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The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts

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The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts >&^:rv! The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924025963772 Cornell University Library F 74 .S16H87 V 1 Salisbury Old families of ,?US„,ftK,ffiKir 3 1924 025 963 772 THE OLD FAMILIES OF Salisbury and Amesbuel MASSACHUSETTS, With some Related Families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton. By DAVID W. HOYt^ Author of "A Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and Hight Families." PART ONE. Providence, R. I. 1897. THE OLD FAMILIES OF Salisbury and Amesbury, MASSACHUSETTS, With some Related Families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton. By DAVID W. HOYT, Author of "A Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and Hight Families." Providence, R. I. 1897. Snow & Farnham, Printers. ; INTRODUCTION. In gathering material for his "Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight, and Hight Families," and in tracing his own ances- try in other lines, the compiler of these records collected a mass of materials which it seemed desirable to preserve in some form more durable than manuscript notes. In order to give some degree of completeiiess to the work, he has attempted to include all Salis- bury and Amesbury names that could be obtained from any acces- sible source, down to about the year 1700, —the first three or four generations of the early settlers. It would be a comparatively easy task to copy and print the early town records of births, marriages, and deaths, down to 1700 but, while all these have been included, much more has been attempted, as will be seen in the records printed in this volume. After the town records, probate records and deeds are the main reliance, though other court records, church records, old journals and letters, are often of great importance in completing the account of some family. The early families of Salisbury and Amesbury were so related to those of surrounding towns that it was found impossible to give anything like a full and connected outline of the former without including many early families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton. The latter will therefore appear with the former, in alphabetic order. One who has never attempted the "task of preparing a genealogy has no idea of the amount of time and labor often required to prove the truth of a statement that may occupy but a single line. The genealogist must often ponder a problem for months, and even years, before the true solution is found ; sometimes the miss- 4 OLD FAMILIES OF SALISBURY AND AMESBTJBY. ing fact turns up in the most unexpected way ; sometimes it is never found, as the required records are wanting. It was at first intended to call attention to all errors found in printed genealogies of the families here given ; but that plan was soon abandoned as impi-acticable in the space available. Only the most important have been noted. One source of errors in dates is the fact that persons unused to such researches often call the " 1st month" of the old records January, instead of March, as it should be given. The fact that the year usually began March 25 instead of Jan- uary 1, is another source of confusion. In every case of doubt, it has been the endeavor to consult and follow the original record, if possible. When, therefore, the records here given do not agree with those heretofore published, they should not be considered incorrect without consulting the originals. In many cases, errors have been found in official copies, some of them quite ancient. No one who has had experience in such matters would venture to that say there are no errors in this volume ; but it is hoped that they will not be found numerous. This work is not intended to be a complete history, even of the early generations of the families included. It proposes to give only the bare outline of essential facts. Other persons can build upon this foundation, and fill in the details of each family history, in separate volumes, where it has not already been done. One is strongly tempted to dwell upon the life of a first settler like Bailey the ; forests ; the first paths and roads ; the fish weirs ; the ship-building ; the early churches and their pastors ; the Indian conflicts and those persons who figured therein ; the early mills of Osgood, Morrill, Currier, and others, prophetic of the later develop- ment along the Powow river ; the witchcraft delusion with which the Martins, Bradburys, Morses, and Pike were concerned; the persecutions of Quakers, Baptists, and others that did not con- form to the strict rules of the standing order, like Macy, Peasley, Goodale, and Pike the places and ; persons immortalized by Whit- — INTEODUCTION. 5 tier's pen ; — but both space and plan forbid. "We can only remark that there lived in this region men of strong character and liberal sentiments, in advance of their time, as the records prove. One who would write a correct and complete genealogy of the early Puritan families must endeavor to live among them, to learn their mode of thinking and acting, what removals they would be likely to make, or alliances by marriage, often so closely related to removals. The same impulse which caused them to leave their homes in Old England seems to have led many of them to change their residence in New England, and share in the founding of dif- ferent settlements, like their descendants of this century in the West. This is illustrated in the history of William Sargent, and many others. The movement of the first generations was along the sea coast and up the Merrimac valley. Some of the next gen- erations moved further along these lines into New Hampshire and Maine. There was, however, some movement towards the south and west. Salisbury was evidently the headquarters for the set- tlement of Nantucket ; and some families from this region removed to Block Island, Hartford and other Connecticut towns, western Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Often the introduction of a new surname into Amesbury or Salisbury was caused by the marriage of a young man from some other town to the daughter or granddaughter of one of the orig- inal settlers. One is often surprised to find how constant and frequent was the intercourse between different towns of New England in those early days ; and visits to Old England were not infrequent with the first generation, as in the case of John Wheelwright, William Hooke, Robert Pike, John Eaton, Robert Ring, and others. It is also a matter of surprise that so many of the first settlers, Francis Dow, Thomas Dummer, Samuel Groom, John Hall, Samuel Hall, John Hodges, John Sanders, and others, — returned to England and spent the remainder of their days there. 6 OLD PAMLIES OF SALISBURY AND AMBSBUEY. The desire of different towns to secure the services of skilled artizans often led to removals. Towns sometimes made offers of grants of land and other privileges which were not accepted by the grantees, and therefore do not prove a residence in those towns. Thus John Hoyt, brickmaker, received conditional offers of clay pits, etc., from Haverhill and Ipswich ; but we have no proof that John Hoyt of Salisbury and Amesbury ever lived in those towns. Job Clement, tanner, of Haverhill, was offered a freehold in Newbury, but did not comply with the conditions, and soon afterwards removed to Dover. William Osgood, millwright, after working in other towns, received special privileges in both Salisbury and Amesbury, because his services were so much in demand. Records of births, marriages and deaths are often wanting ; the registry of deeds and the probate records do not contain the names of all residents ; hence it is important to supplement these with information from other sources. Before commencing the geneal- ogy proper, we shall therefore print all the important early lists of names and other original documents that we have been able to jobtain, and upon which the subsequent work will, to some extent, be based. Pkovidence, E. I., August, 1897. : SETTLEMENT OF SALISBURY. From the "Records of Massachusetts," we find that, on petition of "Mr. Bradstreete, Mr. Dudley Jr., Capt. Dennison, Mr. Clarke of Newburjr, Mr. Woodbridge, Mr. Battye [Batt], Mr. Batter, Mr. Winsley, Hen : Bilye, Giles Firman, Richard Kent, and John Sanders,"* permission "to begin a plantation at Merrimack" was granted them, Sept. 6, 1638, with power to add to their number. The plantation was named " Colechester," Sept. 4, 1639; name changed to "Salsbury," Oct. 7, 1640. On the Salisbury records is found the following entry : " 1639, the third month. " At a meeting at merrimack of M' Simone Bradstreet, Mr Samuell Dudly, Mr Danniell Dennisonn, Cristopher Batt, Samuell Winsley, John Sanders "It was ordered that there shall be 2 divisions of Meadow, the one nerrer, the other farther, the nerrest shall haue fower Acres to Each 100ii[£], the other left to farther Consideration. " It was further ordered that vpland for planting lotts shall be divided so as he that hath vnder 50ii shall haue 4 Acres, and he that hath aboue 5(fli to ISQii shall haue 6 Acres, and all aboue shall haue 4 Acres to Euerie lOQii. "Allso, it was ordered that all lotts granted to singlemen are on Condition that they shall inhabit here before the 6 of may next, and such as haue families that they shall inhabitt here before the last of October next." The last clause strictly means October, 1639, though October of the next year may have been intended. The date of the " first " division of land is not given ; but there are grants to four per- " sons dated 1639, and many are dated 1640.
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