USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Gloucester > Notes and additions to the history of Gloucester : second series > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
67
EARLY RECORDS.
59 ; "out of doors and well the day before," says the record. Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Norwood, died Oct 20, 1775, aged 63. Jonathan and Zaccheus, probably sons of Jonathan, Jr., were drowned by the upset- ting of a boat off Folly Cove. A Stephen Norwood was lost on a voy- age to the Banks in 1753. A widow, Mary Norwood, died Dec. 9, 1811, aged 84.
From Mr. E. Pool's Ms., I learn that Joshua Norwood, Jr., born in 1707, by wife Sarah Goodrich, or Aldrich, had a son Solomon, who by two wives, had seventeen children, and died in 1824, aged 84. His sons, Joshua, Isaac and Stephen settled in Blue Hill, Me., where Isaac is said to have died a hundred years old. A son Moses settled in Eastport, Me.
1664, May .- William Vinson sells to John Emerson his grist mill and 3 1-2 acres of land the same being near Mr. Emerson's house, for £55.
1666, 4th mo .- Philip Stanwood is allowed as eldest sergeant of the foot company at Gloucester.
May 23, in General Court on petition of the inhabitants of Gloucester that the horse bridge by them erected over Chebacco River be by common charge upheld. The Court judge it meet to refer the petition to the next Court of that County to act as the law directs.
1668, 29th 8th mo .- General Court orders that no man shall hence- forth kill any codfish, hake, haddock or pollock, to be dried for sale, in the months of December or January, because of their spauning time ; nor any mackerel to barrel up in the months of May or June, under pen- alty of paying five shillings for each quintal of fish, and five shillings for each barrel of mackerel ; nor shall any fisherman cast the herbage of the fish they catch overboard at or near the ledge or grounds where they take the fish, nor shall any of the boats' crew refuse or neglect to obey the orders of the master of the vessel to which they belong for the times and seasons of fishing, nor shall they take or drinke any more strong liquors than the master thinks meet to permit them. The breach of all these last being under the penalty of twenty shillings for the first offence, 40 shillings for the second, and for the third three months imprisonment.
1675, Oct. 13 .- In a colony rate of £1553 5s. 4d. for war against the Indians, forty-nine towns are assessed, of which Gloucester ranks the fortieth in amount, £9 9s. to be paid in wheat at 6s., rye 4s. 6d., barley and pease 4s., Indian corn 3s., 6d., oats 2s. ; money payment to be abated one-fourth.
4th mo. Peter Duncan is complained of for selling liquor to the Indians.
68
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER :
Of an Irish Donation to the poor, distressed by the war with the In- dians, Gloucester received 18 shillings for one family of six persons.
John Collins, an early settler, died March 25. His son John married Mehitable Giles of Salem, 9th, Ist mo., 1659. A Daniel Collins was drowned in the harbor Ang. 12, 1753.
. Isaac Collins and Charles Collins, of Cape Ann, were prisoners in Mill Prison, England, in 1781. The widow of Col. Daniel Collins died in February, 1822. Abigail, widow of Capt. JJames Collins, died in 1829, aged eighty-seven.
1676, March 29 .- A committee report that at Cape Ann two garrisons besides several fortifications have been made.
1677 .- John Roberts first appears in town this year. The wife of his oldest son Nathaniel was Mary Biles of Beverly. Patience, wife of the second John, died Oct. 13, 1749, in her 69th year. Deacon John Roberts, son of the latter, died Dec. 27, 1793, aged 79. His wife died in 1787, aged about 72. A Samuel Roberts died on board of a man of war in 1792. Widow Jerusha Roberts died Aug. 17, 1807, over 96.
1678 .- [William Sargent, 2d, who came this year may have been the William Sargent who, in 1679 had a grant of " half an acre of land to set a house upon, on the left hand of the way that people goe to the head of the Harbor, at the head of William Vinson's lot," for his widow in her will of 24 Feb., 1724, gave to her son Epes " old part of dwelling house &c." lying between said Epes and Peter Dolliver, and it is certain that her grandson Epes lived on the way above mentioned, where the Cus- tom House now stands, in a building which once stood there, and in its present locality, on Pleasant street, is known as the Webster House.]
Mary, daughter of William Sargent, 2d, is said to have married a Herrick of Beverly, but I think she married, first, Jonathan Stevens, and, becoming a widow before 1710, then married Nathaniel Sargent, and so is called Mary Sargent in her mother's will. Esther, wife of the first Epes Sargent, was daughter of Thomas Maccarty of Roxbury. She died July 1, 1743, aged 43. A genealogical record says that his son Ignatius "died in a foreign land," that Benjamin "died abroad in man- hood." Besides Paul Dudley and John, he had by second wife three daughters who died young. His daughter Esther married Col. Thomas Goldthwaite, and had a daughter Esther who married first, Timothy Rogers of Gloucester, July 4, 1765, and second, Capt. Peter Dolliver in 1770. Another daughter, Catherine, had two husbands, first Dr. Sylves- ter Gardner of Boston, and next William Powell of Boston, and died Feb.
69
EARLY RECORDS.
24, 1830, aged 83. Sarah, daughter of Col. Epes Sargent, and widow of Nathaniel Allen, died in 1792. His son Paul Dudley died Sept. 15, 1828, aged 83, and his son John died in Barrington, N. S., Jan. 24, 1824, aged 74.
Epes, son of Col. Epes Sargent, died Jan. 7, 1779. He left an es- tate of which the inventory amounted, in the currency of the time to £14,572, consisting in part of vessel property, £5855, and 156 oz. plate at 46s. 6d. per oz. Owing probably to the destruction of his business by the war, his estate was rendered insolvent.
1679, June 13 .- It is ordered by the General Court that all fisher- men that are shipped upon a winter and spring voyage shall duly attend the same according to custom or agreement with respect to time ; and all fishermen that are shipped upon a fishing voyage for a whole summer shall not presume to break off from said voyage, before the last of October, without ye consent of ye owner, master and sharemen, upon the penalty of paying all damages.
1680, May 19 .- Gloucester is one of twenty-two towns that had neg- lected to attend to an order for contribution to Harvard College.
1681, March. - William Haskell "is appointed leftenant for the trained band in Gloster and James Davis, Sen'r, is appointed ensign."
The number of public houses for Gloucester is to be two, as estab- lished by the General Court.
1683 .- Samuel Dolliver, an early settler, died this year, and from the settlement of his estate it appears that he had Joseph, Dorothy and Re- becca, not named in the History, among his children.
Robert Elwell, an early settler, also died this year. Rev. S. Chand- ler records in his journal,-"May 16, 1752, I attended the funeral of Capt. Elias Elwell." "April 30, 1754, I attended the funeral of Zebulon Elwell. " "July 7, 1762, I attended the funeral of Nehemiah Elwell." Account of administration of his estate was presented Oct. 28, 1765, by his widow, who had then become the wife of a Smith, probably Alexan- der.
John, son of John Elwell, and Isaac, son of Zebulon Elwell, were washed overboard and lost from a schooner commanded by Capt. Wm. Allen, coming from the Banks, in a gale of wind, in 1798.
Elias Elwell died May 22, 1834, aged eighty-eight. (Doubtful about the age. )
Administration of the estate of Isaac Elwell, Jr., mariner, was granted to his widow, Lydia, Aug. 3, 1778.
70)
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER :
Samuel Elwell, son of Paine, died June 2, 1824.
1684 .- Samuel Hodgkins came to Gloucester about this time. It appears that his son Samuel, in 1756, then seventy-two, took for second wife Lydia Stanwood, who found in him a third husband. She died April 13, 1789, aged eighty-four.
July 1, 1814, William Hodgkins was buried, lived on the point, above 80 years old .- 'Squam Church Records.
A Timothy Hodgkins died Oct. 15, 1830, aged 94, and Eunice, his widow, died Aug. 8, 1841, aged 81.
John Pulcifer also appears in town this year. Old Mrs. Pulcifer, his widow, without doubt, died June 8, 1755, about 90 years old, says a private record. She was Joan, daughter of Thomas Kent, and in com- pany with a twin sister, Mercy, came into the world Feb. 21, 1664.
Thomas, second son of John, married Sarah Grover, Jan. 6, 1726. She died May 26, 1728, and he next married Hannah Woodward Oct. 29, 1730. He died Sept 27, 1778, aged 85, she having died the day be- fore, at about the same age. Ebenezer, next son, was living in 1760, but I can trace him no farther. His son Edmund died in the Second Parish in May, 1804, aged about 75. David, the next son of John, died in June, 1791, upwards of 90 years of age. Of Jonathan, the youngest son, I learn nothing after the birth of his son Samuel in 1734.
1685, Oct. 12 .- Died John Kettle. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William Allen, of Salem. She married Samuel Corning Nov. 13, 1688, and next year, was dismissed from the church in Gloucester and admitted to that in Beverly.
1686, Feb. 16 .- The town leave it to the Selectmen to agree with a workman to build galleries in the eastern and western ends of the meeting house.
1689 .- Jeffrey Parsons, an early settler, died this year. Jonathan, son of the second Jeffrey, was deceased in 1742. His son David died Nov. 28, 1808, at 82, by the records of the First Church, at 80 by my notes. It was his son David, not Ebenezer, who was washed overboard from a fishing vessel and drowned ; the latter was also lost at sea. The death of Jeremiah, youngest son of the second Jeffrey, is found in the journal of Rev. S. Chandler, who thus records it : " 1755, Sept. 25. A little after I was in bed, about 10 o'clock, was sent for to visit Deacon Jer'a Parsons, dying. He was sensible to the last, tho' broken in his speech ; much in the dark, tho' his desires were enlarged after discoveries of the Love of God. He died about 10 o'clock. I came home after 2 o'clock."
71
EARLY RECORDS.
He was fifty-seven years old. His son Zaccheus had deceased a few months previously, and his son Jeremiah died of a fever at the age of 36, and was buried April 14, 1760. March 4, 1756, Deacon John Parsons was chosen a ruling elder of the First Church, and 23 Oct, 1764. Mr. Chandler says, "I catechised at Elder Parsons." The date of his death is not yet found. His son William, born in 1728, was probably the William who married Sarah Rust, Jan. 5, 1755, and had a daughter Ju- dith baptized in 1769, and removed to New Gloucester, Me., where Ju- dith married Nathaniel Eveleth, 2d, and died Dee. 16, 1862, aged 93. Dec. 23, 1764, Samuel Parsons, son of the first Samuel, was dismissed from the First Church to the Christian Brethren at New Gloucester. His wife was Lydia Sawyer, sister of Deacon John Sawyer, who about the same time took his dismission from the Second Church to the same brethren. Samuel Parsons had sons Samuel and David, who probably went with their father to the new town as their names are among the subscribers to the meeting-house there in 1770.
The First Church Records have the death of Dorcas Parsons, 85, no date ; and the death of Martha Parsons, Jan. 11, 1819, aged 81.
Abigail, daughter of Stephen Parsons, married David Ring, and died a widow July 24, 1817, aged 77.
And. Parsons, Cape Ann, was a prisoner in Mill Prison, England, in 1781.
1690 .- George Giddings settled in town about this time. His son John died Oct. 25, 1723, aged 25. Zebulon, another son, married Oct. 12, 1724, Deborah, daughter of Thomas Webster of Exeter, N. H., and settled as a merchant in that town. His wife died in 1767, and he next married, in 1773, Joanna Cottle of Newburyport, who died the same year. He kept a tavern in Exeter, which he managed successfully many years, was a colonel in the militia, and town clerk of Exeter from 1745 to 1783, being at the latter date, eighty years old. Lawrence Giddings, who came after George, was his cousin, and son to Lieut. Samuel Gid- dings of Chebacco.
1691 .- Thomas Bray, an early settler, died this year.
Dr. Thomas Bray, son of Thomas Bray, the second, married Judith, daughter of Nathaniel Sargent, Jan. 16, 1743. She died Aug. 36, 1811, aged eighty-five. John, another son of the same, married Susanna Woodbury, Dec. 19, 1716. One of his six children was Enoch, born July 20; 1730, the same probably who died Dec. 9, 1814, aged eighty- five. Nathaniel, third son of Thomas, the second, died Jan. 18, 1773,
1
72
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER :
above seventy. Moses, next son of the same, married Mary Woodbury of Beverly, Nov. 20, 1717. His widow died in Dec., 1778, aged eighty. The widow of Moses, youngest son of the same Thomas, died in 1783, over seventy years of age. Of his ten children one was a son, Aaron, born in 1742, the same perhaps who died in 1759, "coming from Can- ada." Another son, Edward, born in 1740, may have been the Edward who died in the army, at Long Island, in 1776.
A Nathaniel Bray died at Halifax in 1778.
A Benjamin Bray, of Cape Ann, was a prisoner in Mill Prison, Ply- mouth, Eng., in 1781, taken from Ship Beaver.
A William Bray died in Dec., 1830, aged seventy.
Anne Bray died in Jan., 1834, aged 81.
A widow Bray died Oct. 30, 1817, aged ninety-two.
Mrs. Lucy Bray, wife of Capt. Moses Bray, died in 1799, aged 62.
Capt. Isaac Bray died Jan. 16, 1830, aged eighty. His widow died " soon after," aged seventy-six.
1692, Sept. 24. - On bonds for their appearance, Mary, wife of Hugh Rowe, Phebe, wife of Timothy Day, and widow Rachel Vinson, all of Gloucester, are released from Ipswich prison, having been confined there for witchcraft.
Oct. 30. Esther, wife of Samuel Elwell, Rebecca, wife of Richard Dike, and Abigail, daughter of Hugh Rowe, all of Gloucester, were car- ried to Ipswich for examination on a like charge. They were released Nov. 7.
Nov. 25. Upon consideration of great damage and scandal that has happened upon the accompt of pickled fish, although afterward dried and hardly discoverable, to the great loss of many, and also an ill-repu- tation on this Province and the fishery of it, it is ordered by the Gene- ral Court that no person or persons whatsoever, after the publication hereof, shall save or salt any sort of fish (that is intended to be dried ) in caske or fatles in any other way than what hath formerly and hon- estly been practiced for the making of dried fish on penalty of forfeiting all such fish so salted and pickled, whether it be green or dry. It is also ordered that no person shall take, kill or haul ashore any mackerel with any sort of nets or seines whatsoever, on penalty of forfeiting all mackerel so taken, and all the nets and seines so employed, also that no mackerel shall be caught, except for spending whilst fresh, before the first of July annually.
1693, June 14 .- The General Court, upon petition of the town of
73
EARLY RECORDS.
Gloucester, complaining that the inhabitants of their town are over-rate £170, upon examination it was found that they had under-valued their land £30 and had omitted £40. Ordered that £100 be allowed them by the Treasurer when they next shall be assessed in any general assess- ment.
William Haskell, an early settler, died this year. His son Benjamin married for second wife Emma Bond of Beverly, June 10, 1698. Pa- tience, daughter of Benjamin, married John Roberts, not Hugh, as else- where stated. Ebenezer, son of the first Joseph, died June 23, 1771, aged 81. His son, Deacon Stephen Haskell, died Aug. 31, 1809, aged 73. Dorcas, daughter of the second Joseph, died Feb. 13, 1793, aged 80. Daniel, probably son of the first Daniel, died in Oct., 1804, about 80. Deacon Zebulon Haskell, son of Jacob, died June 8, 1819, aged 84. His widow Elizabeth died in 1825, about the same age. Jacob and Is- rael, other sons of Jacob, settled in New Gloucester, Me. A Mary Has- kell died in Nov., 1802, over 80. A Jonathan was lost at sea, on a fish- ing voyage, in 1738. An Isaac was killed on board of a privateer in April, 1778.
1694, March 19 .- Joseph Gardner has a grant of half an aere of upland ground upon the eastern side of the neck of land called Peter Mud's neck. In bounding this grant mention is made of "the house then erected to make earthen ware in."
John Lane came to Gloucester about this time. The second wife of his son James, was Judith, widow of William Woodbury. James, youngest son of this James, -aged 24, master of a fishing schooner be- longing to Daniel Gibbs, Esq., was lost at Grand Bank in 1753. David, son of the second John Lane, died Sept. 3, 1777, aged 56, and David, son of this David, died May 31, 1825, aged 75. Rachel, widow of Jo- siah Lane, died Oct. 3, 1774, aged 84 ; falling from her chair, she was taken up dead. Gideon Lane, son of the first Joseph, married Mary Babson in 1764, who died Jan. 8, 1779, aged 37 ; soon after his wife's decease, he removed to Freeport, Me., where he died Oct. 6, 1813, aged 73, leaving children in Freeport and a son Gideon in 'Squam, a sea eaptain, who died there Nov. 28, 1821, aged 57. Benjamin Lane, fifth son and ninth child of the first John, died in March, 1773, aged 72. His wife, Elizabeth, probably daughter of Samuel Griffin, died in 1779, aged 73. Of Job, youngest son of John, the date of death is not yet found. Mary, his widow, died in 1795, very aged of course. His son Andrew died in 1791, at the age of 45 ; and his son Ebenezer
7
74
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER :
is said to have removed to New Gloucester, Me. Mary, daughter of John Lane, and widow of Joseph Thurston, died in 1792, aged 96. A Joseph Lane died in Nov., 1828, aged 85. A Daniel Lane, of Glouces- ter, was a prisoner in Mill prison, Plymouth, Eng., in 1778, and es- raped. The records of the 5th church have death of a Joseph Lane in 1776.
1696 .- William Ellery, an early settler, died this year. The Colum- bian Centinel of Boston, of June 5, 1800, has the death of Capt. W.il- liam Ellery of Cape Ann, aged seventy. He was grandson of this settler. Esther, widow of John Stevens Ellery, died Nov. 30, 1811, aged about fifty-six. Among the effects of her husband, at his decease in 1797, were 9968 gals. of brandy valued at $13,444. He left a clear estate of about $16,000.
Abigail Ellery, daughter of Dependance, married Luke Ryerson, who was on the committee of safety at New Gloucester in March, 1777.
1702 .- The first persons bearing the name of Sanders appear in town this year. ( Ilist. 241.) They were shipwrights, and were attracted thither without doubt by the great activity with which the business of ship-building began to be carried on about this time. Tradition reports that the family came to Gloucester direct from England, under induce- ments held out by one of its members on his return from a voyage to this country. It apparently consisted of a widowed mother, Mary and seven children,-John, Nathaniel, Thomas, Edward, Joseph, Mary and Elizabeth, probably wife of Jonathan Springer. . Joseph died Nov. 18, 1712, and his mother was appointed administratrix of his estate July 30, 1716, but died before completing the trust, and his brother Thomas was made administrator de bonis non. The whole amount received by him was £89 12s, the larger part of which was recovered at law, which oc- casioned the " expense at court to be very great," so that the six brothers and sisters, his heirs, got only about £6 cach. Of John, the first named brother, I can say no more. Nathaniel had, besides five daughters, four sons,-Nathaniel, born in 1705, died Sept. 27, 1717 ; John, March 18, 1707 ; Joseph, Oct. 17, 1708 ; and David, 1715. John I suppose to be the same who married Mary Dolliver, Dec. 1, 1736, by whom a son John was born August 7, 1737. Joseph was probably the same who married Mary Stevens, Jan. 1, 1735, and had a son Nathaniel born Jnne 29, 1736. I know not who, if not these two brothers, were the suffer- ers by a disaster at sea mentioned in our records, though it is difficult to reconcile the dates, unless there is an omission of double dating, ac-
-
75
EARLY RECORDS.
cording to the custom of the times. The record says :- " Joseph San- ders and John Sanders went away in Feb., 1736, for Isle of Sable and had not been heard of 26 of Ang. following ; supposed to have been run down presently after they went out in a schooner belonging to Epes Sargent, Esq."
The children of Thomas, son of the widow Mary, were Thomas, born March 20, 1704 ; Abigail, June 29, 1705, married Peter Dolliver ; Jo- seph, Feb. 21, 1707 ; Mary, March 10, 1709, married Daniel Gibbs ; John, June 14, 1711 ; Lydia, March 24, 1714, married Daniel Witham ; and Elizabeth, April 10, 1707, who married Zebulon Witham, and died Nov. 27, 1767. The father left a clear estate of £3160; one of the largest that had been accumulated in town to the date of his death, 1742. The only mention of Edward Sanders, brother of Thomas, found in the Gloucester Records. is ot date Dec. 20, 1717, when Joseph Heden, his apprentice, died. An Edward Sanders, of Rowley, shipwright, made his will 11 Dec., 1759, in which three daughters, all apparently married, and four sons are named.
Of the eleven children of the second Thomas there were, besides the three sons mentioned in the History, a daughter Judith who married Winthrop Sargent and Abigail who married William Dolliver, a Rebecca who married Capt. James Babson, and a Lydia who married James Prentice.
Joseph, brother of the preceding, a sea-captain, had a wife Elizabeth, and died of small-pox on his passage from Ireland to Boston, June 25, 1732, leaving an only child, Joseph, born Sept., 1730, who married Mar- tha Henderson, Sept. 9, 1752. The sad end of the latter and that of his only son, Thomas, are noticed in the History. This son, as soon as he graduated from college, in 1772, at the age of nineteen, married his relative, Judith, aged seventeen, daughter of Hon. Thomas Sanders. They had many children, but I can account for only two of them,- Lucy, who became the wife of Rev. Stephen Farley, of Atkinson, N. H., and Joseph, of Philadelphia, both of whom were living in 1826. This Thomas Sanders lived in a house which stood on or near the lot on which the City Hall now stands. On the back side of the house was a well, at the bottom of which his body was found, and into which he fell or threw himself after committing the deed which closed his life. His mother married David Ingersol for second husband, and his only sister, Mary, married Eben Hough, a ship master in Gloucester in the last century, who died about 1793.
.
76
HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER :
John, the other brother of the second Thomas, married Hannah, daughter of Elder James Sayward, Jan. 23, 1735, and died after about six years illness, Jan. 17, 1742. Besides two daughters, he had a son John, born Oct. 24, 1735, who married Jemima Parsons, May 12, 1757. He was a sea captain and died Oct. 24, 1807. She died at the age of 81. The fruits of this marriage were seven sons and seven daughters. James, one of the sons, married Susannah Sayward in 1786, and settled in Dresden, Me., where he had a large family of children. Another son, Capt. Joseph Sanders, died in Gloucester, April 4, 1841, aged 84, says the record, but 78, according to my notes. He left a widow, Deborah (Witham) Sanders, who became a centenarian, and is elsewhere men- tioned in these notes. Abigail, one of the daughters, married John Somes, and died Dec. 5, 1857, aged 87. With the exception of a few in this line, there appear to be no descendants of Thomas Sanders, bear- ing the name, now living in Gloucester.
Of the twelve children of Hon. Thomas Sanders, son of the second Thomas, born Ang. 14, 1729, eight at least appear to have been living when he died in 1774. Five of these were daughters, all of whom were married,-Lucy to Paul Dudley Sargent ; Judith to Thomas Sanders, the school master ; Harriet to Peter Dolliver ; Sarah to Thomas Augus- tus Vernon, a merchant of St. Petersburg, Russia ; and Mary to Eras- mus Babbitt, a lawyer of Sturbridge, Mass. She had a daughter, who was the mother of Charlotte Cushman, the distinguished actress. Of five sons of Mr. Sanders, two only lived to marry. Thomas born March 26, 1759, was sent to Byfield Academy to be fitted for college, but left on the death of his father, and entered the counting room of Mr. Derby, of Salem, a distinguished East India merchant. He finally became a merchant himself and carried on his business with such success, that, at his death, June 5, 1844, he left a large fortune to his wife and children. His wife, Elizabeth Elkins, to whom he was married in 1782, was an anthoress and a lady of admirable qualities of heart and mind. She died Feb. 19, 1851, in her eighty-ninth year. Their oldest son, Charles, was born May 2, 1783, graduated at Harvard College, and died April 7, 1864, leaving no children, but deserving special remembrance in this sketch of his family for his liberal bequest to the cause of temperance in the home of his ancestors. A clause of his will reads thus :-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.