1961
Rebecca H elen13 Saltzman-Fiske, b. 18 M ar 1993
Elizabeth Rose13 Saltzman-Fiske, b. 2 Aug 1997
Joan E.12 Fiske, M SW , b. 10 June 1961, m, Jeffrey Scott Jeter, b.27 Mar.
1964, s/o o f Richard 6c Eliz. Chatterton Jeter, of Houston, TX.
Erin Lindsay13Jeter, b. 11 Mar. 1996
Bruce E.12 Fiske, b. 11 Apr. 1963, teacher, m. Debora Ann Eacmen

434
 THE FISKES

Ruth Caroline12 Fiske, b. 1 July 1965, sales manager, m. Nicholas Oakes

Lindholm, b. 31 M arch 1964
Everett Oakes13 Lindholm-Fiske, b. 5 Jan. 1995
Helen Ann11 Fiske, b. 3 Jan 1939, m. Robert M ills, New Jersey
Cheryl Ann12 M ills, b 1964, m Louis M aiuri, Malden
Alyssa Ann13 M aiuri, b. 21 Jul. 1992, Boston
Anthony Americo13 M aiuri, b, 9 Oct 1993, Boston
Kristin Lynn12 M ills, born 1966, Ridgewood, NJ
Gregg Robert12 M ills, born 1971, Ridgewood, NJ
Fiske, Grace9, M rs F. H . Dunlevy, 1873-1914 (#1-3), o f Denver; no children.
Grace died in the Empress o f Ireland disaster in the St. Lawrence River 29 M ay
1914, when the outward-bound Canadian liner and the Montreal-bound freighter
Storstad collided in a pre-dawn fog off the Gaspe Peninsula. The Empress tilted
steeply to starboard. Most o f the third-class passengers drowned in their bunks.
The ship sank in fourteen minutes. Only four lifeboats could be launched. Many,
like Grace, a first-class passenger, died in the cold water. O f the 1,012 who died
700 were never recovered. A buoy marks the sunken liner which was their grave.
Grace was buried in Lockeport.
Fiske, H arry9, born 1877 (#1-4) , marine architect, New York, married Nellie

Grace10Fiske, New York

Fiske, Edwin W .9, bom 1879 (#1-5), foreman Pittsburgh Glass, Newark, married
Louise------
Edwin10 Fiske
Fiske, R upert E.9, 1882—1948 (#1-6), , m arried D elilah Burke, 1899—1972,
Lockeport, Nova Scotia
Patricia10Fiske, b. 17 Mar. 1924, m. Jerry Sullivan
G ail11 Sullivan, b. 25 Jan. 1948
Robert11 Sullivan, 16 July 1949
Catherine11Sullivan, 1 June 1951
W illiam Rupert10Fiske, b. 8 Sept. 1925, d. 13 Jan 1962, m. 20 Oct. 1955 Jessie
Lorraine Roach, Lockeport

435
 THE FISKES

W illiam Dean11 Fiske, b. 8 Sept. 1956, m. 13 Ju ly 1976 Janis Hardy

Colleen Jennifer12Fiske, b. 30 Nov. 1984
C heryl Ann12Fiske, b. 15 April 1987
Autumn Denise12 Fiske, b. 30 Oct. 1991
W anda Laveme11Fiske,b. 25 Mar. 1959,m . 2 M ay 1980 Richard Buchanan,
s/o Ralph H . Buchanan/ Norma E. W hynot
Dustin Rupert12 Buchanan, b 29 June 1983
Emett Reed12 Buchanan, b. 14 M arch. 1994
Emerson Wayne11fisk e,b . 23 Sept. 1961, m. 1 July 1989 Laura M arie Walsh,
d/o Joseph A . W alsh &. Vivian McKenna Dooley, o f North Sydney
Adam Joseph12Fiske, b. 1 June 1991, Halifax
W illiam Patrick12Fiske, b. 15 Dec. 1993, Halifax
Helen 10Fiske, b A pril 1933, m. Edward Upcott
Patricia11Upcott
Colleen11 Upcott
Thomas11Upcott
Sharon11 Upcott
Stephen11Upcott
Tim othy11Upcott
Fiske, H elen Hammond9, M rs Charles Jackm an, 1885-1961 (#1-7) bom 2 Feb­
ruary 1885, married Charles Henry Jackman, native o f Harrogate, England, 1878—
1958; she died at Halifax, NS, 9 M arch 1961
Frances10Jackman, 1910-1993, m. G. M ervyn Sm ith, d 1966, Halifax
Pamela11 Smith m. (i) Noel Freir, deceased, (ii) Chris Bayliss, Galiano Is­
land, B. C.
Greg12 Freir, Toronto
Jam es12 Freir, British Columbia
Jonathan12 Freir m. Rachel Pamela Fox
Geoffrey11 Smith married Lillian Woods, Stewiacke, N. S.
Noel12 Smith, Truro, N.S.
Annie Elizabeth (Nan)10Jackman, m. Cmdr. Ronald Herman, deceased; for­
merly of Halifax, she lives in London, Ontario

436
 THE FISKES

Joan11 Herman m. M urray Dewis, orthodontist, London, ON

Stephen12 Dewis, C .A ., m. M ary Ellen Coles, London
Karen12 Dewis, lawyer, W ashington, DC
Jennifer12 Dewis m. W alter Carozza, New York
M argaret E. (Peggy)11 Herman, m. Agnew M eek Austin, Tex.
G illian12 M eek, sales, Hilton Hotel, Dallas, TX
Scott12 M eek, degree environmental engineering
Dorothy Locke10Jackman, born 1913, deceased
Marion Fiske10Jackman, born 1915, deceased
Barbara Silkstone10Jackman, artist, 1917-96, m. (i) Eric Bagnald, (ii) Harry
Booth, Isle o fW igh t
Elizabeth (Betty)11 Bagnald m. Lesyik Bednarski, architect, Halifax; Betty,
professor at Dalhousie Univ. and a translator
Nora12 Bednarski, law student, M cG ill University
Eric12 Bednarski, Halifax
Norman11 Bagnald m. 1978 Deborah Alice Skinner
Emily Lauren12 Bagnald, born 1979
Ian Jam es12 Bagnald, born 1982
Stephen Charles12 Bagnald, bom 1984
Nora11 Bagnald married L en Down, Ventnor, Isle o fW igh t
Louise12 Down, Ventnor
Jam es12 Down, Ventnor
Helen Churchill (Tish)10Jackman married Aubrey Fitzsimon, now deceased;
W eybridge, Surrey, England; no issue
lean M acLean10Jackman, b. 21 Nov. 1922, m. 12 Aug. 1942 George Edward
Hart, s/o Geo. Frederick H art Sc Jennie Gorrill
Charles E.11H art,b. 5 M ay 1943, Charlottetown; drama officer, Arts Council,
London, England
Gwendolyn Powell11 H art, b. 4 Oct. 1946 Halifax m. 9 June 1972 Pointe
C laire to Patrick Brown; now at M ississauga, ON
Deborah Tean11 H art, b. 24 Feb. 1949, Amherst, teacher, artist, m. 18 Sept.
1971 at Pointe Claire to Barry Elder; Guelph, ON

437
 THE FISKES

Sarah12 Elder, b. 20 July 1976, Toronto

M atthew12 Elder, 26 Ju ly 1978,Toronto
Rachel12 Elder, 18 March 1983, Toronto
G illian12 Elder, 29 Oct. 1983, Toronto
Alan Frederick11 H art, b. 15 Apr. 1952, Halifax, architect, Baker McGarva
Hart; m. Brooke Hubbard M cColl, Vancouver, BC, divorced 1998
Brandon12H art, b. 11 Aug. 1984, Vancouver, BC
Tonathan Locke11 H art, b. 30 June 1956, Halifax; professor, U. o f Alberta,
m. 15 Aug. 1981, at St. Thomas, M ary Marshall, LLM , Edmonton, Alta.
Julia Jackman M arshall12 Hart, b. 4 June 1990, at Edmonton, twin
Jam es Locke M arshall12 H art, b. 4 June 1990, at Edmonton, twin
Tennifer Louise11 Hart, b. 25 M ay 1966 at Pointe Claire; marketing man­
ager, Fam ily & Entertainment Division, Sony M usic o f Canada, m. 6 Oct.
1991, to David Crawford at Toronto
Fiske, Gladys9, M rs W illiam M acC allum , 1887—1947 (#1-8), b. 15 January 1887
married at New York on 11 November 1920 W illiam M enzies M acCallum, a
druggist o f North Sydney, who was born in 1865 at Digby, NS. H e died in 1931
and she at New York 27 February 1947.
Gladys Fiske10 M acCallum , b 9 Ju ly 1925, m H. Balfour Swim, Lockeport
Laurie Elizabeth11 Swim, born 27 February 1949 married Larry Joseph
Goldstein
Jacob Daniel12Goldstein, born 9 M ay 1985
Peter Balfour11 Swim, born 9 June 1953 Lockeport, N. S.
Daniel W illiam 11 Swim, b. 10 M ar 1956 m. Marianne Cotter (divorced)
Lockeport, N. S.
Amassa Elizabeth Anne12 Swim, born 11 July 1978
Peter Lucas12 Swim born 21 M ay 1982
Aaron Hastings12Swim 11 September 1983
Fiske, Jean9, M rs Alexander M acLean, 1889-1965 (#1-9) ,born 2 M arch 1889,
died 2 December 1965 at Atlanta, GA, m. Alexander James M acLean, born 11
February 1881, Sherbrooke, NS, died 4 M ay 1965, Atlanta, GA.

438
 THE FISKES

Alexander Fiske10MacLean, b. 15 Sept. 1912, Bridgetown, N.S. married Evelyn

Gertrude M acLean, b. 19 Mar. 1915, Dover, NH
Karen 11M acLean, b. 6 M ar. 1943, Greenwich, C T
Linda 11M acLean, b. 30 Apr. 1945, Greenwich, C T
C h risty11M acLean, b. 29 July 1950, Corpus Christi, TX
Sandy Fiske 11 Maclean, b. 22 Nov 1953, Corpus Christi, TX
Jean 10 MacLean, bom 14 A pril 1924, married at Larchmont, NY, 28 April
1945 Lt. Col. John Clayton Holder, o f Alpharetta, GA.
Frances Elizabeth11 Holder, born 1 September 1946

439
 ppem ix
Rider & Churchill

RIDER FAM ILY

Rider, Sam uel1, 1601-79 (#730a, 800L), was die son o f John Rider and Helen
Smyth, who were married at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, on 1 November
1600 and had him , their first child, baptized on 19 June 1601. Samuel Rider and
Anne Gamlett were married in A ll Saints Parish in Northampton on 16 October
1628. The following October they had a child, Jane, who died when she was nearly
two years old, a few days after her parents had lost a newborn baby. Samuel and
Anne afterwards had three children who survived and were baptized at A ll Saints:
Samuel, 1632; Jane, 1634; and John, 1636. In the parish register o f those events
the father is recorded as a labourer. Samuel Rider’s name first appears in the Ply­
mouth records on 7 January 1638—9 on a list o f men proposed to “take up their
freedome at Yarmouth”. In June of 1653 he was promoted from sergeant to lieu­
tenant in the Yarmouth Company o f militia but twenty-one months later for some
reason or other he was reduced to the ranks. On 1 June 1658 he was re-appointed
lieutenant and seems to have been active in that rank until John M archant was
appointed lieutenant in 1670. Samuel and Anne Rider had five more children:
Benjamin, Zachary, Joseph, M ary and Elizabeth, who with her husband, John
Cole, was sketched in chapter eleven. Samuel Rider made his w ill 20 November
1679 and it was proved on 9 December. He left all his estate, housing, lands and
movables, to his loving wife Anne during her natural life or state o f widowhood

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHILL

and at her death all was to go to Benjamin except a parcel o f planting land in the
prime field for John, which at his death was to become Benjamins. He gave Jane
three cows, Samuel five shillings, Elizabeth ten shillings, M ary ten pounds and
Zachary and Joseph twenty shillings.
In February and M arch following Samuel’s death, evidence about two sons’
ownership o f property that had been their father’s was sworn at the court. The
morning before the raising o f Joseph Ryders house, according to Samuel Matthews’
deposition, “old Goodman Ryder Joseph Ryders father Cam e out and marked
out the Ground w ith his stick; and bid the said Joseph sett his house where it
Now stands; and further saith that hee apprehends the occasion o f the womans
Lam enting as above said fearing her son would Goe away; for shee said if he went
shee would Goe to.” (Ply. Col. Deeds, 4: 260, quoted in “Rider-Ryder Notes”).
Joseph at his brother’s request went w ith John Thacher to see his father about
Zachariah’s legal hold on certain property: “when we came to my father wee
found him very weake yett after a little time; the occasion o f our coming was
made knowne to m y father which was Concerning a peece o f Meddow hee sold
to Zacheriah; and the said Zacheriah hath no Assurance of it; Noe said my father
it is his owne fault; I sould it to him longe agoe Then it was asked whether his son
had payed him for it; and hee said yes very honestly, then it was Asked him whether
hee would have him have Assurance o f it; And my father said yes God forbid
else.”
G am lett,A nne1, M rs Sam uel1Rider d. 1695,(#801L) married Samuel Rider 1
November 1600 at Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire and went to live in the
area o f Northampton, where she gave birth to five children, the first two o f whom
died in infancy. She came with her husband and three children to Plymouth and
then moved in 1639 to Yarmouth, Cape Cod, where she had five more children.
She received all the housing, lands and movables from her husband when he died
in 1679. A fter a widowhood o f sixteen years Anne Gamlett Rider died 12 De­
cember 1695 at Yarmouth (Plymouth Colony Vital Records, 2 : 203).
Rider, Samuel21632—1715 (#400L) (Samuel1), was bom in 1632 at Northamp­
ton, England, to Samuel Rider and Anne Gamlett. and was baptized 25 Novem­
ber at A ll Saints Church. He came with his parents to New Plymouth before

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHILL

1639. On 23 December 1656 he married Sarah Bartlett, daughter o f Robert Bartlett

and M ary Warren. Their first child, Samuel, died either in childhood or before the
ageoftw en ty-o n e.T h eyh adaso n Jo h n ,b o rn about 1663 and Samuel’s w ill refers
to their daughter Mercy. Sarah died before 14 June 1680, when Samuel Rider, 48,
at Taunton married Lydia Tilden, 22 (P C V R .p . 88; M D ,2 2 (2):93). There must
be some error in the records for the birthdate o f their first child, Sarah, is given as
1 June 1680 at page 18 o f Plymouth Colony V ital Records (M D , 1 (4): 210). They
had eleven more children. Samuel Ryder, cooper, bought 25 acres each from Samuel
Eddy and Robert Ransom at M anomett Ponds in 1660 and a small parcel there in
1669. A t about the age o f 82 on 7 A pril 1714 Samuel deeded most o f his land and
livestock to his sons Sam uel and Benjamin to be divided equally between them
except that Samuel was to have the house and pay Benjamin ten pounds, all this
on condition that their parents were to live in the west end o f the house, use the
garden, have fruit from the orchard, firewood, a horse to ride upon for each upon
occasion, also payment to them o f £12 a year, and h alf o f that to the surviving
parent, three pounds to Lydia J r . within one year after her father’s death and £5 to
son Josiah on his twenty-second birthday..
Samuel made his will that same day and it was probated 23 December 1715. He
declared he had “done competently" for John, Samuel, Benjamin and Mercy in his
lifetime. Joseph, who when young had gone to his uncle and would now be going
to a trade, was to have the provision made in the deed. W illiam was to have the
60-acre lot at Moreys Holes.
(References: George Ernest Bowman, “Rider— Ryder Notes”, M ayflow er De­
scendant, 11 (1) Jan. 1909: 49-55; Plymouth Colony V ital Records)
B artlett, Sarah2, M rs Sam uel2 Rider Jr., 163_ -b e f 14 June 1680 (#401L)
(Robert1), the daughter o f Robert Bartlett and M ary Warren, was born probably
about the mid 1630’s at Plymouth. On 23 December 1656 she married Samuel
Rider, Jr. and they had three children, John being the one of our interest. Sarah
died before 14 June 1680.
Bartlett, Robert1, 1603-1676, (#802L), perhaps the son o f Robert Bartlett and
Alice Parker, came as a “stranger” in th e Anne in 1623 and received one acre in the
division o f that year. He was still single in the division of cattle in 1627. About

443
 RIDER (sfCHURCHILL

two years later he married M ary W arren,daughter o f Richard and Elizabeth W ar­
ren. A wine cooper, Robert became a freeman in 1633, had a respected place in the
Pilgrim society and was several times grand juryman, trial juror and surveyor of
highways. His brother-in-law Thomas Little gave him a house lot 1/4 mile be­
yond the Eel River. T hat same year, 1635, he took Richard Stinnings to appren­
tice for nine years, after which he was to give him two suits and £3 in money or
goods. His widowed mother-in-law, Elizabeth Warren, gave him 18 acres. The
making o f casks and barrels must have been doing well, for in 1638 Robert Bardett
took over from John Barnes the unexpired time of Thomas Shreeve and hired
Robert Shaw for a year for £8 1/2. (M D , 2(3): 108). The next year John Atwood
sued for a debt of £6 and won. In 1649 Robert bought Richard Church’s house
and land for the equivalent of £25 in a red ox called Mouse, goods at Mr. Paddy’s
and the remainder in cattle, corn or merchants pay—an example of barter taking
the place of scarce specie.
W hen his right to property Elizabeth W arren had given him at Eel River was
challenged, the court confirmed on 7 October 1652 that gift o f land.. The next
spring he became a purchaser of the present Dartmouth. In 1660 he got a grant of
50 acres from Plymouth town and three years later 18 acres and an extension of
his lot 1/4 mile towards the pine hills. In 1670 Robert Bardett sold h alf o f his two
shares o f land in Dartmouth for £50 current silver money and three years later;
getting on in years, he deeded his house and lands at Eel River to his son Joseph,
who was not to get possession until the death o f both his parents. On 19 Septem­
ber Robert Bardett made his will by word o f mouth, giving all o f his undisposed
estate in lands and movables to his wife Mary. He bequeathed 50 acres o f his land
in Plymouth to his grandson W illiam Harlow, Jr. The chief items in the inventory
taken 24 January 1676 consisted o f two houses, a barn, upland and meadow. Robert
and M ary had eight children: Benjamin, m. (l)Susanna Jenney, (2) Sarah Brewster,
(3) C e c ilia ---- ; Rebecca, m. W illiam Harlow; Mary, m. (1) Richard Foster, (2)
Jonathan M orey; Sarah, m. Samuel2 Rider; Joseph, m. Hannah Pope; Elizabeth,
m. Anthony Sprague; Lydia, m .(l) James Barnaby, (2) John Nelson; and Mercy,
m. John Ivey o f Boston.

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHILL

(References: Robert M errill Bartlett, Pilgrim Robert B artlett 1603—1676 and

Some o f His Descendants; George Ernest Bowman, “Richard Warren and His De­
scendants”, M D , 3: 105-117; Robert S. Wakefield, Robert Bartlett o f the ‘A nne”,
p p. 1 -8 )

W arren, M ary2, M rs Robert1 Bartlett, c 1610-1683 (#803L) (Richard1), bom

in England, the daughter of Richard Warren, crossed the Atlantic in th e Anne at
the age of about thirteen with her mother and her four younger sisters. About
1629 M ary Warren married Robert Bartlett and by him she had two sons and six
daughters. She inherited from her husband all of his undisposed estate and with
her son Joseph was made administrator by the court on 6 M arch 1676-7. The
following February she deeded her estate to Joseph, who gave a bond of £300
pounds, probably as assurance o f providing for her maintenance. She died prob­
ably in or before 1683.
W arren, R ichard1, d. 1628, (#1606L), a resident o f London, boarded the
M ayflow er at Southampton in July o f1620, leaving his wife, Elizabeth------, whom
he had married about eleven or more years before and his five daughters from two
to ten years of age to come later. Genealogists and historians have not been able to
find anything more o f his earlier life. Bradford names him in the list o f passengers
as Mr. Richard Warren, and Nathaniel Morton in N ew E ngland s M em orial {Cam­
bridge, M A , 1669) lists him among the forty-one men who signed the Compact
in the M ayflow er cabin on 11 November. Mourt's Relation states he was from Lon­
don and that he was a member o f the expedition o f eighteen men who, sailing in
the shallop on 6 December, endured freezing spray, an Indian attack, a gale with
snow and rain, a broken rudder and mast, explored the Plymouth shore, and were
back on the M ayflow er on the twelfth. A few months after his family arrived,
Richard Warren received lots in the Division o f Land. Two sons were born at
Plymouth to Richard and Elizabeth about 1624 and 1626, Nathaniel and Joseph.
In the Division o f Cattle in 1627 Richard Warren is shown as one o f the Purchas­
ers who bought out the London Adventurers’ investment in Plymouth Colony.
He died the next year, leaving his wife to care for a young family o f seven.

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 RIDER ^C H U R C H ILL

Fortunately Elizabeth Warren managed so competently that she succeeded to

her husbands rights as a Purchaser by order o f the court 7 M arch 1636-7. She
gave lands to her new sons-in-law, received grants, bought land at what are now
Little Compton, Rhode Island, and Dartmouth. A widow forty-five years and
living about ninety years and having seen at least seventy-five great grandchildren,
she died on 2 October 1673 at Plymouth. No w ill or inventory o f her estate is
known but on 4 M arch following, M ary Bartlett and John Cook informed the
General Court that all the claims o f the five daughters to the estate o f their mother
had been satisfied.
The children o f Richard and Elizabeth W arren were: M ary, m. Robert Bartlett;
Anna, m. Thomas Litde; Sarah, m. John Cooke; Elizabeth, m. Richard Church;
Abigail, m. Anthony Snow; Nathaniel, m. Sarah W alker; and Joseph, m. Priscilla
Faunce.
(References: Robert M . Bartlett, Pilgrim Robert Bartlett; George Ernest Bow­
man, “Richard W arren and His Descendants, M D , 3: 45—51; Plymouth Colony
Vital Records; Robert S. Wakefield et al, Richard Warren o f the M ayflow er, 1-8).
We return now to those named Rider.
Rider Jo h n 3, cl6 6 3 -b ef 20 Dec. 1735 (#200L) (Samuel2'1), son o f Samuel Rider,
Jr. and Sarah Bartlett, was born at Plymouth. On 26 February 1692 as “a child of
the church”, (Plymouth Church Records, p. 275) he was publicly admonished for
sin committed with Hannah Barnes, whom he afterwards married., about 1692.
Soon after their marriage John Rider bought a house, outhouses and land at the
watering place on the east side o f Sandwich Street in south Plymouth. Their first
child, Sarah, was not born till December 1694. She and their fourth child, John,
died at about the age of four years. The three others were Mercy, Samuel and
Ebenezer. Between 1699 and 1710 the town o f Plymouth gave John Rider three
grants of land abutting on or situated near his property. Hannah died 17 January
1703 (PCV R, 224) at about age thirty. John married M a r y ------ and they had
their first child 20 M arch 1707 and seven thereafter. In 1718 he sold to John
Bames parcels of land including one-eighth o f a swamp he had bought from his
father Samuel Rider. John Rider died without a w ill about 1735 at Plymouth. On
20 December the court made his son Samuel administrator o f the estate and in

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHlLL

March next it made Thomas Spooner guardian o f Charles, Jerusha and Rebecca,
and in July, after providing for the dower o f the widow M ary, divided the estate
among Sam uel, Ebenezer, Charles and John, who were to make payments to
their sisters M ercy (W illiam ) Harlow, Elizabeth (Silvanus) Cobb, M ary (John
Jr.) Harlow, Sarah (Jonathan) Freeman, Jerusha and Rebecca Rider and the chil­
dren o f Hannah (W illiam ) Foster, deceased.
(References: Barclay, “John3 Rider o f Plymouth, M ass.”, TAG, 36: 193-198;
Bowman, “Rider Notes”; Plymouth Vital Records, p. 84; Wakefield et al, Richard
Warren; Wakefield, Robert B a rtlett )
Barnes, H annah3, M rs John3 Rider, c 1672—1703 (#201L) (Jonathan2John1),
born 11 November 1672 the daughter o f Jonathan Barnes and Elizabeth Hedge,
o f Plymouth, was the subject o f public reproof by the church for her relations
with her future husband, John Rider, whom she married about 1692. She died at
age thirty after about ten years o f marriage, the birth o f five children and the loss
of two o f them..
Barnes, Jonathan2, 1643—84 (#402L) (John1), the son o f M r. John Barnes and
Mistress M ary Plummer, married Elizabeth Hedge, o f Yarmouth, 4 January 1665-
6. (M D , 18 (1): 56 ).They had ten children: John, W illiam , Hannah, Lydia, Eliza­
beth, Sarah, Esther, Jonathan and two daughters whose names are not known.
The w ill o f Jonathan Barnes o f 27 June 1714, proved 24 December, mentions
“the three children of my daughter H annah Decdviz Mercy, Samuel and Ebenezer
Rider”.
Barnes, John1, d. 1671 (#804L) gentleman, merchant and yeoman, was in Ply­
mouth in 1632, the next year became a freeman and on 12 September married
M ary Plummer (of parentage unknown to us). He volunteered in 1637 for the
Pequot W ar. In M arch 1637-8 John Barnes made over to Robert Bartlett the
unexpired term o f his servant Thomas Shreeve (M D ,2 (3): 208). He was probably
living in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, by 1639 but moved back to Plymouth soon after
his wife M ary died on 2 June 1651. That year John Barnes gave cattle to four of his
children: Jonathan, Mary, Hannah and Lydia. On 26 February 1654-5 he bought
100 acres o f upland and 20 acres of meadow from Josias Hallott for £5 in money,
wampum and a piece of silk and £10 in cattle. He bought a house and land in

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHlLL

Roxbury and then sold it in 1656. On 3 July of that year the court made a block
grant when a committee o f four, including Mr. John Barnes, reported on their
search for “a supply o f land to be granted to freeman in Plymouth, Duxburrow,
Sdtuate and Marshfield (M D , 10 (4): 213-214). He married Jo a n ------ as his
second wife. John Barnes made his will 6 March 1667-8 and it was proved 29
October 1671. Savage says (1 :121) that he died in that year “by violence o f one of
his cattle”. H e gave his wife Joan and his son Jonathan half each o f all housing and
lands in New Plymouth during her life; his grandson John M arshall land near
“Road Island” and the silver dish “1 doe usually use to Eate in”; his cousin, wife of
Henry Samson [nee Ann Plummer: was she his first wife’s sister?], 40 shillings;
his wife Joan one third o f movables, as long as she not “molest” any person to
whom he had sold land; Jonathan, another third, on condition he not demand any
part of the estate that the testator had already given to daughter Lydia (if they did,
the forfeit would be to John M arshall); the grandchildren and kinswoman Esther
Ricket to get the remaining third (M D , 4 (2): 98)
Hedge, Elizabeth2, M rs Jo n .2 Barnes, b 1647 (#403L) (W illiam ') was bom at
Sandwich probably on 21 M ay 1647 (M D , 15 (1): 26) to W illiam Hedge and his
unknown first w ife .. A t age eighteen she married Jonathan Barnes of Plymouth 4
January 1665. She was the mother of ten children.
Hedge, W illiam 1, d. 1670 (#806L) gentleman, was in Lynn first, made freeman
14 M ay 1634, sued in Essex Court in 1637 and moved to Sandwich, Cape Cod.
He sold the remaining time o f his servant Robert W icksen.. He served in the
Pequot W ar and was known as Captain W illiam Hedge. He was a proprietor in
1640, a freeman in 1651 and served as a town officer. He moved to Yarmouth. His
second wife was the widow M rs. Blanche Hull. O f his nine children, only the
birthdates of Elizabeth on 21 M ay 1646 and M ary in 1648 are recorded, perhaps
his first two, and the order of the birth o f the seven others is not known. The will
of “Captaine W illiam Hedge of yarmouth” dated 30 June 1670 was proved 11
August, the inventory having been taken on 15 July. In the bequests his sons are
listed first and then his daughters: Abraham, the house and household stuff and
the prime field; Elisha, the neck of land and meadow; W illiam , £40 in debts, his
father’s best suit and hat, and £.5 to be paid by Elisha; John, £50, his father’s next

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 RIDER &?CHURCHILL

best suit, brass musket, rapier and belt, two mares and two colts; Elemuell, £50,
two mares and two colts; Sarah and Elizabeth, £5 each; Mary, £40 and Marcy,
£50. He made two more bequests. H e forgave his widowed sister Brookes the
money that her husband owed him and she “shall have her livelyhood amongst my
Children soe Longe as shee Continews awiddow”. “And W heras Blanch my W ife
hath Dealt falcly w ith mee in the Covenant o f M arriage in Departing from mee;
therefore I D oe... give her twelve pence; and alsoe what I have received o f hers...
shall be returned to her againe.”
(References: “Captain W illiam Hedge s W ill”, Plymouth Colony W ills and
Inventories in M D , 18 (4): 252; Plymouth Vital Records; Pope, Pioneers o f Massa­
chusetts, p. 226; Savage, 1 :121)
W e return now to the Rider surname.
Rider, Ebenezer4,1 7 0 2 -b ef 13 M ar 1750 (#100L) (John3 Samuel2"1) was bom
at Plymouth 17 November 1702, the son o f John Rider and Hannah Barnes. There
on 16 M arch 1725-6 (V R, 1: 95) he married Thankful Silvester. Their children
were Lydia, bom 16 October 1729, m. W illiam Sutton; Ebenezer, 3 September
1731, m. Sarah Rider; John, 12 October 1733; and Thankful, 28 October 1735, m.
Silvanus Howes (PVR ,108,145,151). Additional children named in deeds, bom
after 1736, were Mercy, who married Nathaniel Doten, and her brother Solomon,
possibly bom in the early 1740s and for whom a spouse is not shown. More on
Solomon Rider in the sketch below on his brother John! Their father, Ebenezer
Rider, was 47 years old when he died before 13 March 1750, the date o f the
inventory o f his estate.
Silvester, Thankful4, M rs Ebenezer4 Rider, 1703-87 (#101L) (Joseph3'2Rich­
ard1) was born, lived and died in Plymouth Town. Her parents were Joseph S il­
vester, Jr. and Hannah Bartlett. Thankful Silvester married Ebenezer4 Rider. She
had six children, two of whom are not entered in the vital records (page 108) nor
in the references listed below but whose names we have found in a conveyance of
land, namely M ercy and Solomon Rider, who may have been born between 1737

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 RIDER G? CHURCHILL

and the early 1740’s. W hen her husband died, their eldest child was twenty and
the youngest perhaps eight. One can understand why by deed of 28 April 1759
she sold all right in her father’s estate to her brother Joseph. By her father’s w ill, as
we shall see, she was to get one-fifth of his estate.
(References: Barclay, op cit ; Plymouth Co. Land Records, vol. 5 8 ,p .l, deed dated
2 December 1773; Wakefield, op.cit.)
Silvester, Joseph3, Jr., 1664—bef 4 M ar 1754 (#202L) (Joseph3 Richard1) was
born at Scituate 11 November 1664, the son of Captain Joseph Silvester and
Mary Barstow. About 1689 he married Hannah Bartlett, daughter ofjoseph Bartlett
and Hannah Pope, o f Plymouth. Joseph and Hannah Silvester had eight children,
of whom five are in the vital records and three others were found by other re­
searchers in church records, gravestone records and their parents’ will. M ercy and
Ebenezer died before their parents made their will in 1734. The six others were:
Solomon, 9 July 1690, m. Elizabeth Rider; Hannah, 15 M arch 1692, m. Eleazer
Holmes; Joseph, Jr., 23 June 1695, m. M ercy Holmes; Thankful, 21 September
1703, m. Ebenezer Rider; M ary, 5 December 1710, m. Samuel Rider; Content,
born ?, m. James Holmes. The first of November 1734 Joseph and Hannah S il­
vester made a joint will, a rarity in those times, which would not take effect until
after the death o f the last survivor o f the two. W hen each died is not known. The
will was probated 7 M arch 1754. T hey bequeathed to Solomon 40 acres at the
head of the mill pond in addition to what he had already received; to each o f their
four daughters and to the children o f their dead son Joseph, Jr. one-fifth o f the real
and personal estate, making five-fifths. The inventory taken 14 M arch amounted
to £541, made up largely of house, barn, outbuildings, 100 acres o f pine, a 107-
acre woodlot and a meadow “next the beach”.
(References: Bowman, “Joseph and Hannah Silvester’s Joint W ill .. .”M D , 19:
122-124; Plymouth Colony Vital Records, 1: 43; M D , 3:12)
Silvester Joseph2, Sr.,1638-1690 (#404L) (Richard1) was born at Weymouth
12 April 1638, the son o f Richard and Naomi Silvester. He married about 1663
M ary Barstow, daughter o f W illiam Barstow and Ann Hubbard. The children
were: Joseph, bom 11 November 1664; M ary 24 December 1666; Naomi, 5 March
1668; Ann, 5 M ay 1669; Benjamin, 11 December, 1680; David, 20 A pril 1683;

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 RIDER OfCHURCHILL

and Amos, 15 November 1685. Captain Joseph Silvester served under Colonel
Church in the 1689 expedition into M aine and he died the next year in the
haphazard and disastrous expedition led by Sir W illiam Phips against Quebec.
Knowing that he was going to war and had not arranged about his estate, on 22
July of that year he made a will by expressing his wishes to Benjamin Stetson and
W illiam Perry, who made oath to that effect the following 17 M arch before the
court. His son Joseph was to have all the land at Hughs Cross and three acres of
swamp by the brook and the rest of the estate was for his wife M ary for bringing
up his little children. The inventory comprised a house, barn, outhouses, parcels
of land and “two Negro Servants”.
(Reference: “W ill of Joseph Silvester, M D, 30 (3): 138-139)
Silvester, Richard1, d. 1663 (#808L), and his wife Naomi, whose maiden name
is unknown, had eleven children. Richard Silvester died at Marshfield before 2_
September 1663, when the inventory was taken. To his sons, daughters and widow
he made these bequests: three years after Richard’s death £10 for John, £5 for
Elizabeth and 50 shillings each for Joseph, Israel and Lydia; at age twenty-one £5
each for Richard, Benjamin, Naomi and Hester; £15 for Dinah, owed by Daniel
Bacon; all the rest for his wife and executor Naomi but if she marries, only £5, her
portion to be divided among the children. I f any child dies before receiving the
legacy, his or her portion is to go to Richard and Benjamin and if one o f those two
dies before getting his legacy, it w ill go to the other, and if both die before having
die legacy in hand, the rest o f die children w ill equally share those portions. Was
Richard Silvester the kind o f man who needed to control all eventualities even in
death?
(Reference: “The W ill o f Richard Silvester, Sr.”, M D , 15 (1): 60-62)
Barstow, M ary2, M rs Joseph2 Silvester, 1641—1715 (#405L) (W illiam 1), the
daughter ofW illiam Barstow and Ann Hubbard, was born at Scituate 28 Decem­
ber 1641. She married Joseph Silvester about 1663. She was left with young chil­
dren when her brave captain died in his second expedition at the beginning of
King W illiam s War. M ary Barstow Silvester died in M ay o f 1715 at Scituate.

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 RIDER EsfCHURCHILL

Barstow, W illiam 1, cl6 1 2 -6 8 , (#810L) was one o f four brothers who came from
the W est R iding o f Yorkshire, the others being George, John and M ichael
(NEHGR, 28:94). On 19 September 1635 W illiam Beeresto, 23, and George, 21,
took the oath o f allegiance and supremacy in order to be transported to New
England in the Truelove,}ohn Gibbs, Master. H e became a proprietor in Dedham
in 1636. There on 8 July 1638 he married A nn Hubbard, who was admitted to the
church about three years later. T hey had Joseph 6 June 1639, M ary 28 October
1641, Patience 3 October 1643, then after they moved to Scituate, Deborah, bap­
tized 18 August 1650, W illiam bom in September o f 1652 and M artha baptized
22 April 1655. John Luson of Dedham in his w ill o f 15 February 1660 bequeathed
40 shillings a year over five years after his or his wife’s death, whichever would
come later, to his kinswoman A nn Bearstow. In 1664 W illiam Barstow con­
tracted to build a bridge. According to the Dedham record, he died on the first of
January, 1668-9, whereupon on 2 M arch the Plymouth Court made his widow
Anna administrator o f the estate. M ichael w illed on 23 June 1674 one tenth o f his
estate to the children o f his brother W illiam .T h e widow Ann married John Prince
o f Hingham.
(References: “Abstract o f Earliest W ills: W illiam Barstow”, NEHGR, 7:179;
“John Luson’s W ill”, NEHGR, 10:267-268; “Memoir ofjohn Barstow”, NEHGR,
18:370; M ichael Barstow’s W ill”, NEHGR, 8:169-170; “Necrology”, NEHGR,
28: 94; Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts-, p. 36; “Register o f Births in Dedham”,
N EHGR, 1: 99 and 4: 274,360)
Bartlett, H annah3, M rs Joseph3 Silvester d bef 4 M ar 1754 (#203L) (Joseph2
Robert1) was born in Plymouth at an unknown date to Joseph Bartlett and Hannah
Pope. She married Joseph Silvester, son o f Captain Joseph Silvester and Mary
Bearstow. The marriage o f Joseph Silvester and Hannah Bartlett took place in
April of 1690 and their child, Solomon, was bom 9 July. Giving her one month to
recover, the church admonished her “for committing folly with Joseph Silvester”
so that a child was born about three months after marriage. On 20 June 1694 her
father “in consideration o f the natural Love and affection I have and Bear to my
Wellbeloved Daughter Hanah the now wife of my son in Law Joseph Silvester...

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have given ... all that m y piece or lott o f Land at Monament ponds ... bounded as
followeth ... on the Northerly comer with a red oak by a pond side and running
w esterly to a small walnut tree marked and so to the land o f Ephraim Morton”
(Ply. Co. Deeds, 1:267 in M D , 35 (2), July 1985:147).
Hannah and her husband or both must have been accepted into membership
o f the church by 13 A pril 1718, when their seven offspring — Solomon, Hannah,
Joseph, M ary, Thankful, Content and Ebenezer — were baptized. By that time
Solomon was 27 and Ebenezer was ten. Joseph and Hannah made a joint w ill, as
described in his sketch, perhaps because she had property in her own right from
her father. In addition to the lands and movables worth about £231 she had al­
ready received, she got £160 in the settlement o f her fathers estate.
Bartlett, Joseph2, c l6 3 9 -1 7 1 1 -2 (#408L) (Robert1), bom in Plymouth, was
the son o f Robert Bartlett and M ary Warren. In Plymouth town about 1662Joseph
Bartlett married Hannah Pope and the next year or so the first o f their children
was born, to be followed by seven others over twenty years: Robert, Joseph,
Elnathan, Hannah, M ary, Sarah, Benjamin and Thomas. In July Thomas Pope
sold land in Plymouth to his son-in-law Joseph Bartlett, wine cooper. In 1680
Joseph deposed in a court case that he was about forty-one years old. In 1683 he
and his brother Benjamin assured for themselves that their father had bequeathed
50 acres o f upland to his grandson W illiam Harlow and that their “mother M ary
Bartlet now deceased did during her widowhood affirm said gift” and therefore
they granted that land to him (Ply. Col. Deeds, 1:132 in M D , 35 (1): 35). On 30
June 1864 (akn by him and his wife Hannah 14 Aug. 1685) Joseph Bartlett, yeo­
man, sold [forty?] acres on the Eel River to Ephraim Morton, Jr. for “69 current
silver money o f New England” (Ply. Co. Deeds,, 1: 120 in M D , 35 (1): 33). Be­
tween 1691 and 1710 Joseph Bartlett deeded land to son Robert, twice, to Elnathan,
twice, to Benjamin, three times, and to daughter Hannah. Their father died intes­
tate 18 February 1711-2 and his son Robert was appointed administrator. The
administration shows the inventory value o f the lands already deeded to his chil­
dren and o f the lands remaining. Taking into account what each had received, a
division o f the present estate was made among the heirs.

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 RIDER ^C H U RC H ILL

(References: Bowman, “Bardett Notes”, M D , 12 (1): 14-21; Wakefield, Robert

Bartlett of the “Anne”)
Pope, H annah3, M rs Joseph2Bartlett 1639-1710 (#407L) (Thomas1) was bom
in 1639 at Plymouth, the only child ofThomas Pope and Anne Fallowell. Hannah
Pope married Joseph Bartlett about 1662, and had eight children. She received a
bequest in the will of her grandmother Katherine Fallowell dated 29 M arch 1673.
Hannah died at Plymouth 12 March 1709-10 at the age o f seventy-one.
Pope, Thom as1, c l6 0 8 - 83 (#814L), is said by Savage to have been living in
New Plymouth in 1631. Certainty he was on the tax lists for 9 shillings 2 January
1632-3 and the next year. Thomas Pope received in 1636 a grant o f five acres at
the fishing point next Slowly Field and permission to build there. The following
year he volunteered for the expedition under Mr. Prence against the Pequots and
in Ju ly he was married to Ann Fallowell by Edward W inslow, governor. H e sold
his house and land at the fishing point in August o f 1640, perhaps because his
wife had died but we do not know how soon her death came after the birth o f
baby Hannah. Later in 1640 Thomas Pope got a grant o f five acres in South
Meadows. In 1645 he was constable and a juror and later on he was twice surveyor
of highways. On 29 M ay 1646 he married Sarah Jenney and over eighteen years or
so had seven children. The next year when he was sued for slander, the court found
fault on both sides but he paid damages. Evidently he had a temper. He and Giles
Rickard, Sr. were fined 3s 4d for striking each other and the court ordered him to
find sureties for good behaviour for his striking o f Rickard’s wife and “other tur­
bulent carriages”. Two years later he and John Barnes were quarrelling over a bound­
ary. In 1670 he “was fined 10 shillings for vilifying the ministry”. About four years
later, then in his mid-sixties, he moved to Dartmouth, where his mother-in-law,
Sarah Jenney, was a proprietor and two o f her sons had settled and where his son-
in-law Joseph Bartlett was an original proprietor. That was a sad move, for in July
o f 1675 Indians lulled his son John and his daughter Susannah and her husband,
Ensign Jacob M itchell. Difficult to defend, Dartmouth was abandoned to the
torches o f the Indians. The settlers began to rebuild after three years. Thomas
Pope made his will 9 July 1683 and the inventory was taken on 4 August. His wife
having recently died, Thomas left the bulk o f his estate to his son Isaac, not yet

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two years old, the homestead, housing meadows about it, household goods, cattle,
horse, swine, cart, plows and harness and he ordered his “Indian Lydia” to stay
with Isaac to his twenty-first birthday. He had already provided for his son Seth
but gave him the use o f 27 acres till Seth’s son Thomas came o f age and Seth was
to pay £3 to another grandson, Jacob M itchell, at his coming of age. Thomas gave
£5 each to his daughters.
(References: Francis L. Pope, “Genealogy ofThomas Pope o f Plymouth”, Pope,
Pioneers, p. 368; NEHGR, 42:45-62; “Thomas Pope’s W ill and Inventory”, MD,
18 (3): 129)
Fallowell, A nne2, M rs Thom as1 Pope, d. 1639+ (#815L) (Gabriel1), daughter
of Gabriel Fallowell and Katherine Finney, married Thomas Pope 28 July 1637
at Plymouth. They had one child, Hannah Pope in 1639 and she died soon after.
Fallowell, Gabriel1, cl584-1667, (#1630L) weaver, came early to Boston and
became a proprietor, but sold out 2 July 1639 and moved to Plymouth, where he
became a freeman 1 September 1640. H is wife was Katherine Finney. H is will of
14 October 1667 remembers his wife, his grandsons and his brother-in-law Robert
Finney. A record o f the First Church notes his death: “The first breach God made
in the chh within the time abovesaid was the death o f Gabriel fallowell, aged
above 80 yeares, a very prelious, lively Christian, one who maintained much com­
munion with God day &. night, he dyed, December, 28 ,1667.”
Finney, Katherine1, M rs G abriel1 Fallowell, c 1596-1676, (#1631L) was the
wife o f Gabriel Fallowell. H er will, proved 7 Ju ly 1678, made bequests to the
widow Sarah and the children o f her son John Fallowell, who had drowned in
1675, to her grandchild Jonathan, to her granddaughter Hannah, die wife o f
Joseph Bartlett, and to her sister Anne Kinge and children. The First Church
recorded her death: “Seven chh-members dyed this yeare [1676], all sisters, one
o f diem was aged Katherine Fallowell, the Relict o f Gabriel, a very pretious saint,
fourscore yeares old, a widow indeed.”
(References: Plymouth First Church Records, M D , 4 (4): 213 and 8 (4): 217;
Pope, 160; Savage, II: 139)

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Now we come to the next Rider, o f Plymouth, M A , and Jones Harbour and
Ragged Islands, NS, a Rider o f the fifth generation in North America and first in
Nova Scotia.
Rider, John5,1 7 3 3 -aft June 1809 (#50L) (Ebenezer4John3Samuel3 *) was born
at Plymouth 12 October 1733 (V R , 1: 159) to Ebenezer Rider and Thankful
Silvester. H e was the John Rider who with Priscillah Churchill, both o f Plymouth,
registered intention on 3 December 1757 to marry and who did marry 25 April
1758 (VR., 2:247,349). A deed o f Plymouth C ounty was dated 2 December 1773
(Ply. Co. Land Records, 58: 1) for selling to their eldest brother Ebenezer the
property his siblings had inherited from their father. The siblings named were
“Solomon Rider o f Plym outh seafaring man, “John Rider o f said Plymouth now
at Nova Scotia seafaring man”, Lydia Sutton [widow], M ercy and her husband
Nathaniel Doten, and Thankful and her husband Silvanus Howes. The law re­
quired that the wife o f a man selling property should be included as a grantor or
give written consent to the sale in order to protect her dower rights. This rule was
sometimes breached.
The indenture does not name the wife o f Solomon Ryder among the grantors.
Was Solomon married? Captain Solomon Ryder moved to Central Argyle, on
Pubnico Bay twenty miles south o f Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and about 1775 mar­
ried Sarah Young, a daughter o f H enry Young, who came freon Eastham to Liv­
erpool and then settled in Central Argyle in the late 1760’s. H is daughter Eliza­
beth became the second wife o f the Liverpool merchant Simeon Perkins whose
diary, published by the Champlain Society, mentions Solomon Rider and sons
Solomon and John Ryder [another John] sailing in and out o f Liverpool as cap­
tains o f their own vessels. T he main point o f this interesting bit o f Rider history is
that when the property was transferred on 2 December 1773 Solomon Ryder was
in Plymouth to sign the deed and his wife was not included as a grantor because
he was still single.
(Reference: Peter Crowell, “The Ryder Family o f Central Argyle, Yarmouth
County,” Argus Newsletter, 1991, vol. 3, no. 1)

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 RIDER & CHURCHILL

Transcription o f D eed D ated 2 D ecember 1773.

O riginal docum ent in Plym outh County, Mass. Land Records, vol. 58, p a ge 1 a t Plymouth County
Courthouse , Plymouth, Mass.
G rantors: Solomon Rider, Joh n Rider, L ydia Sutton, N athaniel Doten, M ersey Doten, Silvanus H owes
a n d Thankful his w ife
G rantee: E benezer R ider
Transcribed by Joyce S. Pendery, CGRS, A pril 6,1997

Know all m en b y these p resen t that w e Solomon Rider o f P lym outh seafarin g man, andJohn R ider o f
said P lym outh n o w a t N ova Scotia sea fa rin g m an and Lydia Sutton o f said Plymouth, N athaniel
D oten o f sa id P lym outh sea fa rin g m an a n d M ersey his w ife Es?Silvanus H owes o f said Plym outh
shorem an an d Thankful his w ife fo r the consideration ofthe sum o f seven pounds three shillings money to
us p a id by our brother E benezer R ider o f P lym outh shorem an the receipt o f w hich w e hereby acknowl­
edge h a v e giv en gra n ted bargained & sold to him the said Ebenezer his heirs assigns fo r e v e r all our right
to a certain p iece o f land ly in g a n d bein g in said Plymouth Viz. the p a rt o f the lan d our F ather E benezer
R ider la te o f P lym outh deceased d ied siezed o f & remaining unsettled Es?u n divided containing about a
fift h p a rt o f an acre or the sam e m ore or less. Bounded asfollows, b egin n in g a t the Easterly com er o f the
_____ o f N athaniel Morton's lan d b y the lane that leadsfrom the County R oad to the Waterside Es?
thence north th irty fo u r degrees east one rod Es?thence North 5 1 D & 20 M in[ut]es West R od a n d one
link [illegible w ords] 30,mts. E. one R od Es?eleven link. S to the said E benezer R iders R ange; thence No.
61.D.30 mts. West six R od eighteen Links Es?a h a lfto N athl Doten's la n d a n d thence South 67D.30.Mts
East to said Morton's Range nine rods _ links to th e Lane, th e Bounds fir s t mentioned. Together w ith the
Building Trees & F encing thereon, that is to say f i v e seven th p a r ts o f said la n d & buildings. The other
2/7th b elo n gin g to sa id E benezer as th e eld est son o f our sa id d eceased F ather ----- To h a ve a n d to H old
th e sa id Parcel w ith a ll th e P riviledges Es?Appurtenances thereto belon gin g to him his heirs Es?assigns
fo rever. A nd w e d o coven a n t w ith th e sa id E benezer R ider bis heirs Es?assigns that w e are law fully
seiz ed in fe e o ft h e prem ises Es?that th ey a refree o fa ll Incumbrances Es?that w e h a v e go o d right to sell Es?
con vey th e sam e as aforesaid, that is to s a y fiv e seven th p a rts o fsa id la n d Es?that w e w ill w arrant Es?
d efen d th e sam e to th e sa id E benezer R ider his heirs Es?assigns fo r ev er against the lega l claim o f all
persons. Witness our hands Es?Seals th e Second D ay ofD ecem ber AD. 1773.

Signed, Sealed & D elivered/ Solomon R ider (Seal) Lydia Sutton (seal)
In P resence o f — / Silvanus H owes (Seal) T hanlfull H owes (Seal)
Thos. Foster—/ N athaniel D oten (Seal) M ersyX D oten (Seal)
R uth Doten/ mark

Plym outh D ecem ber th e secon d 1773. The w ith in nam ed Solomon Rider, Lydia Sutton, Silvanus Howes,
Tbankfull his w ifi, N athaniel D oten Es?M ersy bis w ifi a ll acknow ledged o f the w ritten instrum ent to be
th eir a ct Es?deed. B efore me. Thos. Foster, Ju stice Peace. R eceived M arch 22.1774 & R ecorded John
Cotton, Regr.

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 RIDER ^CH U RCH ILL

The fact that our John Rider’s wife, nee Priscilla Churchill, was not included
among the grantors may well indicate that she had died by then, for surely his
brothers and sisters in Plymouth would know whether his wife was living or dead
in December o f 1773 and if she was alive, should have placed her name on the
deed. We know by a description of those parcels o f land that John Rider did not
then sell his one-seventh share and only did so when he conveyed the selfsame
parcels to John Locke on 20 June 1809 (Shel. Co. Book 5, pp. 36-37) and that
John Locke and notably his wife sold them to W illiam Davis, Jr. o f Plymouth on
28 June (Ply. Co., Land Records, 113:146—148).
Fred E. Crowell in an article in the Suburban (Bedford, no date on copy) on
John Locke stated that John and his family lived for some time with John’s old
maternal uncle, meaning an older brother of Elizabeth (Ryder) Locke. In June of
1809 when John Rider sold the property in and near Plymouth, he would have
been 75 years of age and Elizabeth was about forty-seven. John Rider’s siblings
were bom between 1729 and the early 1740’s, and their father, Ebenezer, died in
1750. Elizabeth Rider was not a child of Ebenezer nor o f his wife, Thankful, who
would have been 59 when Elizabeth was born about 1762. John Rider was most
likely the father o f Elizabeth Locke and the grandfather ofjohn Locke. He died
at Ragged Islands probably, some time after June o f 1809.
(References: Fred E. Crowell, “A Pioneer o f Religion”, Suburban; Land Records
o f Plymouth County, M A , and Shelburne County, NS, as cited; Vital Records o f
Plymouth, Picton Press)
Let us return to John Riders youngest brother Solomon for a moment and
Solomon’s father-in law, Henry Young, who may well have been he who married
Elizabeth H iggins 8 M arch 1731-2 and who had a daughter Sarah 6 February
1744-5.in Eastham. Henry was granted lot 9 in Argyle. Simeon Perkins wrote in
his diary that his father-in-law was reported to be in his eighty-second year when
he visited Liverpool in 1792, the year he died “after being gored by a bull.” In the
Shelburne County probate records o f Henry Young’s estate Solomon Rider states
that he was bom in Plymouth. Perkins wrote that his brother-in-law Solomon
Rider, owner o f a vessel, fished along the Nova Scotia and Labrador coasts and
carried freight to Halifax, Portland and Boston. Solomon built a house and planted

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Probable Ancestral Chart o f Elizabeth R yder

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 RIDER fcfCHURCHILL

an orchard on a hill a way from his father-in-law. Solomon and Sarah had four
sons, Solomon Jr., Ebenezer (named for his grandfather), H enry and John. His
death notice appeared in th e Acadian Recorder 2 October 1819: “1 Sept, at Argyle,
N.S.: Mr. Solomon Rider, Sr., 74; left three sons in the fishery.” Captain Henry
had died in 1817 on a voyage to Brazil. The Ryder family, descendants o f Captain
Solomon, Jr. and Captain John, was prominent in the area for over a hundred
years.
(References: Eastham and Orleans V ital records, M D , 17 (1): 35—Jan 1915;
Peter Crowell, C G (C ), “The Ryder Fam ily o f Central Argyle”, Argus Newsletter,
spring 1991, Argyle M unicipality Historical and Genealogical Society)

C H U RC H ILL FAMILY

Churchill, Priscilla5, M rsjo h n 5R ider, 1740- (# 5lL) (Ephraim'1Stephen3Eliezer3

John1) was bom at Plymouth 8 January 1740 and she was baptized 27 January,
(Ply. Church Records, 2: 440), the daughter o f Ephraim Churchill and Priscilla
Manchester. W hen her young parents died within three days o f each other, as we
shall see, Priscilla Churchill was three weeks short o f her tenth birthday. Along
with three siblings she came into the care and guardianship (Ply. Co. Prob. Rees.
12:55) of her grandfather Stephen Churchill and his wife Experience Ellis, but he
died in 1750 and Experience soon after. Priscilla, then twelve years old, went to
new guardians (Ply. Co. Prob. Rees., 12:275,423), her uncle Benjamin Churchill,
26, and his wife Ruth Delano, who had been married nearly five years, already had
three children and would have three more during Priscilla’s six-year stay with them.
No doubt she was Aunt Hannah’s helper, for when she went there Hannah had
three boys between two and four years old and was expecting another child. Priscilla
married at eighteen. Late in 1758 or early in 1759 Priscilla received £14 3s. 8d. as
her share in the division o f her late father’s real estate (Ply Co. Probate Records,
15: 43 ), a kind of dower.
After her marriage to John Rider the couple disappear from the Plymouth
County records. In The Churchill Family in America , page 36, Priscilla is the only
one o f the children o f Ephraim Churchill and Priscilla M anchester whose name
is not brought forward for further information on offspring, etc. Arthur H . Locke

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in his History and Genealogy o f Captain John Locke (1916) does not document his
statement that “M ary E. Ryder of Rhode Island was born in 1762” (p. 86). W h at
do we have to go on so far? John Locke, his wife and young family lived with old
John Rider, who sold Locke a large farm at Jones Harbour along w ith parcels of
land in Plymouth for £100. John Rider’s address on the deed was “late of Jones’s
Harbour but now of Ragged Islands”. Likely this close kinsman of 75 years of age
went to live in the home of Jonathan Locke, Jr. and his wife, nee Elizabeth Ryder.
Then there is the name Priscilla: Elizabeth’s mother and eldest daughter. Priscilla
Churchills cousin Josiah Churchill (her father and Josiah were first cousins) came
to Ragged Islands and was a friend of Jonathan Lock, Sr. Priscilla’s brother Zaccheus
Churchill and family settled in the Yarmouth area of western Nova Scotia, as did
her cousin Lemuel Churchill in 1762 with a grant o f 762 acres. Certainly the
family knew this region. Priscilla’s husband, John Rider, and his brother Solomon
also came to western Nova Scotia. A ll rather convincing but lacking documentary
proof o f Elizabeth Rider Locke’s parentage!
No vital record in Rhode Island has been found o f the birth of Elizabeth or
M ary E. to John and Priscilla Rider nor o f the death there of Priscilla Churchill,
who likely came to Nova Scotia w ith her husband, John Rider, and died there,
perhaps before 2 December 1773, because her name did not appear as a grantor
with her husband on the deed o f sale o f that date. In Massachusetts, as in Nova
Scotia, it was mandatory that a wife would sign ofF her dower rights before her
husband s property could be sold but the law was not always adhered to. As to a
record o f her probable death in Jones Harbour, the Sable River area at that time
was a sinkhole o f people in terms o f vital and cemetery records. Deborah Trask in
her book on grave sites wrote: “On Cape Sable Island and in several burial grounds
along the Sable River, graves were marked by pieces o f field stone set on end. It is
impossible to determine when this was done, but it was probably a common prac­
tice in isolated areas.” Eleanor Sm ith, C G (C ), in a letter to me o f 11 June 1997
added: “This was very common in most village areas o f Shelburne County. Usu­
ally there are one or two carved stones and a plot o f as many as 20 fieldstones, In
the Sable River/Louis H ead region Ed Burtt, o f New Hampshire, is clearing out
many o f these abandoned sites — putting a pole fence around them and designat­

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ing the name o f the families buried there by tracking down old residents and
gathering the folklore o f the area He then puts a sign on the site and photographs
the plot for posterity” Is there a faint hope that Mr. B um will find Priscilla Churchill
Rider’s grave?
A note about Josiah Churchill! H e is thought to have come from Plymouth to
Ragged Islands during the Revolution, having lost his property, followed by his
son Enos but not by his wife, Patience Harlow, nor by his other children. Families
were divided and neighbour set bitterly against neighbour in that first American
civil war, which was not just between the freedom-seeking colonies and the bully­
ing mother country, as blinkered myth would have it, but also between the
independentists and the loyalists, who had long lived together in those lands.
In Plymouth, Josiah s daughter Patience married Ellis Churchill, a brother of
Priscilla Churchill,John Riders wife. At Ragged Islands, Josiahs grandson Enos
Churchill married A bigail Locke, a daughter o f Jonathan Locke, Jr. and Eliza­
beth Rider. Enos and A bigails son Lewis Piers Churchill married Ann Locke,
daughter o f Sam uel Locke, Sr. and Letitia M cKillip, and Enos and A bigails
daughter Elizabeth Churchill married Samuel and Letitia’s son John Locke, later
senator. Intermarriage and a mercantile partnership bound the Lockes and the
Churchill’s together.
(References: A. G. Sc N. W . Churchill, The Churchill Family in America; Asaph
Churchill et al., Supplement: “The Nova Scotia Pioneer Churchills; Arthur H.
Locke, H is t o r y a n d G e n e a lo g y o f C a p ta in J o h n L ock e ; Plymouth Church Records;
Plymouth Colony Probate Records as cited; Deborah Trask, L ife H ow Short, Eter­
n i t y H o w L o n g : G r a v e s to n e C a r v i n g a n d C a r v e r s in N o v a Scotia; Vital Records of
Plymouth)
Churchill, Ephraim4, 1709-49 (#102L) (Stephen3EliezePJohn1), son o f Stephen
Churchill and Experience Ellis, was born at Plymouth 3 October 1709. He be­
came a cooper like his father. “Ephraim Churchel 8c Priscilla Manchester both of
Plymouth were married M arch 271730" (Ply. V. R .,p. 143). The name was spelled
Churchell in the vital record of their children (VR, 183; M D , 15 (2); 159). Their
children were: Mary, born 14 August 1730, m. James Drew; an unnamed child, b
19 December 1731, died the 30th; Charles, 25 April 1733, m. M rs Isaac Churchill

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 RIDER CHURCHILL

(nee Sarah Cobb); Zaccheus, 20 February 1635, m. M ary Trask; Ephraim, 2 July
1738, m. Jem im a Bryant; Priscilla, 8 January 1740, m. John Rider; Ellis, 25 No­
vember 1742, m. Patience Churchill, daughter of Josiah Churchill and Patience
Harlow; Ansel, 29 M arch 1745,m .B ethia Holmes; John, 16 July, 1748, m. Olive
Cobb and M rs Lucy Pratt. Then suddenly within two or three days eight children,
the youngest a year old, were left without father and mother. The Plymouth Vital
Records show Ephraim’s death on 13 December 1748 and Priscillas the 15th
(M D , 16: 86). The published inscription o f the grave at Burial H ill gives ages and
dates:
#1643 (Blue slate, moss-grown. Two semicircular roundings at top each with
symbol and crossbones)

In M em ory o f MR EPHRAIM/
CHURCHILL Who Dec/ Decg*rthe/
14th 1749 in the 41st Year o f his age

In M em ory o f MRS PRISCILLA, the Wife o f MR EPHRAIM CHURCHILL/

Who Dec/ Decemrthe 171749/
Aged 41Years

Ephraim’s father and mother, Stephen C hurchill, 65, and Experience (Ellis)
Churchill, 64, brought those eight children into their home. The court made
Stephen guardian and administrator. T he grandfather petitioned die court to al­
low the completion o f an agreed sale o f a house and garden spot for £500 old tenor
by his son Ephraim Churchill to Edward Doten, who had given the earnest, but
the deed had not been drawn when Ephraim died suddenly. If the court were not
to confirm the sale it would be necessary to sell off some o f the estate in order to
support “eight fatherless and motherless children, most o f them small, the eldest
not eighteen years o f age” (Ply. Co. Land Rees., 40: 28). The court allowed the
sale. But the grandfather died in 1750 and his wife soon after. The court received
on 6 November 1758 the appraised value o f the estate o f the late Ephraim Churchill,
that is, for a house and h alf acre and a pew in the meeting house o f the First

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Church, as £100 6s. 8d. and approved an arrangement by which the two eldest
sons, Charles and Zaccheus, would pay that sum and divide it among Ephraim’s
children. (Ply. Co. Prob. Rees. , 15: 43). M ary did not receive a share. She had
married James Drew and had four children by then. Perhaps she thought her
brothers and sisters had the greater need.
Ephraim Churchill and Priscilla Manchester are o f interest to Nova Scotians
because their son Zaccheus moved to Yarmouth and became the progenitor of
the largest Churchill family in the province,including Captain George W . Church­
ill, whose indomitable spirit through gales and hurricanes made famous his “Voy­
age o f M any Rudders” in the Research (1866-67), a story that was told for some
time in school readers.
(Reference: Benjamin Drew, Burial Hill, Plymouth, Mass. Plymouth: Avery Sc
Doten, 1894; Land and Probate Records, as cited; Supplement IV to The Churchill
Family o f America; Vital Records o f Plymouth )
Churchill, Stephen3, 1684-1750 (#204L) (Eliezer2John1) was born at Plymouth
16 February 1684, A cooper by trade, he married Experience Ellis, o f Sandwich,
in 1708. Their children were: Ephraim, born 15 October 1709, m. Priscilla M an­
chester; an infant, February 1710, lived 24 days; Nathaniel, 19 December 1712, m.
Mary Curtis; Mary, 29 April 1716,dy; Stephen, 24 August 1717, m. Hannah Barnes;
Zacheus,30 October 1719, d. 13 years; Benjamin, 19 August 1725, m. Ruth Delano.
The valiant grandfather Stephen died 6 October 1750.
Churchill, Eliezer2,1 6 5 2 -c l7 1 6 (#408L) (John1), the second son o f pioneer
John Churchill and Hannah Pontus, was born 20 April 1652 at Plymouth. Nine
years old when his father died, he inherited, after arrangements w ith his brother
Joseph, the original Churchill house and land at Hobshole. He was made a free­
man of Plymouth in 1683. About 1675 he married M a r y ------ and they had
Hannah and Joanna, who seem to have remained single, born 23 August 1676
and 25 November 1678; Abigail in 1680, who married Francis Billington and
then Nathaniel Howland; Eliezer, Jr. 23 February 1682; m. Hannah Bartlett;
Stephen, 16 February 1684-5, m. Experience Ellis; and Jedidiah, 27 February
1687, m. Thomas Harlow. Eliezer Churchill, Sr. married M ary Doty 8 February
1688 and they had five children, among whom was Elkanah, bom 1 M arch 1691,

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who married Susannah Manchester. Eliezer Churchill and his brother Joseph sold
to Sgt. W illiam Harlow for 45 shillings 1 1/2 acres o f meadow at watering place
“purchased by our Dear Father John Churchel deceased o f Philip Delano and
M ary his wife ... bequeathed to us by his last w ill and testament” — akn. by them
with their wives M ary and Sarah and recorded 2 A pril 1692. (M D , 35 (2): 147).
Eliezer Churchill was one o f a sm all committee chosen by the church 28 Novem­
ber 1694 to go with the pastor to help the people o f M iddlebury form a church
and on 16 October 1696 to attend the ordination o f M iddlebury s first pastor,
“who did all o f them goe to that Solemnity” (Ply. 1st Chh Rees, M D , 14:192 and
15: 23). In 1709 the town granted him land “to erect a warehouse upon”. Eliezer
died about 1716.
Churchill, John1, died c 1662, (#816L) is first o f record in New England in a
1643 list o f men at Plymouth able to bear arms. Despite much search, no one has
found records that give his parentage, the date and port o f embarkation, nor the
name o f the ship. Elizabeth Snell at page 19 o f her interesting and well-researched
book (1994), The Churchills: Pioneers and Politicians, triumphantly cites a letter to
her of2 February 1992 from the Family History Library, Salt Lake C ity,“contain­
ing hitherto unknown information.”

“Churchill, John, b. 1613, Muston, Dorset, England, d. 1 Ja n 1662 (noplace

g iv en )”

Genealogists know that those items in the International Genealogical Index

that do not derive from vital and other original documentary sources are sent in
by individuals who in some cases depend on surmise or a family story. Snell found
that for the years 1608—1614 the faded w riting o f the Parish o f Piddlehinton,
which included Muston, is unreadable. Besides, the records o f Dorchester town
and o f its churches o f Holy Trinity and St. Peters were largely destroyed by the
fires o f 1613 and 1623. One would need to examine the source o f the above IGI

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item. If this John Churchill was born in M uston, he was most likely related to Sir
W inston the first (1620-1688). Snell (p. 32) quotes a notation by Sir W inston
Spencer Churchill about John the pioneer: “He was undoubtedly a direct de­
scendant o f the Dorset Churchills.”
The first Sir W inston’s grandfather, Jasper Churchill, was a tenant farmer of
twenty acres in Dorset. Somehow he found the money to educate his son John at
the Inns o f the Court. John prospered in the law and in estate, marrying Sarah,
daughter of Sir Henry W inston. Their son W inston married Elizabeth, daughter
of the aristocratic widow Lady Drake, a Parliamentarian, who was able to shelter
her wounded and destitute Cavalier son-in-law and his little family when the
Roundheads took Dorset and Devon.
To return to the New England pioneer: “John Churchall and Hannah Pontus
marryed the xviiith Decembr 1644”, according to the Plymouth Colony Vital
Records, reproduced in M D , 13 (2): 86. The International Genealogical Index
shows this wedding to have taken place not only in Plymouth but also in Plympton
and in far away Dorset, England. That indicates how inexact the IGI is sometimes
and reminds us that it is an aid for further research and not documentary proof o f
anything. Soon John Churchill bought a farm at Hobshole from Richard Higgins
and in 1652. he bought ten acres from N athaniel Masterson and some Pontus
property from M ary Glass, Hannah’s widowed sister, who married Phillipe De la
Noye (Philip Delano). John Churchill joined the church and was made a freeman
in 1651 and, being worth £20 or more, had the right to vote. W h en he died in
1662-3 his inventoried livestock and equipment were those o f a fairly well-to-do
farmer in that place and time.
John and Hannah had six children: Joseph, bom 1647, m. Sarah Hicks; Hannah,
12 November 1649, m. John Drew; Eliezer, as above; M ary, 1 August 1654, m.
Thomas Doty; W illiam , 1656, m. Lydia Bryant; and John, Jr., 1657, m. Rebecca
Delano (de la Noye, o f aristocratic Huguenot origin). M ary Churchill had a sad
life. Not ten when her father died, she got pregnant at eighteen and her sailor
lover skipped out. Brought before the magistrates, she “confessed that she is be­
gotten with child by Thomas Doty, and that she had carnall coppulation w ith him

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three several times”. She was fined £6 and whipped. Doubting that he would re­
turn, she brought suit and the ju ry awarded her a third o f his boat, sails, anchor,
nets and boat-hiring fees. T hey did m arry and have two children but she soon
died.
John Churchill, Sr. died at Plymouth 1 January 1662-3 and his nuncupative
will was exhibited before the court on 3 M ar 1662. Twenty-year-old Abigail Clark
deposed that on 24 December her kinsman declared to her that his sons Joseph
and Eliezer should have all his land in Plymouth Township except that John should
have the fifty granted acres at M anomet Ponds and W illiam should have the pur­
chased land at Punckateesett, that Joseph should have the new house after his
mother’s death but if he married sooner he could use the old house for a time.
(References “John1Churchill’s W ill and Inventory”, M D , 18 (1): 40-42; Gardner
Asaph Churchill et al, The Churchill Family in America', Elizabeth Snell, The
Churchills: Pioneers and Politicians )
Pontus, H annah2, M rs John1 Churchill, c 1614-90 (#817L) (W illiam 1), bom
in Leyden, Holland, about 1614, the second child of W illiam Pontus and W ybra
Hanson, came with her parents and sister M ary to Plymouth about 1633. There
she married John Churchill 18 December 1644 and, being thirty then, was to
have a small fam ily o f six children. She and John received by her father’s w ill one-
third o f the meadow at the W atering Place. She inherited the new house from her
husband and six and a h alf years after his death became the third wife o f Giles
Rickard or Richards. She died 12 December 1690.
Pontus, W illiam 1,c l5 8 3 —cl6 5 3 , (#1634L), o f Dover, a maker o f fustian,a thick
twilled cloth w ith a short nap, joined the Pilgrim exiles in Leyden and on 4 De­
cember 1610 married W ybra Hanson with W illiam Brewster as a witness. They
had two daughters about 1612 and 1614, M ary and Hannah. They came to New
England as “straggling saints” in 1633 and settled along die Eel River, several
miles south o f Plymouth Town. W illiam Pontus was a member o f die Court of
Five Persons from 1636 and a Pilgrim o f some influence. H e died before 20 Feb­
ruary 1652—3, the date o f the inventory, which shows a rather skimpy existence as
a widower w ith an estate o f £13, o f which £8 was for house and land and £2 for
“ould bedding” and “ould wearing clothes”. W illiam Pontus gave his house and

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lands to his elder daughter Mary, his executor, wife of the James Glass who drowned
soon after, “knocked from off the fore cuddy into the serge”, and he gave Hannah
20 shillings, in addition to what he had already given her. That was a third of the
meadow at W atering Place, for which John Churchill had built some fencing and
had helped towards the maintenance o f his elderly father-in-law.
Hanson, W yb ra1, M rs W m 1 Pontus, cl590~bef 20 Sept. 1650, (#1635L) was
most likely of a leading family of Austerfield, in Yorkshire, just over the border
from the famous Pilgrim hamlet of Scrooby and perhaps related to W illiam Brad­
ford, whose mother was Alice Hanson. W ybra Hanson went w ith her father and
mother to join the exiles in Leyden, where in 1610 she married W illiam Pontus.
She and her two daughters came w ith him to Plymouth in 1633. She must have
died before he made his will on 20 September 1650.
(References: Fred E. Crowell, “No. 132- Churchill”; Snell, op . cit., pp. 33-37;
“The W ill o f W illiam Pontus”, M D , 11 (2); 92-93; W illiston, pp. 88, 452)
Ellis, Experience3, M rs Stephen3 Churchill, 1687-1751 (#205L) (M atthias3
John1) was born at Sandwich 26 July 1687 and baptized 30 M ay 1695, the daugh­
ter of M atthias and M ercy Ellis. She married Stephen Churchill 2 December
1708. H er father gave her by his w ill one h alf o f the remaining personal estate and
so she received £190. H er twice-widowed sister M ercy remembered her in her
w ill and another sister, Mehitable, gave Experience’s children property she had
received from her father. Experience had seven children, o f whom two died in
infancy and one in childhood. For a time she looked after the orphaned children
o f her dead son Ephraim. She died after 2 September 1750 and before 20 Sep­
tember 1751.
Ellis, M atthias2, 1657-1748 (#410L) (John1), was the sixth o f eleven children
o f John Ellis and Elizabeth Freeman, o f Sandwich. W h en he attained majority of
21 years, his grandfather, Edmond Freeman, Sr., gave him by a deed o f 24 Febru­
ary 1678 his house and orchards and a defined quarter o f the land belonging to it
—for “living w ith me until he came to man’s Estate, being a support unto me in
my old age 8c weakness” (Ply. Col. Deeds, 5:169-170 ). Soon after, about 1678-9,
M atthias Ellis married M e rc y ------ , who was thought by genealogists to have
been M ercy Nye, daughter of Benjamin Nye and Katherine Tupper, until Maclean

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W . M cLean presented evidence that in 1704 M ercy Nye was unmarried, weak
and infirm. M atthias and Mercy had nine children: Joel, Matthias, Jr. Jo h n , Mercy,
Experience, M alachi, Remember, M ehitabel and Samuel. H e took the oath of
allegiance in 1681 and was a grand juror in 1685. Lieut. M atthias Ellis was with
Sir W illiam Phips at the capture of Port Royal on 19 M ay 1690 and fifty belated
years afterwards was granted 150 acres, especially for “guarding artillery at Great
Hazard to his life.” He was listed as a freeman in 1702 and three years later was
one o f the committee appointed to settle the bounds between Sandwich and
Marshpee. His w ill o f 13 November 1744, proved 4 October 1748, made provi­
sion for his wife, Mercy, gave lands to his sons and household goods to his daugh­
ters. According to the inventory, his personal estate was worth nearly £450 and his
real estate £2550. The widow M ercy must have died before 7 November 1748
because her name does not appear in the accounting.
Ellis, John1, cl6 2 0 -b ef 23 M ar 1676-7, (#820L) appears in the records in 1643
as able to bear arms and then on 20 August 1644 in a very miserable way, when he
was accused o f fornication with his now wife. Evidently he had married Elizabeth
Freeman some considerable time but not nine months before the birth o f their
first child about this date. W hatever the merits o f this case, the Plymouth magis­
trates and the clergy construed premature birth as proof o f premarital sin and they
became incensed when John Ellis refused to adm it guilt and perhaps used the
prominence o f his wife’s family to have the case stayed. That fateful August day
many neighbours, husbands and wives, w ith the names o f Fish, Wood, Holly,
Kerby and Swyft were forced by warrant to give evidence. Finally, “John Ellis o f
Sandwich... is censured to be whipt at publicke post and Elizabeth his wife to
stand by while exucon o f the sentence is pformed; which was accordingly done.
And the said John Ellis for his long and tedious delayes occasioning much trouble
and charge to the countrey, for that he would not confess the truth untill the
present, is fyned 5 li.”
Having given a child o f the church a good thrashing, the authorities forgave
and forgot. In 1651 John Ellis was a grand juror: 1652, w ith others appointed to
lay out a way from Sandwich to Plymouth; 1653; appointed lieutenant o f the
m ilitia and with two others given the monopoly o f beached whales for £16 each

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whale; the next year with others to build a mill; 1659, allowed to keep a public
house for the entertainment o f travellers and strangers; 1660, engaged to train the
m ilitary company; 1662, to finish the town dock. Brownson and M cLean believe
that Lieut. John Ellis was killed in King Philip’s war in 1676-7 and support their
hypothesis with the fact that his widow, Elizabeth, went to land in Sepican where
grants were made to veterans of that war. C ertainly John Ellis died intestate be­
fore 23 M arch of that year when Elizabeth presented the inventory o f his estate to
the court. By record and deduction the list o f their children is: Elizabeth, Bennet,
Mordecai, Deborah, Joel, M atthias, M anoah, Freeman, Gideon and W illiam .
Freem an, E lizabeth3, M rs Jo h n 1 E llis, 1624—b ef 20 Apr. 1714 (#821L)
(Edmond1) was baptized on 11 A pril 1624 , in the parish of Billingshurst, Sussex,
England, a daughter of Edmond Freeman and Bennet Hodsoll. She came with
her parents and siblings in the Abigail in 1635. Elizabeth Freeman went through
the ordeal of the charge of premarital sex and was sentenced to watch her young
husband, John Ellis, being w hipped...She was fifty-three years old when he died.
Her three daughters and probably her eldest son, Mordecai, were married. The
five other Ellis sons, aged twenty down to twelve, were probably out o f the home
in apprenticeship, except the youngest, W illiam . In A pril o f1680 the widow Eliza­
beth Ellis drew lot four in the frontier settlement o f Scippican, alias Rochester.
She and her three youngest sons, Freeman, Gideon and W illiam moved there.
She was a co-executor of her father, Edmond Freeman, Sr. after he died in 1682,
leaving her one-third o f his lands “to the Westward and Northward”. The propri­
etors, meeting in November 1687, granted to M rs Elizabeth Ellis ten acres about
her house. She deeded part of her lands to those three sons. In 1694 she drew
three lots and as late as February o f 1706-7 she drew a lot in the Rochester Cedar
Swamp. Fot lack of any record o f the settlement o f her estate it is assumed that she
had divided her property among her children before she died, perhaps near the
age of ninety before 20 A pril 1714, when, to tidy up legally, Freeman and W illiam
Ellis recorded several deeds from her that bore dates o f more than ten years be­
fore. Elizabeth Freeman Ellis was strong o f body and character.

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Freem an, Edm ond1, 1590-1682, (#1642L) was baptized in the parish of
Pulborough, where John Galsworthy lived in our time, fifteen miles northeast of
the Sussex coastal town o f Bognor Regis. Edmond Freeman was the son of
EdmundAFreeman, ca. 1590-1623, a well-off yeoman, and Alice Coles. EdmundA,
Sr. and Alice had six children: Edmond; W illiam , m. Christian Hodsoll; Alice, m.
John Beauchamp; Eleanor, d.y.; John, m. E lizabeth------ and probably emigrated
to Sudbury, M A ; and Elizabeth, m. John Cuddington. EdmundAbequeathed to
his wife £200, the “benefit o f copyhold wherein I dwell and thirds o f my lands for
life”; to son John £100 and three tenements; to daughter Elizabeth £300; to seven
grandchildren £20 each; and he remembered other relatives, his servants and the
poor and left the rest o f his goods and lands to his sons Edmond and W illiam , his
executors. Their mother Alice in a w ill proved 5 M arch 1651-2 left her house to
sons Edmond and W illiam , gifts to her daughters and grandchildren and the poor,
and the rest o f her goods to her executors, John and Alice Beauchamp, probably in
whose home at Rygate she died.
Edmond1Freeman the son married at Cowfold, Sussex, on 16 June 1617 Bennet
Hodsoll, daughter of John Hodsoll, who had lands in Sussex and Kent and who
in his w ill of 1617 made bequests to his wife, son and daughters. Two years later
Edmond and Bennet m ay have moved to Billingshurst, six miles northeast, for
their younger children were baptized there. Bennet died in April o f 1630 and was
buried the twelfth at Pulborough. Three years later Edmond Freeman sued on
behalf o f his children in the chancery court W illiam Hodsoll and other relatives o f
his wife. Brainard suggests that the award m ay have gone against him and thus
influenced his departure for Am erica although he may have come to look after the
interests o f his brother-in-law John Beauchamp. There is no evidence that Edmond
Freeman was a Puritan and emigrated for religious reasons.
The first o f August 1635 Edmond Freeman and his new wife, the former Mrs.
Elizabeth Perry, and his children by his first wife — Alice, 17; Edmond, Jr., 15;
Elizabeth, 12; and John, 8 — sailed in the Abigail, Captain Hackwell, master,
carrying 230 passengers and m any cattle. A fter a voyage o f ten weeks they settled
first in Saugus, later called Lynn. Edmond was admitted freeman in February of
1636-7. H e and nine other men o f that place were given leave to set down at

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Saugus, now Sandwich, and he became the leader in its settlement. Serving as an
assistant governor from 1640 to 1646, he helped negotiate a deal with the goug­
ing English merchant adventurers, including his brother-in-law, John Beauchamp,
to pay off the colony’s debt, and he sold lands for Beauchamp at Scituate in 1642.
Edmond Freeman was one of the deputies in 1645 who favoured a petition pre­
sented to the General Court for full and free tolerance of religion but Governor
Bradford opposed it and Thomas Prence used parliamentary manoeuvres to pre­
vent a vote. His children were: Alice, married Deacon W illiam Paddy, the treas­
urer of the colony from 1636 to 1651; Edmond, Jr. m. Rebecca Prence; John m.
M ercy Prence; Elizabeth, m. John Ellis; and M ary m. Edward Perry. Edmond
Freeman’s w ill, proved 2 November 1682, made bequests to his two sons, Edmond
and John, to his daughter Elizabeth and to her son M atthias Ellis. Amos Otis told
a story about Edmond Freeman, Sr., that, whether apocryphal or not, is charming.
His wife Elizabeth died 14 February 1676 and was buried on a rise o f their farm.
Then about 86, he called his sons and grandsons together and had them place a
stone like a side-saddle on her grave and another stone like a man's saddle beside
it, saying, “W hen I die place my body under this stone; your mother and I have
travelled many long years together...”
(References: Homer W . Brainard, “Prence Freeman o f East Hampton, Conn.”,
TAG, 17:87-95; Lydia B.Brownson &. M ad e an W . M cLean;“Lt. John and Eliza­
beth Ellis o f Sandwich, M ass.”, NEHGR, 101:161-173; Maclean W . M cLean,
“Notes and Corrections”, NEHGR, 125:140-141; Amos Otis, “Genealogical Notes
of Barnstable Families: Freeman”, pp. 385-386; Josiah Paine, “The Freemans”,
NEHGR, 20: 59-63; Pope, Pioneers o f Massachusetts',; W illison, Saints and Stran­
gers, pp. 3 0 9 ,31 7,36 2,45 6)
Manchester, Priscilla3, M rs Ephraim"* Churchill, cl708-49 (#103L): The age
o f Priscilla M anchester inscribed on her tombstone implies her year of birth as
1708. She married Ephraim4 Churchill 27 M arch 1730 at Plymouth and had nine
children, one o f whom died at birth or soon after. Ephraim, her husband, died in
mid-December 1749 and she died two or three days later at the age o f 41, leaving
eight children, the youngest of whom was 17 months old.

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Having searched the indexes at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, Joyce
Pendery, CG RS, reported that there were no Manchester names on deeds up to
1801. She then checked the index o f the probate records o f that county and found
only one Manchester, namely, Eli o f Rochester in 1852. “This information tells us
it is very unlikely that Priscilla and Susanna Manchester came from an established
Plymouth County family. That points again at the Bristol County and Rhode
Island M an chester (letter to me 17 June 1997).
A record o f the birth or baptism o f Priscilla Manchester has not been found.
The Boston genealogist Fred E. Crowell wrote in his Churchill sketch that she
“was probably the daughter o f Stephen Manchester o f Tiverton, R.I.” The 60-
page manuscript genealogy o f the Manchesters by George Randall shows her
marriage to Ephraim Churchill and her death but lists her among those whose
connection has not been discovered. Ephraim’s uncle Elkanah Churchill married
Susanna M anchester 24 December 1720 in Plymouth. Were Susanna and Priscilla
related, perhaps first cousins? Randall identifies Susanna as the daughter o f W illiam 2
Manchester, son o f Thomas, and Crowell shows Priscilla as probably the daughter
o f Stephen2Manchester, son ofThomas. W hom this Susanna married is not cer­
tain because Alden and Rita Manchester show her as one o f the eleven children o f
W illiam Manchester and M ary Cook and as the wife ofJohn Taber o f Dartmouth,
M A , listing the names of their eight children and the date o f her death. Unfortu­
nately there are no recorded birthdates for Susanna and the ten other children of
W illiam and M ary Manchester.
M anchester, Stephen2, cl661—1719, (#206L) (Thomas1) This line w ill be
followed briefly in case Stephen is proved to be the father of the Priscilla M an ­
chester who married Ephraim Churchill. Stephen was born about 1661 to Tho­
mas Manchester and M argaret Wood at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, which ad­
mitted him freeman 4 November 1683. There on 13 September 1684 he married
Elizabeth, daughter of Gershom Wodell and M ary Tripp. Elizabeth received a
bequest o f £10 from her grandfather John Tripp in 1685. She was probably the
mother of his first four children, the birth date o f only the second child being
known. Stephen and his brothers W illiam and Job were first settlers in 1692 of
Tiverton, which made them freemen on 2 March. Elizabeth died there before

473
 RIDER ^C H U RC H ILL

1697. Stephen married D am aris------ and they had W illiam , born about 1700,
George, born in 1701, and perhaps Priscilla, born about 1708 Stephen M anches­
ter died at Tiverton in 1619. The Bristol County Probate Records show (3: 599)
administration of his estate granted to widow Damaris Manchester, who appeared
at court with the inventory dated 5 November (3: 649) totalling £129 and consist­
ing of house and land, clothes, feather bed, warming pan, pewter, spinning wheel,
6 barrels of cider, 3 loads o f hay, 2 cows, 2 oxen, swine, a gun, etc.
Manchester, Thom as1, c l6 2 0 -c l6 9 1 (#412L), born in England about 1620,
was recorded in 1639 in present New Haven, CT, and moved to Portsmouth, RI,
before 1642. About 1650Thomas M anchester married M argaret Wood, daughter
of John Wood, who died in 1655 and bequeathed £8 to his daughter.. T hey had six
sons and two daughters, whose birthdates can only be approximated. He deeded
to his son John his “mansion house” and all his lands in Portsmouth (excepting the
lower end in possession ofThom as), “all and singular my goods, cattle and chat­
tels, implements, necessary debts, bills, bonds, specialties, sums o f money, and all
other things whatsoever belonging to me at my decease.” John was to get h alf at
his father’s death and the rest at his mother’s death and he was to pay 20s. to his
brother Job and 10s. to his sisters M ary and Elizabeth and his brothers Thomas,
W illiam and Stephen. M argaret died about two years later.
(References: James N. Arnold, Vital Records o f Bristol; o f N ewport County; o f
Tiverton; Joh n Osburne Austin, The G enealogical D ictionary o f Rhode Island, Fred
E. Crowell, “New Englanders in Nova Scotia: Churchill , no. 132; W illiam T.
Davis, Genealogical R egister o f Plymouth Families . 55—59; Alden C . and R ita C .
Manchester, “The Manchester Fam ily o f Rhode Island”, NEHGR, 101:308—313
and 102" 10-15 ,19—25; George Randall, “M anchester”, mss, pp. 1 -2 and 56)

474
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 Index
Adams, Elizabeth-1, Mrs John2 Partridge,
1666-, (#141), 222
Adams, Henry1, 1583-1646, (#520,564), 217
Adams, Henryjr.2, died 1676, (#260), 221
Adams, Jane-', Mrs Nicholas2 Rockwood, d.
1654, (#277), 25%
Adams, Jonathan Sr.2, cl614-1690, (#282),
221
Adams, Lydia4, Mrs John3 Fiske, 1684-, (#65),
221
Adams, Moses3, bom 1654, (#130), 221
Atwood, Anna3, Mrs W illiam 3 Nickerson,
1688-aftl764, (#115L), 70
Atwood, Eldad2, born 165?, (#230L), 70
Atwood, Hannah2, Mrs Jeremiah2 Smith,
1649-1728, (#233L), 70
Atwood, Stephen1, cl620-94, (#460L, 466L),
69
Austin, Agnes1, Mrs Edmund1Littlefield,
1596/7-1678, (#489L), 198
Austin, Deborah2, Mrs John2 Coffin, 1647-
1718, (#317), 292
Austin, Joseph1, cl616-63, (#634), 291
Badcock, David1, church mem. 1640, (#530,
968L), 222
Badcock, Enoch3, born 1654, (#242), 223
Badcock, George2, died 1671, (#484L), 222
Badcock, Margaret2, Mrs Henry Leland, d. aft
1680, (#265), 245
Badcock, Mary4, Mrs David2 Horton, m. 1702,
(#121L), 223
497
Baker, Anne1, Mrs Thomas1Bayes, m. 1639,
(#7791), 275
Baker, Sarah1, Mrs Richard1Nason, died ca
1663, (#509L), 205
Bangs, Edward1, ca 1592-1677, (#382a, 654a,
702a, 766b), 34
Bangs, Hannah2, Mrs John2 Doane, b. 1644,
(#191a, 3 2 7 a m , 3 5 1 a m , 383b), 70
Barker, Mary1, Mrs Isaac* Steams, d 1677,
(#571), 223
Barnard, Robert1, died cl682, (#502L, 630),
292
Barnard, Sarah2, Mrs James2 Skiff) cl648-
1732, (#251L, 315), 292
Barnes, Hannah3, Mrs John3 Rider, c 1672-
1703, (#201L), 447
Barnes, John1, d. 1671, (#804L), 447
Barnes, Jonathan2, 1643-84, (#402L), 447
Barron, Ellis1, died 1676, (#518), 224
Barron, Mary2, Mrs Daniel2Warren, cl631-
1716, (#259), 224
Barss, Elizabeth6, Mrs Josiah7 Smith, 1780,
(# lla), 408
Barss, Joseph Hon.5, Hon., 1754-1826, (#22a),
407
Barstow, Mary2, Mrs Joseph2 Silvester, 1641-
1715, (#405L), 451
Barstow, William1, cl612-68, (#810L), 452
Bartlett, Hannah3, Mrs Joseph3 Silvester, d bef
4 Mar 1754, (#203L), 452
Bartlett, Joseph2, cl639-1711-2, (#408L), 453
Bartlett, Robert1, 1603-1676, (#802L), 443
Bartlett, Sarah’, Mrs Sam- Rider Jr., 163_ -bef
14 June 1680, (#4011), 443
Bayes, Ruth2, Mrs Isaac2 Norton, 1643-,
(#389), 276
Bayes, Thomas1, 1615-80, (#778L), 275
Bearse, Augustine1, bom 1618, (#352a), 70
Bearse, Benjamin3, 1682-1748, (#88a), 73
Bearse, Joseph2, 1652-95, (#176a), 73
Bearse, Joseph Jr.', bom 1750, (#22a), 74
Bearse,Joseph Sr.4, 1708-51, (#44a), 73
Bennister, Gertrude', Mrs James1Hurst,
1584-1670, (#1175), 103
Berry, Elizabeth2, Mrs John1 Locke, cl634-aft
1708, (#385L), 348
Berry, William', died 1654, (#770L), 347
Bigelow, John', 1617-1703, (#286), 225
Bigelow, Sarah2, Mrs Isaac2Learned, 1659-,
(#143), 226
Blake, Dorothy2, Mrs Nathaniel2 Locke, 1668-
. (#193L), 352
Blake, Jasper1, died 1674, (#386L), 351
Bower, George1, d.1656, (#758a, 1302a&b,
1398a, 1526b), 41, 74
Bower, Ruth2, Mrs Richard Knowles, b 1620,
(#379a, 651a&b, 699a&h, 763b), 74
Briant, Abigail2, Mrs William2 Carpenter,
1604-1687, (#789L), 42
Bullard, Benjamin Jr.2, d 1689, (#134), 226
Bullard, Benjamin Sr.1, to W ’town 1630,
(#268), 226
Bullard, Mary3, Mrs Hopestill4 Leland, 1683-,
(#67), 227
Bunker, George1, died 1658, (#616), 292
Bunker, Jonathan3, 1675-1721, (#154), 294
Bunker, Patience4, Mrs Jonathan4 Gardner,
1706, (#77), 294
Bunker, William2, 1648-1712, (#308), 293
Busby, Anne2, Mrs William1 Nickerson, m
1625, (#457L 601 663a&h), 228
Busby, Nicholas1, died 1660, (#914L, 1202
1326a&h), 227
Carpenter; Samuel3, 1638-1683, (#394L), 44
498
Carpenter, Sarah4, Mrs Nathaniel Perry,
b.1663, (#197L), 44
Carpenter, William1, d. ca 1638, (#1576L), 42
Carpenter, William Jr.2, ca 1605-1659,
(#7881), 42
Chickering, Esther2, Mrs Daniel2 Smith,
1643-87, (#397L), 230
Chickering, Francis1, 1606-58, (#794L), 228
Churchill, Eliezer2,1652-cl716, (#408L), 464
Churchill, Ephraim4, 1709-49, (#102L), 462
Churchill, John1, died c 1662, (#816L), 465
Churchill, Priscilla5, Mrs John5 Rider, 1740-,
(#51L), 460
Churchill, Stephen*, 1684-1750, (#204L), 464
Cobb, Henry1, cl607-79, (#356a, 586, 738b),
75
Cobb, Mary2, Mrs Jonathan2 Dunham, m
1657, (#293), 76
Cobb, Patience2, Mrs Robert1 Parker, 1642-
1727, (#369b), 76
Cobb, Samuel2, 1654-1728, (#178a), 77
Cobb, Sarah3, Mrs Benjamin3 Bearse, 1681-
1742, (#89a), 77
Cocke, Bridget1, Mrs Nicholas1 Busby, d.
1660, (#915L, 12031327a ttb ), 228
Coffin, Elizabeth3, Mrs Jonathan3 Bunker,
1675- , (#155), 2 96
Coffin, James2, 1640-1720, (#310), 296
C offinjohn2, 1647-1711, (#316), 297
Coffin, Lydia4, Mrs Samuel4 Long, 1697-1763,
(#79), 297
Coffin, Mary2, Mrs Nathaniel2 Starbuck,
1645-1717, (#307), 296
Coffin, Peter3, 1671-1749, (#158), 297
Coffin, Tristram1, 1605-81, (#614 620, 632),
294
Coggeshall, Content3,M rs Samuel3 Norton,
1676- 1739, (#195L), 320
CoggeshallJo h n 1, 1601-47, (#780L), 316
Coggeshall, John Jr.2, ca 1620-1708, (#390L),
319
Cole, James1, ca 1600-1671, (#728a), 44
Cole Jo h n J r 3, born 1672, (#182a), 46
Cole, John Sr.2, 1637-77, (4364a), 45
Cole, Lydia4, Mrs Thomas Deane, b 1694,
(#91a), 46
Collier, Mary2, Mrs Thomas Prence, cl612-
cl644, f4755b), 78
Collier, William1, ca. 1585-1671, (01510b), 78
Collins, Anna3, Mrs Jonathan5 Crowell,
cl719-, (047a), 81
Collins, Hannah3, Mrs Stephen4 Smith, 1711-
29, (4 8 1 a m ), 80
Collins, Henry1, 1606-81, (0376a, 6 4 8 am ,
696a&b, 760b), 230
Collins, Jane3, Mrs Prence4 Snow, cl717-,
(095b), 80
Collins,John2, 1674-1765, (494a, 162a&h,
174am), 79
Collins,Joseph1,164?-1724, (4188a, 3 2 4 a m ,
3 5 8 a m ), 79
Collins, Joseph4, 1713-71, (444b), 81,424
Collins, Martha3, Mrs Moses3 Godfrey, 1708-,
(487), 81
Collins, Patty4, Mrs Alexander7 Smith, 1784-
1830, (411b), 424
Collins, Paul5, 1754-1840, (422h), 424
Conant, Joshua Jr.3, bom 1657, (4166a&b), 82,
170
Conant, Joshua Sr.2, ca 1630-59, (4332a&b),
170
Conant, Roger1, 1592-1679, (4664a&b), 163
Conant, Sarah4, Mrs Nathaniel3 Eldredge,
1695-, (483a-h), 82
Conde, Christian2, Mrs Peter3 Coffin, cl679,
(4159), 297
Cooke, Anna2, Mrs Mark2 Snow, d. 1656,
(4463L), 83
Cooke, Deborah3, Mrs Moses2 Godfrey, 1679-
1745, (0 1 6 9 am , 1 7 3 a m ), 83
Cooke,Josiah1, cl610-73, (467 6 a m , 6 9 2 a m ,
926L), 82
Cooke,Josiah Jr.2, 1645-1732, (4 3 3 8 a m ,
3 4 6 a m ), 83
Coombs, Lydia1, Mrs John1Miller, d. 1658,
(4739), 248
499
Cooper, Judith1, Mrs Henry1 Smith, d aft Oct
1650, (4793L), 46
Covell, Elizabeth2, Mrs Jehosaphat2 Eldredge,
d aft 1754, (4 1 6 5 a m ), 84
Coveil, James I1, came 1636, (4288), 276
Coveil, James II2, cl660-bef 1749, (4144), 277
Coveil, James IIP, 1687-, (472), 277
Covell, Matilda6, Mrs John6 Fiske, 1789-1815,
(49), 400
Covell, Nathaniel1, d. bef 1687, (4 3 3 0 a m ), 83
Covell,TimothyJr.s, 1765-1836, (418), 399
CoveU, Timothy Sr.4, 1730-1812, (436), 277,
398
Crow,John1, died 1673, (4736a), 84
Crow, John Jr.2, ca. 1639-89, (4368a), 85
Crow, Mehitable2, Mrs Thomas2Tobey, died
1723, (4393b), 85
Crow, Thomas2, 1649-1728, (4224L), 88
Crow, Yelverton1, died 1683, (4448L), 87
Crowell, Abigail5, Mrs Joseph4 Collins, 1715-
88, (445b), 86
Crowell, Ann7, Mrs Samuel7 Locke, 1819-98,
(47L), 375
Crowell, David5, 1743-1824, (428L), 88,376
Crowell, Elizabeth6, Mrs Joseph Barss, bora
175?, (423a), 408
Crowell, Freeman6, bora 1789, (414L), 377
Crowell, Isaac3, bom 1685, (4112L), 88
Crowell, John3, 1662-1728, (4184a), 85
Crowell, Jonathan4, 1714-68, (456L), 88,376
Crowell, Jonathan5, 1719-76, (446a), 87,408
Crowell, Paul4, 1687-1765, (492), 86
Dalton, Deborah1, Mrs Jasper1 Blake, c l625-
78, (4387 L), 352
Deane, Jonas1, died 1697, (4180a), 47
Deane, Lydia3, Mrs Joseph4 Bearse, 1728-,
(445a), 47, 88
Deane, Stephen1, died 1634, (4646a), 36
Deane, Thomas2, born 1691, (490a), 47, 88
Derby, Elizabeth2, Mrs Thomas2 Lumbert,
cl646-, (4371b), 91
Derby, John1, cl610-1655, (41482b), 89
Dewey, Margaret, Mrs Edmund Hobart, died
1649, (4767a, 939L, 1311a, 1407a), 239
Dexter, Abigail3, Mrs Jonathan3 Hallett, 1663-
1715, (4187a), 93
Dexter,Thomas1, died 1686, (4748a), 91,230
Dexter, Thomas Jr.2, died 1686, (4374a), 92
Doane, Hannah', Mrs John3 Collins, 1669-,
(495a, 1 6 3 a m , 1 7 5 a m , 191b), 93
Doane, John Jr.2, born cl635, (4190a, 326a&h,
3 5 0 a m , 382b), 93
Doane, John Sr.1, ca 1590-1685, (4356b, 380a,
382b, 6 5 2 a m , 700a), 47
Dunham, Abigail2, Mrs Stephen1Atwood, b
ca 1626, (4461L, 467L), 49
Dunham, Gershom3, cl664-1739, (4146), 278
Dunham, John1, 1589-1669, (4584 922 934),
48
Dunham, Jonathan2, 1632-1717, (4292), 49,
277
Dunham, Mary4, Mrs James3 Covell, 1694—,
(473), 2 78
Eldred, William1, married ca 1647,
(4328am), 93
Eldredge Jehosaphat2, ca 1658-1732,
(4 1 6 4 a m ),9 4
Eldredge, Mehitable4, Mrs Stephen5 Smith,
1729-1815, (4 4 1 a m ), 94
Eldredge, Nathaniel', born ca 1690, (482a&b),
94
Ellis, Elizabeth2, Mrs Benjamin2 Bullard,
1651-, (4135), 232
Ellis, Experience3, Mrs Stephen3 Churchill,
1687-1751, (4205L), 468
Ellis, Hannah2, Mrs Samuel3 Rockwood,
1651-1717, (4139), 232
Ellis, John1, cl620-bef23 Mar 1676-7,
(4820L), 232,469
Ellis, Matthias2, 1657-1748, (4410L), 468
Ellis, Richard1, married 1650, (4270), 231
Fallowell, Anne2, Mrs Thomas1Pope, d.
1639+, (4815L), 455
Fallowell, Gabriel1, cl584-1667, (41630L),
455
500
Finney, Katherine1, Mrs Gabriel1 Fallowell, c
1596-1676, (41631L), 455
Fisk, Adelia8,1851-bef 1894,413
Fisk, Alfred7, 1812-83, (4), 416
Fisk, Amasa7, 1815-1900, (44a), 401,408
Fisk, Amasa E.8, born 1860,416
Fisk, Annie8, 1863-1959, 416
Fisk, Eliza8, 1846-63,411
Fisk, Emily8, b 1843,409
Fisk, John8, 1845-1927,409
Fisk, Laleah8, Mrs Winfield Osgood, 1848-,
430
Fisk, Loemma8, 1848-73, 431
Fisk, M aiy Ida8, 1857-1942,414
Fisk, Matilda Coveil8, Mrs James Dailey,
1835-1904,425
Fisk, Ralph Busby8, 1858-1939,414
Fisk, Raymond8, 1848-1932,412
Fisk, Samuel Smith8, 1840-1915, 427
Fiske, Amasa Homer8, 1837-1904, (42), 427,
431
Fiske, Anne1, 1610-49, (4795L),2 36
Fiske, Edwin W .9, bom 1879, (41-5), 435
Fiske, Frank Osgood9, 1871-1926, (41-2), 434
Fiske, Gladys9, Mrs William MacCallum,
1887-1947, (41-8), 438
Fiske, Grace9, Mrs F. H. Dunlevy, d. 1914,
(41-3), 435
Fiske, Harry9, born 1877, (41-4), 435
Fiske,Helen Hammond9, Mrs Charles
Jackman, 1885-1958, (41-7), 436
Fiske, Jean9, Mrs Alexander MacLean, 1889-
1965, (41-9), 438
Fiske Jo h n I3, 1682-1730, (464), 233,396
Fiske, John II4, 1709-54, (432), 233,396
Fiske Jo h n IIP, 1738-1817, (416), 233,397
Fiske Jo h n IV6, bom 1778, (48), 397
Fiske, Marion9, (41-1), 434
Fiske, Nathan1, ca 1615-76, (4256), 232,395
Fiske, Nathaniel2, 1653-1734, (4128), 233,
396
Fiske, Rupert9, b. 1882, (41-6), 435
Folland, Mary2, Mrs John2 Whelden, cl627-
1711, (#297), 95
Folland, Thomas1, died 1687, (#594), 95
Follett, Nicholas1, died ca 1694, (#506L), 198
Follett, Sarah2, Mrs John2 Meader, d ca 1727,
(#253L), 198
Freeman, Edmond1, 1590-1682, (#1642L),
471
Freeman, Elizabeth2, Mrs John1 Ellis, 1624-
bef 20 Apr 1714, (#821L), 470
Friar, Margaret1, Mrs Thomas1Gardner, adm.
church 1640, (#609, 667a-h), 172
Fussell, Elizabeth2, Mrs Jonathan2 Adams, m
abt 1665, (#283), 236
Fussell,John1, came 1630s, (#566), 2 36
Gamlett, Anne1, Mrs Samuel1 Rider, d. 1695,
(#801L), 95,442
Gardner, James3, born 1662, (#152), 299
Gardner, Jonathan4, 1696-1777, (#76), 299
Gardner, Keziah6, Mrs Timothy5 Covell, 1769,
(#19), 400
Gardner, Richard2, died 1688, (#304), 298
Gardner, Seeth2, Mrs Joshua2 Conant, 1636-,
(#333a(3h),\15,299
Gardner, Simeon5, 1728-1817, (#38), 299,400
Gardner,Thomas1, cl592-1674, (#608,
666a&b), 172
Gilman, Goodith, Mrs William Learned, m.
1606, (#569), 244
Godfrey, Eunice4, Mrs Josiah4 Godfrey, 1731,
(#43), 97,404
Godfrey, George1, d aft 1688, (#336a&h,
344a&h), 96
Godfrey, Jane1, Mrs George1 Bunker, cl630-
62, (#617), 300
Godfrey, Josiah4, born 1728, (#42a&h 74), 98,
404
Godfrey, Moses Jr.3, cl705-, (#86al$h), 96,
404
Godfrey, Moses Sr.2, 1667-1743, (#168a&h,
172a&h), 96
Godfrey, Samuel3, 1703-67, (#84a&h), 97,403
501
Godfrey, Susanna5, Mrs Stephen5 Smith,
1753-95, (#21), 404
Hallett, Andrew1, died 1648, (#744a), 98
Hallett, Andrew Jr.2, ca. 1615-84, (#372a), 99
Hallett, Elizabeth4, Mrs Paul4 Crowell, cl689-
, (#93a), 101
Hallett, Jonathan3, 1647-1717, (#186a), 100
Hanson, Wybra1, Mrs William1Pontus,
cl590-bef20 Sept 1650, (#16351), 468
Hawkins, Elizabeth, Mrs Robert Long, m. ca
1646, (#625), 247
Hedge, Elizabeth2, Mrs Jonathan2 Barnes, b
1647, (#403L), 448
Hedge, William1, d. 1670, (#806L), 448
Hill, Abigail2, Mrs Hopestill3 Leland, 1664-
89, (#133), 238
Hill, John I1, ca 1602-80, (#272), 227
Hill, John II2, ca 1630-1718, (#136), 237
Hill, John in3, 1660-1738, (#68), 2 37
Hill, Joseph1,1600s, (#266),238
Hill, Samuel4,1710-bef 1697, (#34), 238
Hill, Sarah5, Mrs John5 Fiske, 1741-1813,
(«7J,238
Hinckley, Samuel1, 1589-1662, (#714a), 101
Hinckley, Sarah2, Mrs Henry1 Cobb, 1629-aft
1679, (#357a), 102
Hobart, Edmund1, cl575-1646, (#766a, 938L,
1310a, 1406a), 238
Hobart, Elizabeth2, Mrs Ralph1 Smith, cl612-
aft 1655, (#469L), 239
Hobart, Rebecca2, Mrs Edward1 Bangs, 1611-,
(#383a, 655a, 703a), 240
Hopkins, Constance2, Mrs Nicholas1 Snow,
C1605-77, (#753h, 925L), 32
Hopkins, Deborah2, Mrs Josiah2 Cooke, 1648-
, (#347a ^ h ), 102
Hopkins, Giles2, (#642a, 694a), 32
Hopkins, Mary2, Mrs Sam uel1 Smith, 1640-
97, (#321a&h), 102
Hopkins, Stephen1, c 1580-1648, (# 954L,
1284a, 1290a, 1356a, 1506b, 1850L), 27
Horton, David Jr.3, born 1702, (#60L), 241
Horton, David Sr.2, 1679-1752, (#120L), 240
Horton, Lemuel4, 1752-1814, (MOL), 241,
381
Horton, Lydia5,M rs Freeman6 Crowell, 1796-
, (#15L), 383
Horton, Sarah1, Mrs Roger1Conant, cl598-
bef 1 Mar 1678, (#665a&h), 171
Horton, Thomas1, cl641-bef 1716, (#240L),
240
Howland, Abigail’, Mrs John1Young, cl629-
92, (#471L), 50
Howland, Henry1, cl603-70, (#942L), 49
Huckins, Mary3, Mrs Samuel1 Storrs, 1646-,
(# 379h), 103
Huckins,Thomas1, died 1679, (#758h), 102
Hurst, James1, 1582-1657, (#1174), 103
Hurst, Patience2, Mrs Henry1Cobb, d 1648,
(#587), 104
Jones, Dorothy’, Mrs Richard1 Sears, cl603-
79, (#741a), 104
Jones, Lewis1, ca 1615-84, (#526), 241
Jones, Lydia2, Mrs Jonathan2Whitney, 1633—,
(#263), 242
Jones, Ruhamah2, Mrs Joseph2 Nickerson,
cl650-aft 1735, (#301), 106
Jones, Teague1, born ca 1620, (#602), 105
Kimball, Abigail2, Mrs John1 Severans, 1617-
58, (#623), 243
Kimball, Richard1, cl596-1675, (#1246), 242
Knott, George1, died 1648, (#1498b), 106
Knott, Martha2, Mrs Thomas1Tobey, m 1650,
(#749b), 107
Knowles, Richard1, died 1670-75, f#378a,
650at£b, 698a&b), 107
Knowles, Ruth2, Mrs Joseph2 Collins, cl649-
1714, (#189a, 325a&h, 349a&b), 108
Learned, Elizabeth4, Mrs Jonathan2 Partridge,
1696-, (#71), 244
Learned, Isaacjr.3, 1655-1737, (#142), 244
Learned, Isaac Sr.2, 1624-57, (#284), 244
Learned, WUliam', cl581-1646, (#568), 243
Leete, Phebe’, Mrs George1 Parkhurst, d. bef
1638, (#583), 252
502
Leland, Abigail5, Mrs John4 Fiske, 1704-,
(#33), 246
Leland, H enry, 1625-80, (#264), 245
Leland, Hopestill1, 1580-1655, (#528), 245
Leland, Hopestill Jr.4, born 1681, (#66), 246
Leland, Hopestill Sr.3, 1653-1729, (#132), 245
Lewis, Edmund1, ca 1600-50, (#732a), 246
Lewis, Mary3, Mrs John2 Cole, b 1629,
(#183a), 51
Lewis, Nathaniel2, bom 1629, (#366a), 51
Lincoln, James1, married 1714, (#118L), 108
Lincoln, Lydia2, Mrs Jeremiah4 Smith, 1718—,
(#59L), 109
Littlefield, Anthony2, 1621-62, (#244), 200
Litdefield, Dorcas4, Mrs David3 Horton,
1713—, (#61L),2Q1
Litdefield, Edmund1, 1592-1661, (#488L),
199
Littlefield, Edmund3, ca 1653-1718, (#122),
201
Locke, Albert5, born 1862, 385
Locke, Dr. Jonathan4, born 1731-, (#48L), 353
Locke, Edwin, born 1852,385
Locke, Elizabeth*,Mrs. Robert Eakins, b.
1857,385
Locke, Ellen2, Mrs Amasa Homer3 fiske,
1848-1921, (#3L),3%5
Locke,Franklin, born 1845,385
Locke, Henry3, born 1850,385
Locke,James, 1786-1872,364
Locke,John, 1840-1906,384
Locke, John1, (#384 L), 347
Locke, John1, 1627-96, (#384L), 347
Locke,John (a), 1782-1869,363
Locke,Jonathan3, 1705-31, (#961), 352
Locke, Jonathan Jr.5, 1758-1852, (#24L), 358
Locke, Letida, Mrs Thomas Brown, 1841-
1925,384
Locke, Nathaniel2, 1661-1734, (#192L), 351
Locke, Samuel Hon.7, (#6 L), 367
Locke, Samuel Sr.6, 1784-1881, (#12L), 364
Long, Robert4, 1669-1736, (#156), 248,300
Long, Robert Jr.2, 1619-48, (#624), 247
Long, Robert Sr.1, bom 1590, (#1248), 247
Long, Samuel3, 1647-71, (#312),248
Long, Samuel5, bora 1695, (#78), 300
Long, Sarah6, Mrs Simeon Gardner, cl731—,
(#39), 300
Lumbert, Rebecca^, Mrs Benjamin2 Parker,
1678-, (#185b), 110
Lumbert, Thomas1, came 1630, (#740b), 109
Lumbert, Thomas Jc 2, m. 1665, (# 370b), 110
Lumpkin, Anne2, Mrs William1 Eldred, d
1676, (#329a&b), 111
Lumpkin, William1, 1604-71, (#658a&h), 110
Macy, Mary2, Mrs William2 Bunker, 1648-,
(#309), 301
M acy Thomas1, 1608-82, (#618), 301
Maker, James1, married ca 1650, (#604), 111
Maker, James J r 2, 1660-1732, (#302), 111
Maker; Lydia3, Mrs Wm3 Nickerson, 1684-bef
1760, (#151), 111
Manchester, Priscilla3, Mrs Ephraim4 Church­
ill, cl708-49, (#103L), 472
Manchester, Stephen2, cl661-1719, (#206L),
473
Manchester, Thomas1, cl620-cl691, (#412L),
474
Marchant, Abishai3, born 1651, (#298), 112
Marchant, Elizabeth4, Mrs Thomas3Whelden,
1681—, (#149), 113
Marchant, John1, died bef 1670, (#1192), 112
Marchant, John Jr.2, cl625-bef 1693, (#596),
112
McKillip Jo h n 1, cl739-1827, (#26L), 368
McKillip, Letitia2, Mrs Samuel6 Locke, cl788-
1839, (#13L), 367
Meader, John Jr.2, d660-1736, (#252L), 203
Meader, John Sr.1, cl625-1715, (#504L), 201
Meader, Joseph3, 1681-1759, (#126L), 203,
302
Meader, Sarah4, Mrs Chapman2 Swain, 1722-,
(#63L), 302
Miller, Mehitable2, Mrs John2 Crow, 1638-
1715, (#369a), 248
Miller, Rev. John1, 1604-63, (#738a), 248
503
M ott, Elizabeth2, Mrs Edmund3 Littlefield,
1671-, (#123L), 204
M ott, Nathaniel1, died 1675, (#246), 204
Nason, Charity3, Mrs Joseph3 Meader, 1682—,
(#127L), 303
Nason, Joseph2, married cl681, (#254L), 205,
303
Nason, Richard1, died 1696, (#508), 204
Newcomb, Andrew Jr.2, ca 1640-bef22 Oct
1708, (#334a), 249,279
Newcomb, Andrew Sr.1, died 1686, (#668a),
249
Newcomb, Sarah3, Mrs Joshua3 Conant, c l670,
(#1167), 279
Nickerson, Anna4, Mrs Jonathan4 Crowell,
C1718-55, (#57L), 121
Nickerson, Joseph2,1647-aft 1725, (#300),
121
Nickerson, Lydia4, Mrs Elisha4 Whelden, m
1731, (#75), 122
Nickerson, Sarah2, Mrs Nathaniel Coveil,
1644-, (#331a&b), 120
Nickerson, William3, ca 1678-1764, (#150),
121
Nickerson, W m1, cl605-90, (#456L, 600,
6 6 2 a m ), 113
Nickerson, Wm II2, 1646-1719, (#228L), 120
Nickerson, Wm IIP, died 1748, (#114L), 120
Norton, Isaac2,1641-cl723, (#388L), 281
Norton, Mary4, Mrs Jonathan3 Locke, 1708-,
(#97L), 281
Norton, Nicholas1, 1610-90, (#776), 280
Norton, Samuel3, (#194), 281
Page, Mary2, Mrs Anthony2 Littlefield, m
1652, (#245L), 206
Page, Thomas1, born ca 1606, (#490L), 206
Paine, Elizabeth2, Mrs Henry2 Adams, 1620-
76, (#261), 251
Paine, Moses1, died 1643, (#522), 249
Parker, Benjamin2, 1674-1720, (# 184b), 123
Parker, Benjamin4, bom 1734, (#46b), 123,
425
Parker, Hannah1, Mrs Paul5 Collins, 176?-
1830, (023b), 124,425
Parker, Jacob5, 1702-71, (092b), 124
Parker, Robert1, d bef 2 Mar 1685, (0368b),
122
Parkhurst, Deborah2, Mrs John1 Smith, 1619-
86, (0291), 253
Parkhurst, George1, 1588-1675, (0582), 252
Partridge, Elizabeth4, Mrs Samuel4 Hill, 1720- Rockwood, Hannah4, Mrs John2 Hill, 1673-
bef 1797, (035), 255
Partridge, John Jr.2, bom 1656, (0140), 254
Partridge, John Sr.1, c l620-1706, (0280),253 Rockwood, Richard1, died 1660, (0552), 257
Partridge,Jonathan3,1693-cl758, (070), 254
Perry, Abigail4, Mrs Jonathan4 Locke, b 1726,
(049L), 52,353
Perry, Anthony1, 1615-83, (0392L), 51
Perry, Jacob3, 1698-1774, (098L), 52
Perry, Nathaniel2, 1660-cl715, (0196L), 51
Pinkham, Elizabeth, married 1669, (0313),
247
Pontus, Hannah2, Mrs John1 Churchill, c
1614-90, (0817LA 467
Pontus, William1, cl583-cl653, (01634L), 467
Pope, Hannah2, Mrs Joseph2 Bartlett, 1639-
1710, (0407L), 454
Pope,Thomas1, cl608- 83, (0814L), 454
Prence,Jane2, Mrs Mark Snow, 1637-1712,
(0377b), 39
Prence, Thomas1, ca. 1600-1673, (0752b), 37
Preston, Daniel2, 1622-1707, (0796L), 256
Preston, Daniel Jr.2, 1649-1723, (0398L), 256
Preston, William1, cl590-1647, (01592L), 255 Silvester Joseph S t2, 1638-1690, (4404L), 450
Redway,James',died 1684, (079OL), 52
Redway, Sarah2, Mrs Samuel2Carpenter,
C1642-1718, (0395L), 53
Rice, Letitia1, Mrs John1McKilhp, cl755-
1827, (027L), 375
Riders Ebenezer4,1702-bef 13 Mar 1750,
(01OOL), 449
Rider, Elizabeth2, Mrs John2 Cole, m 1667,
(0365a), 125
Rider, John3, cl663-bef 20 Dec 1735, (02OOL), Skiff, Sarah2, Mrs Robert3 Long, cl678-,
446
Rider, John5,1733-aftJune 1809, (05OL), 456
Rider, Samuel1, 1601-79, (0730a, 800L), 125,
441
Rider, Samuel2, 1632-1715, (4400L), 442
Ring, Elizabeth2, Mrs Josiah1 Cooke, 1603-87,
(0647a&b, 677a&b, 693a&b, 927L), 55
Ring, M ary'.d 1631, (01295at3h, 1355a,
1387at3h,1854L), 53
1730,(069), 258
Rockwood, Nicholas2, 1628-80, (0276), 257
Rockwood, Samuel3, ca 1650-1728, (0138),
258
Ryder, Elizabeth, Mrs Jonathan5 Locke,
C1762-1844, (025L), 320,359
Sears, Bethia3, Mrs John2 Crowell, 1661-1724,
(0185a), 129
Sears, Paul2, cl637-1708, (0370a), 128
Sears, Richard1, died 1676, (0740a), 127
Severance, John1, died 1682, (0622), 259
Severance, Mary2, Mrs James2 Coffin, 1645-
1720, (0311), 303
Shattuck, D amans1, Mrs Thomas1 Gardner,
died 1674, (0611), 175
Shattuck, Sarah2, Mrs Richard2 Gardner, m. ca
1652, (0305), 175
Sheafe, Elizabeth1, Mrs Moses1 Paine, 1589-
1632, (0523), 250
Silvester, Joseph J t 3,1664-bef 4 Mar 1754,
(4202L), 450
Silvester, Richard1, d. 1663, (4808L), 451
Silvester, Thankfiil4, Mrs Ebenezer4 Rider,
1703-87, (01O1L), 449
Skiff, James J t 2, 1638-1724, (0250,314), 130,
282
Skiff, James Sr.1, died cl688, (05OOL, 628),
129
Skiff, Patience2, Mrs John1 England Swain,
C16S6-, (0125), 282
(0157), 282

504
Smith, Abigail2, Mrs James2 Covell, m. cl684,
(0145), 283
Smith, Abigail3, Mrs Jeremiah3 Smith, m
1711, (#117L), 137
Smith, Abigail4, Mrs Jacob3 Perry, 1700-75,
(#99L), 58
Smith, Abigail8, Mrs Amasa7 Fiske, 1818-86,
(#5a), 406
Smith, Alexander7, cl790-1831, (#10h), 422
Smith, Daniel2, 1647-ca 1719, (#234), 137
Smith, Daniel Jr.3, 1672-1724, (#198L), 56
Smith, Daniel, Sr.2, died 1692, (#396L), 56
Smith, Henry1, died 1647, (#792L), 55
Smith, Jeremiah I2, cl645-1706, (#232L), 130
Smith, Jeremiah II3, 1685-1728, (#116L), 130
Smith, Jeremiah III4, 1713-54, (#58L), 131
Smith, John1, ca 1615-74, (#290,464L), 130,
282
Smith, John3, 1673-1718, (#160 a&h),V>5
Smith, Josiah7, 1773-18S2, (#10a), 406
Smith, Lydia5, Mrs David5 Crowell, 1749-,
(#29L), 131
Smith, Mary Emma8, Mrs Alfred7 Fiske,
1811-93, (#5h), 420
Smith, Ralph1, ca 1616-85, (#468L, 640a(£b),
133
Smith, Samuel2, 1641-97, (#320a&h), 134
Smith, Stephen I4,1706&66, (#80a-b), 136
Smith, Stephen IIs, 1725-1807, (#40a&h),
136,401
Smith, Stephen IIP, 1749-1827, (#20), 403
Smyth, Barbarie, died 1644, (#759a, 1303a,
1303b, 1399a, 1399b, 1527b), 74
Snow, Anna3, Mrs Eldad2Atwood, 1656-1707,
(#231L), 138
Snow, Bethia3, Mrs John3 Smith, 1672-1734,
(#161a&b), 141
Snow, Joseph2, ca 1624-1723, (#238L), 139
Snow, Lydia3, M r James Lincoln, 1685-1738,
(#119L), 140
Snow, Mark2, 1628-94, (#376h, 462L), 137
Snow, Mary5, Mrs Benjamin4 Parker, 1740-,
(#47h), 139
505
Snow, Nicholas1, 1600-76, (#476L, 644a &h,
752b, 924L), 40,137
Snow, Prencejr.4, 1707-40, (#94h), 139
Snow, Prence Sr.3, 1674-1742, (#188b), 138
Snow, Stephen2, ca 1636-1705, (#322at$h),
140
Soole, Sarah1, Mrs Samuel1 Hinckley, 1600-56,
(#715a), 141
Squire, Edith1, Mrs Henry1Adams, bom 1587,
(#565), 260
Starbuck, Edward1, 1604-91, (#612), 303
Starbuck, Mary3, Mrs James3 Gardner, 1663-
96, (#153), 305
Starbuck, Nathaniel2, 1636-1719, (#306), 304
Stearns, Isaac1, ca 1600-71, (#570), 260
Stearns, Mary2, Mrs Isaac2 Learned, 1626-63,
(#285), 261
Stone, Ann2, died 1680?, (#527), 262
Stone, Simon1, 1585-1665, (#1054), 262
Storrs, Hannah2, Mrs Prence3 Snow, 1672-
1742, (#189h), 142
Storrs, Samuel1, born 1640, (#378b), 141
Swain, Chapman2, 1708-84, (#62L), 307,379
Swain, John2,1633-cl716, (#510L), 306
Swain, John England1, 1680-1749, (#124L),
307
Swain, Mary3, Mrs Joseph2 Nason, cl661-
1714, (#255L), 307
Swain, Richard1, cl600-82, (#1020L), 305
Swain, Sarah3, Mrs Lemuel4 Horton, m. 1785,
381
Tarte, Elizabeth2, Mrs Thomas1Williams,
died cl692, (#459L), 142
Tarte, Thomas1, juror 1640, (#918L), 142
Taylor, Elizabeth2, Mrs Samuel2 Cobb, cl655-
1721, (#179a), 144
Taylor, Martha2, Mrs Joseph2 Bearse, 1650-
1728, (#177a), 144
Taylor, Mary2, Mrs Abishai2 Marchant, 1649-
1718, (#299), 144
Taylor, Richard1, died 1673, (#354a, 358a,
598), 143
Thorpe, Henry1, died 1672, (#538), 263
Thorpe, Sarah', Mrs Benjamin1 Bullard, m. Willard, George1, born 1614, (#742a), 149
cl630, (#269), 263 Williams, Mercy2, Mrs William2 Nickerson,
Throckmorton,John1, 1601-87, (#782L), 321 C1644-1739, (M229L), 150
Throckmorton, Patience2, Mrs John2 Williams, Thomas1, died 1696, (#458L), 58,
Coggeshall, 1640-76, (#391L), 328 150
Tobey, Rebecca4, Mrs Jacob3 Parker, c l707-86, Young, John1, died 1691, (#470L), 151
(#93b), 147 Young, Mary2, Mrs Daniel2 Smith, 1658-,
Tobey,Thomas1, died cl714, (#744h), 145 (#235L), 151
Tobey,Thomas2, 1651-77, (#372b), 146
Tobey,Thomas5, 1677-1757, (#186h), 146
Tuttle, Abigail2, Mrs John1Meader, cl628-bef
1674, (#505L), 206
Tuttle, John1, C1595-1662, (#10101), 206
Warren, Daniel2, bom 1627, (#258), 265
Warren, John1, 1585-1667, (#516,574), 264
Warren, Mary21, Mrs John1 Bigelow, 1624-91,
(#287), 265
Warren, Mary*, M rs Robert1Bardett, c 1610-
1683, (#803L), 445
Warren, Mary3, Mrs Nathaniel2 Fiske, 1651—,
(#129), 265
Warren, Richard1, d. 1628, (#1606L), 445
Weare, Mary2, Mrs John2 Swain, m. 1760,
(UHL,), 309
Weare, Nathaniel Sr.1, cl605-81, (#1022L),
308
Whelden, Catherine2, Mrs Giles2 Hopkins, d
aft 1690, (#643 679, 695), 149
Whelden, Elisha4,1704-, (#74), 148
Whelden, Gabriel1, d 1654, (#592, 710a, 718a,
1198,1286a, 1358a, 1390a), 147
Whelden, John2, cl632-1711, (#296), 148
Whelden, Ruth2, Mrs Richard1Taylor, d626-,
(#355,359,599), 149
Whelden, Thankful5, MrsTimothy4 Covell,
1738-,(# 37 ), 148
Whelden, Thomas3, cl660-, (#148), 148
Whitney,John1, 1593-1673, (#524), 265
Whitney, Jonathan2, cl633-1702, (#262), 267
Whitney, Lydia3, Mrs Moses3 Adams, 1657—,
(#131), 267
Willard, Deborah2, Mrs Paul2 Sears, 1645-
1721, (#37la ) , 150

506