USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 4
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the Congregational church, and a Republican in politics after that party was organized. He married, at Weymouth, May 16, 1818, Mary Parker Holbrook, born March 15, 1797, at North Weymouth, died August 17, 1862, in North Weymouth. Children, born at North Weymouth: 1. Ann, January 10 or II, 1820, died unmarried August 15, 1855, at North Weymouth. 2. Jeremiah, March 23, 1822. 3. James, August 18, 1824, died young. 4. James, June 24, 1827, died April 21, 1891. 5. Jacob, October 14, 1829, died unmarried January 10, 1860. 6. William Tyler, May 25, 1832, mentioned below. 7. Mary Elizabeth, September 21, 1835, died January 27, 1853.
(VIII) William Tyler, son of Jacob (2) Shaw, was born in North Weymouth, May 25, 1832, died there January 22, 1909. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and worked on his father's farm. He learned the trade of shoemaker, like most of the farmer's sons of this section. He worked several years at his trade in various shoe fac- tories, returning at length to his father's farm to take charge of the milk business. He con- ducted the farm for his father a number of years and finally succeeded to it, conducting it to the time of his death. He was well known also as a dealer in horses, making many trips to Canada and other sections to buy horses for the local market. He bought and sold a number of farms and at the time of his death owned the homestead at Weymouth. Mr. Shaw was an upright, generous, kindly man, supporting many good causes and con- tributing to the funds of various churches in the vicinity. He had many friends in all walks of life. In politics he was a Democrat. He married, 1858, Georgianna Bass, daughter of George Washington and Ann (Arnold) Bass. (See Bass family). His widow sur- vives him, residing on the homestead at North Weymouth. They had no children.
The surname Bass is from the BASS French bas, meaning low of stature, and derived in the same way as the English Short, Stout, etc. Le Bas became common in England after the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes. The surname Bass dates back many centuries, however, in England. An ancient coat-of-arms of the family is described: Sable a bordure argent. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet two wings proper. Another coat-of-arms borne by the family of Bass of Curzon street, Mayfair : Argent on a chevron gules, between three
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greyhounds' heads erased sable each ducally gorged and chained or as many cross croslets of the last. Crest: Out of a mural crown gules masoned argent a demi-greyhound issuant holding in the mouth a rose between two leaves all proper.
(I) Samuel Bass, immigrant ancestor of all of this name in New England, was born in England in 1600. He came to New Eng- land with his wife Anne about 1630 and set- tled first in Boston. He was among the earliest members of the Roxbury church, which was organized in 1632. He lived near Hog Bridge, Roxbury. He removed to Brain- tree in 1640 and became one of the leading citizens. He was admitted a freeman May 14, 1634; was elected the first deacon of the church at Braintree, and filled that office fifty years. He was elected deputy to the general court in 1641 and for twelve years in all. He had a strong character and vigorous mind, and was for many years one of, the foremost men of the town. He died December 30, 1694, aged ninety-four years, at Braintree, and the statement is made in the town records at the time of his death that he was father, grand- father and great-grandfather of one hundred and two persons. His wife Anne died Sep- tember 5, 1693, aged ninety-three years. Chil- dren : I. Samuel, died of small pox at Nan- tasket, August 9, 1690. 2. Hannah, married, November 15, 1651, Stephen Payne. 3. Mary, married Captain John Capen. 4. John, men- tioned below. 5. Thomas, married, October 4. 1660, Sarah Wood. 6. Joseph, died January 16, 1714; married Mary - who died March 15, 1675; (second), Deborah 7. Sarah, married (first) Deacon John Stone, of Watertown; (second), Joseph Penniman, of Braintree.
(II) John, son of Samuel Bass, was born at Roxbury in 1632 and died at Braintree, September 12, 1716. He married, February 3, 1657-58, Ruth Alden, daughter of John and Priscilla ( Mullins) Alden, of the "May- flower" Pilgrims. All the descendants of John and Ruth Bass are eligible to membership in the Mayflower Society. She died October 12, 1674, and he married (second), September 21, 1675, Anne Sturtevant, of Plymouth. He was a farmer in Braintree. Children, born at Braintree : I. John, November 26, 1658, men- tioned below. 2. Samuel, March 25, 1660, married Mary (Adams) Webb, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Adams. 3. Ruth, January 28, 1662. 4. Joseph, December 5, 1665, mar- ried, June 5, 1688, Mary Belcher. 5. Han-
nah, June 22, 1667, married Joseph Adams. 6. Mary, February II, 1669-70, married, May 24, 1686, Christopher Webb Jr. 7. Sarah, March 29, 1672-73, married, January 7, 1692, Ephraim Thayer.
(III) John (2), son of John (1) Bass, was born in Braintree, November 26, 1658, died there September 30, 1724. He married Abigail Adams, who died October 26, 1696, aged thirty-seven, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Adams. He married (second), May 17, 1698, Rebecca Saville. Children, born at Braintree : I. John, November 3, 1688, married (first) February 18, 1714, - -, who died February 4, 1716; (second), June 21, 1716, Hannah Neale. 2. Samuel, June 17, 1691, mentioned below. Child of second wife: 3. Ebenezer, baptized October II, 1702.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of John (2) Bass, was born in Braintree, June 17, 1691. He mar- ried (first), August 15, 1723, Sarah Saville, who died January 28, 1725; (second), Han- nah Gould. Children, born at Braintree: I. Samuel (by first wife), December 29, 1724. 2. Abigail (by second wife), January 31, 1728.
(V) Samuel (3), son of Samuel (2) Bass, was born in Braintree, December 29, 1724, died April, 1807. He married (first), (inten- tion, dated October 3, 1746), November 10, 1746, ; married (second), Abigail (Crosby) Turner. Children, born at Brain- tree, of first wife: I. Samuel, August 22, 1747, removed to Braintree, Vermont ; mar- ried, September 29, 1772, Elizabeth Brackett. 2. Edward, 1749, settled in Braintree, Massa- chusetts. 3. Mary, October 21, 1750. 4. William, July 19, 1755, died August 21, 1755. Children of second wife: 5. Abigail, 1758. 6. Elizabeth, 1762. 7. Esther, 1766. 8. Josiah, 1768, mentioned below.
(VI) Josiah, son of Samuel (3) Bass, was born in Braintree in 1768, died in Quincy, formerly Braintree, at the age of eighty-two years. He married (first) Spear. He married (second) Ann Adams, born April 19, 1773, died August 9, 1818, daughter of Peter Boylston Adams, brother of President John Adams, of Braintree. His farm at Quincy adjoined that of Hon. Josiah Quincy. Chil- dren of second wife: I. Josiah, born at Quincy, died there. 2. Abigail, born 1800, died 1856; married Horace Fiske, of Northbor- ough ; children: James, Josiah, Charles, Josiah, Abbie Ann, Mary Elizabeth, Lydia Bass. 3. Ann, died unmarried aged seventy- nine. 4. Josiah, married - Quinn. 5.
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Samuel. 6. George Washington, mentioned below. All are deceased.
(VII) George Washington, son of Josiah Bass, was born at Quincy, died at the age of eighty-six years. He received his education in the public schools of his native town and at Milton Academy. He conducted a large farm at Milton and had an extensive dairy business shipping milk to Boston. He was a Unitarian in religion. He married Ann Arnold, born at Quincy, died at Milton, Massachusetts, formerly Braintree, at the age of sixty-five. Children: I. Georgianna, born at Quincy, May, 1835, married William Tyler Shaw, of North Weymouth. (See Shaw family). 2. Helen, born Quincy, married Judson Thomas, of Weymouth.
"He beareth gules two chev- PARSONS rons ermine between three eagles displayed or: By the name of Parsons. Crest: An eagle's head erased at the thigh, standing on a leopard's head-gules." Such is the distinction which Charles I in 1634 bestowed on his faithful subject, Sir Thomas Parsons, bart., of Great Milton or Great Torrington, the immediate ancestor of the principal founder of the family of that surname in America, and himself a descendant of an English family of great antiquity, dating to Walter Parsons, of Mulso, Ireland, 1290, and back of him in England to the time of the conquest, for the Parsonses of Ireland went there from England.
(I) Cornet Joseph Parsons, son of Sir Thomas Parsons, bart., and who is said to have been an officer in the English army, sailcd from Gravesend, England, July 4, 1635, in the barque "Transport," Edward Walker, master, for Boston, and next appears with William Pynchon's colony of planters who founded a settlement at Agawam, now Spring- field, Massachusetts, in the year 1636. On July 15 of the same year his name appears as witness to a decd of cession from the Indians of the Connecticut valley to Pynchon's company, conveying to them all the lands in the region of Springfield, for the "consider- ation of 18 yards of wampum, 18 coats, 18 hatchets, 18 hoes, and 18 knives ;" but the con- sideration was fair, for William Pynchon was a just man and they who comprised his com- pany of planters were all just and honorable men, and none other were admitted inhabitants of his plantation. Cornet Joseph Parsons was born in Great Torrington, near Excter, Devon- shire, England, and on his voyage to New
England was accompanied by his brother Ben- jamin and others of the family, but it is with him and his descendants that we have par- ticularly to deal in these annals. He was a man of considerable importance in the plan- tation at Agawam and Springfield, and in 1642 he was one of the founders of the new plantation at Northampton, and one of the first purchasers of Indian lands there in 1645. He was a fur trader and had the sole right of barter and traffic in furs in the valley, for which right he paid annually the sum of twelve pounds. He accumulated a large estate in lands and goods. He died October 9, 1683; married, November 26, 1646, Mary, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Ford) Bliss, of Hartford, Connecticut, and by her had eleven children: 1. Joseph, born November, 1647. 2. Benjamin, 1649, died same year. 3. John, August 14, 1650, died 1728. 4. Samuel, Jan- uary 23, 1653, settled in Durham, Connecti- cut. 5. Ebenezer, May 1, 1655, killed by Indians in King Philip's war, September 8, 1675. 6. Jonathan, June 6, 1657, died 1694. 7. David, April 30, 1659, died young. 8. Mary, June 27, 1661, accused with the heresy of witchcraft and was tried before the court of assistants at Boston, May 13, 1692, and acquitted of the charge. 9. Hannah, August I, 1663. 10. Abigail, September 3, 1666, mar- ried John Cotton. II. Hester, December 24, 1672, married Joseph Smith.
(II) Joseph (2), Esquire, eldest son of Cornet Joseph (I) and Mary ( Bliss) Parsons, was born in Springfield, November, 1647, and died November 29, 1729. He was a man of learning and was made the first judge of the county court of Hampshire county, 1698, an office he filled with dignity and ability. He had large business interests and for many years was strongly identified with the military and civil life of the town and colony. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Elder John Strong. She was born in Windsor, Connecti- cut, in 1648, dicd in Northampton, May II, 1736, having borne her husband twelve chil- dren : I. Joseph, June 28, 1671, dicd 1739; marricd Elizabeth Thompson. 2. John, Janu- ary 11, 1674, died September 4, 1740. 3. Ebenezer, December 31, 1675, died July I, 1744; married Mercy Stebbins. 4. Elizabeth, February 3, 1678, died 1763 ; married Ebenc- zer Strong Jr. 5. David, February 1, 1680, ordained minister. 6. Josiah, January 2, 1682. 7. Twin, born and died 1683. 8. Twin, born and died 1683. 9. Daniel, August 18, 1685, died 1774; settled in Springfield and kept an
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ordinary. 10. Moses, 1687, died 1774. II. Abigail, January 1, 1690, died 1763; married Ebenezer Clark. 12. Noah, August 15, 1692, died October 25, 1779; lived in Northampton.
(III) Josiah, son of Joseph (2) and Eliz- abeth (Strong) Parsons, was born January 2, 1682, died April 12, 1768. He married (first) June 22, 1710, Sarah Sheldon, born July 16, 1688, died December 14, 1738, daughter of Isaac Sheldon Jr .; married (second) Eliza- beth, widow of Daniel Bartlett. He had nine children, all born of his first marriage : I.
Josiah, September 14, 17II, died November, 17II. 2. Josiah, June 9, 1713. 3. Isaac, De- cember 23, 1715. 4. Enoch, September 6,
1717, died September 23, 1719. 5. Jacob, October 22, 1719, died January 19, 1795 ; mar- ried, February 25, 1746, Beulah Hunt. 6. Esther, July 25, 1721, died October 12, 1740. 7. Sarah, May 29, 1723, married Daniel Kel- logg, of Amherst. 8. Hannah, June II, 1725, married Caleb Clark, of Belchertown. 9. Martha, May, 1727, married Martin Phelps.
(IV) Isaac, son of Josiah and Sarah ( Sheldon) Parsons, was born December 23, 1715, died July II, 1798. He was the first occupant of the parsons family homestead in Northampton, where his descendant, Chauncey E. Parsons, now lives. He married, January 24, 1744-45, Lucy Strong, born September 8, 1722, died May 25, 1801, daughter of Jonathan Strong. They had eleven children, all born in Northampton (dates recorded old style) : I. Isaac, October 16, 1745, died September, 1819. 2. Elijah, March 20, 1747, died Janu- ary 27, 1827. 3. Phinehas, October 17, 1748, died December 30, 1748. 4. Phinehas, Janu- ary 9, 1750, died February 27. 1825. 5. Lucy, July 2, 1752, died February 3, 1811 ; married, June 15, 1779, Jedediah Clark. 6. Sarah, February 22, 1755, (N. S.) died January, 1819; married, February 8, 1780, Seth Shel- don. 7. Rachel, August 15, 1757, married, January 5, 1783, Oliver Edwards. 8. Dorcas, January 4, 1759, married, November 16, 1786, Daniel Edwards. 9. Achsa, May 27, 1765, married, December 29, 1791, Joel Lyman. 10. Josiah, June 15, 1769. II. Elias, March 5, 1772, died July 8, 1842.
(V) Josiah (2), son of Isaac and Lucy ( Strong) Parsons, was born in Northampton, June 15, 1769, died there September 31, 1847. He married, December 28, 1791, Sarah Strong, born Northampton, December 30, 1771, died May 24, 1850, daughter of John and Sarah Elizabeth (Lyman) Strong. They had thir- teen children, all born in Northampton : I. iii-19
Infant child, born and died 1793. 2. Fanny, May 6, 1794, died February 6, 1880; married Justin Clark, of Leeds, and had Edward Lewis Clark, who married Artemesia Whitney and died May 12, 1885; and Elijah Clark. 3. Sarah, November 25, 1795, died July 26, 1880; married, 1818, Martin Wright, and had Isaac Lewis, George and Mary Othniel Wright. 4. Elizabeth, September 8, 1797, married, 1832, James Clark, and had Solomon William Clark; Isaac R. Clark, born May 23, 1834, married Sarah Avery and died July 14, 1899; Julia Clark, who married Frank Ran- ney. 5. Isaac Lyman, July, 1799, died July 31, 1801. 6. Lyman, June 28, 1801. 7. Julia, March 9, 1802, died May 29, 1885. 8. Josiah, May 25, 1805, died April 9, 1806. 9. Josiah, November 21, 1806, died August 27, 1899; married (first) April 21, 1831, Calista Wright, who died October 5, 1841 ; married (second), May 4, 1843, Mary G. Alden, who died November 25, 1878; mar- ried (third) November 30, 1880, Mandana A. Clark. His children by Calista: Louisa, Mary Charlotte, born March 17, 1837, married Joseph Marsh, Henry Wright, June 12, 1839; children by Mary G. : Ellen Calista, March 8, 1844, Sarah Pomeroy, March 31, 1845, Anna Alden, December 26, 1848, Harriet Gould, April 24, 1850, married Charles Doubleday. IO. John Strong, April 25, 1809, died Febru- ary 12, 1878; married Lucy Wolcott, and had John Strong, Mary, Lucy, and Stephen. II. Mary, December 26, 1810, died September 23, 1847; married Robert Christie, and had Sarah, who married William Carman, and Mary, who married Edmund Wells. 12. Elijah Chauncey, December 25, 1812, died June 9, 1845 ; married Letitia Ellsworth, and had Josiah, December 24, 1840; Sarah Dolly, March 27, 1844; Diantha Letitia, November 2, 1845. 13. Isaac Lewis, June 9, 1814, died July 29, 1820.
(VI) Lyman, son of Josiah (2) and Sarah (Strong) Parsons, was born on the old home- stead in Northampton, June 28, 1801, died there March 10, 1879. He married (first) Olivia Wright, daughter of Sereno Wright ; married ( second) April 24, 1846, Letitia Par- sons, born June 25, 1819, widow of Chaun- cey Parsons and daughter of Calvin and Dolly (Lovejoy ) Ellsworth. Lyman Parsons had four children. all born in Northampton and by his second wife: I. Elijah Chauncey (Chauncey Elijah), November 22, 1847. 2. Josiah, Feb- ruary 13. 1849, died September 12, 1864. 3. Almira Ellsworth, January 14, 1851, married
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Henry G. Moore, and had Ethel Parsons, March 19, 1885, and Helen Letitia, September 10, 1889. 4. Lyman, September 12, 1855, died December 2, 1861.
(VII) Chauncey Elijah (baptized Elijah Chauncey), son of Lyman and Letitia ( Ells- worth) (Parsons) Parsons, was born on the old family homestead, November . 22, 1847. His whole life of three score years has been spent on the old ancestral place on the west side of Bridge street, facing the common. The house in which he was born and still lives was built by Isaac Parsons in 1744, and is a sub- stantial structure still, having required no material change during the century and three score and four years which have passed since its erection ; and it has been occupied in suc- cession by Isaac Parsons, the builder, Josiah Parsons, his son, Lyman, his son, and Chaun- cey E. Parsons, four generations one after another, and the children of the present owner, three in number, were born and reared within its comfortable walls. And best of all, the old mansion stands on land which originally was a part of a tract purchased in 1674 by Cornet Joseph Parsons, the immigrant ances- tor, the planter of William Pynchon's com- pany who under the especial of the great and general court pushed through the wilderness and founded the first settlement in the Con- necticut valley in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Mr. Parsons is a thrifty, practical and successful farmer, and although the greater part of his lands have been under continuous cultivation for perhaps a century and a half or more, they are today as fertile and pro- ductive as when first cleared of their forest growth ; and he himself is regarded as one of the best practical farmers of the Connecticut valley. He is a member of the state organ- ization of Patrons of Husbandry, and while not in any sense a public man or politician, he nevertheless has always felt an earnest interest in the growth and welfare of the town and city of Northampton and the well-being of its people. For many years he has been a member of the city sewer commission, was a member of the city council several terms, and in 1904 was a representative from North- ampton to the general court. October 28, 1874, Mr. Parsons married Annie Augusta, daughter of William A. and Sarah Augusta ( Wait ) Spaulding. Five children have been born of this marriage: 1. Henry Spaulding, August 31, 1877, married, September 24, 1904, Gladys, daughter of John Bernard and Nellie (Crosby ) McCarthy, and had Ruth Eleanor,
August 17, 1905; John Bernard, September 15, 1906; Ann Augusta, December 13, 1908. 2. Josiah Wait, July 26, 1880, married, Sep- tember 14, 1904, Lilla Emma, daughter of Kirk H. and Emma (Rood) Stone, and had Josiah Wait Jr., November 6, 1905. 3. Chauncey Lyman, December 25, 1882, a teacher. 4-5. Louise and Lillian, twins, born May II, 1891, died May 26, 1891.
Josiah Ellsworth ( see Parsons VI) died 1689; married, November 6, 1654, Elizabeth Holcomb.
(2) Josiah Ellsworth, born November 6, 1655, died 1706; married, October 30, 1679, Martha Taylor.
(3) Samuel Ellsworth, born July 18, 1697, married, November 20, 1717, Elizabeth Allen.
(4) Charles Ellsworth, born October 13, 1721, married Betsey Bell, of East Windsor, Connecticut.
(5) Calvin Ellsworth, born February 9, 1770, died March 24, 1838; married, January I, 1800, Dolly Lovejoy, who died January 22, I869.
(6) Letitia Ellsworth, born June 25, 1819, married (first) August 28, 1839, Chaun- cey Parsons ; married ( second) April 24, 1846, Lyman Parsons ( see Parsons).
PARSONS Jeffrey Parsons, immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1631 at Alphington near
Exeter, Devonshire, and the name is still com- mon in that section. His brother James Par- sons had a daughter Elizabeth, who wrote a letter to her cousin, James Parsons, of Gloucester, dated May 14, 1714. Copies of the letter have been preserved by the family :
"Dear Cousin : I sometime received a letter from my son, in which he sent me the welcome news that he had seen his relations in New England, and that my uncle Jeffrey had five sons and two daughters living near together in good fashion and good health, and that you had sent me a book for a token, which I take very kindly and give you many thanks for, though I have not yet received it, my son being not yet returned to England, but I had a letter from him the last week that he hopes to be home in a short time, being now in Port Mahon, in the island of Minorca. My father, your uncle, James Parsons, died about six years since, and my mother about twelve. They left behind them seven children, whereof Joli, Robert and Isabel are since dead; but James, Jeffrey and Sarah, who together with myself are (God be praised) alive and in good health, join with me in their kind love and
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service to you, and to the whole family of our uncle. I am married to one Francis Morgan, so that if you please at any time to send me a letter, you must direct for Elizabeth Morgan, at Ashprington, near Dartmouth, in Devon, England.
I have had no opportunity of making you any requital for your present, and therefore must desire you to accept of my prayers and good wishes for yourself and family and all my relations, to whom I desire once more to be kindly remembered, and so rest their and your most affectionate kinswoman and hearty servant,
Elizabeth Morgan."
Jeffrey Parsons left England when quite young and went with an uncle to the Bar- hadoes, where he resided for several years, coming thence to New England, where he made his home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He bought an acre and a half of land in Fisherman's Field in April, 1655, of Giles Barge, and later a house and land in the same place, once owned by George Ingersoll and still earlier by George Norton. He lived on this place and his descendants have occupied it to the present time. Among his descendants were Chief Justice Parsons of Massachusetts. According to a family tradition he met the girl he married one hot day when walking by Vinson's Spring. He stopped for a drink and she was at the spring and offered him a cup. The acquaintance thus begun developed into a courtship, followed by marriage. He mar- ried, November 1I, 1657, Sarah Vinson, who died January 12, 1708. He died August 19, 1689. He was a prominent citizen and served the town as selectman and in other offices of trust and honor. He was a husbandman. His will was dated December 7, 1688, and proved February 24, 1689. He bequeathed to his wife Sarah and son James the residue of his estate "to improve for themselves and bringing up of ye young children and keeping of the fam- ily together;" to James the three acres on which his house stood and other lots of land and stock; to son Jeffrey land and stock; to Jeffrey's son Jonathan; to sons Jeremiah, Nathaniel and Ebenezer, and daughters Sarah, Elizabeth and Abigail ten pounds each; to other grandchildren. Children, born in Gloucester: I. James, born December 18, 1658. 2. Jeffrey, January 31, 1660-61, men- tioned below. 3. Sarah, April 19, 1663, mar- ried John Lee. 4. John, May 14, 1666. 5. Elizabeth, March 22, 1669, married John Durkee and died September 23, 1711. 6. Jere- miah, May 28, 1672, said to have settled in
Virginia. 7. Nathaniel, March 16, 1675. 8. Abigail, March 25, 1678, married, July 2, 1699, Abraham Foster. 9. Ebenezer, January 5, 1680, died next day. 10. Ebenezer, December 28, 1681.
(II) Jeffrey (2), son of Jeffrey (1) Par- sons, was born January 31, 1660-61. He received a grant of land in 1685 on the road to Starnaught Harbor and Little Good Harbor Beach, at the Farms, and built his house there. Most of the Cape Ann Parsons families of the present day are descended from his son William, and his descendants occupied the homestead at last accounts. His will was dated March 14, 1734, and proved in 1750. He married, May 5, 1686, Abigail Younglove, of Ipswich, who died June, 1734. Children, born at Gloucester : 1. Jonathan, February 8, 1687, mentioned below. 2. Samuel, February 2, 1690. 3. Ebenezer, October 17, 1691, died May 29, 1692. 4. William, January 8, 1693, died April 21 following. 5. Josiah, February 23, 1694, died young. 6. Sarah, February 20, 1695, married Jefford Cogswell, of Ipswich, December 27, 1722. 7. Jeremiah, March 26, 1697, married Susanna Cogswell. 8. Abigail, May 31, 1699, died February 5, 1700.
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