USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 13
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3The inventory of his estate included ten acres of land at Martha's Vineyard. (Wyman, Gen. and Est. of Charlestown, 696.)
'Dukes Deeds, III., 377.
5Edgartown Records, I, 30.
6Dukes Deeds, V, 230.
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History of Martha's Vineyard-
the Vineyard. How long he had lived there is uncertain, but his first wife Esther died there July 11, 1655, and he married again the following year. On Nov. 6 and 9, 1658, he sold all his property in that town; house, orchard, land, and pro- prietory interests in commons, and removed to the Vineyard.1 It is more than probable that he came here with Norton, as we have found that the latter is first mentioned in our records early in 1659; and taking into account the occupation of Roe with what is known of Norton, the author thinks that both came to carry on their trade, one as a tanner and the other as a currier. He was granted a ten-acre lot on the "line" on Aug. 22, 1659, and twenty acres as a dividend at Mile Brook. It is evident that he did not show symptoms of remaining per- manently, for on Oct. 22, 1660, the town voted that he "did not have right to sell or otherwise dispose of that land" granted to him.2 Shortly after he removed to Hartford, Conn., where he was admitted an inhabitant, Sept. 2, 1661, as a currier, and in 1674 he again removed, this time to Suffolk, where he died Aug. 5, 1689, leaving a widow and several married chil- dren.
EDWARD SALE (SEARLE).
This man was one of the early settlers at Great Harbor, coming here within the first decade after the younger Mayhew, and under various spellings of Sales, Sarle, Searles, Seale, and Sale his name appears in the records from 1653 to 1663 con- tinuously. Undoubtedly, he had been here for some time prior to March 1, 1653, when there was a "case" between him and John Pease, in which it was decided "that the said Edward Sales hath his old right of fish still."4 Whence came the settler may be determined, probably, from the following facts relative to a person or persons, bearing his name earlier in the history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: An Edward Sale, aged twenty-four years, embarked in the Elizabeth and Ann, April 27, 1635, from London, and in the same vessel was
1Suffolk Deeds, XI, 181. The land had in part been first granted to Nicholas Norton. The deed was acknowledged June, 7, 1659.
2Edgartown Records, I, 147.
3Hampshire Probate Records, I, 267. Contemporaneously with Hugh Roe there lived, in Gloucester, Mass. (1651-1662), one John Roe, who had land once owned by Nicholas Norton in that town. John had a son Hugh born about 1640, and as the baptismal names are similar in both families it may be inferred that John was an elder brother of our Hugh.
4Edgartown Records, I, 149.
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Annals of Edgartown
Richard Sarson and Jeremiah Whitton, both early residents here.1 In 1637 he was probably a resident of Salem or Marble- head, with his wife Margaret, who in that year was tried and convicted of gross immorality and banished from the colony. At the same time "Edward Seale for his beastly drunkennes was censured to bee set in the bilboes till the end of the Court & then to bee severely whipt."2 An Edward Seale was of Rehoboth in 1643 and his estate was appraised at £81-00-00 that year, but whether an older Edward or the same one can- not be stated with confidence.3 The next occurrence of the · name is in our records under date of February 6, 1653, when it is entered: -
Edward Sale hath four acres added to his house lot so that it may be laid out together with least hurt to the town.4
This house lot was a ten-acre grant "forty Poles square," near the Great Swamp, half way between the West Tisbury road and Meshacket path. It is known to this day as the "Sarson Lot," now owned intact by Mr. Clement Norton. In May, 1653, Edward Sale drew lot number 3 in the Planting Field, and was fined for absence from town meeting.5 On June 6, 1654, he was received as "townsman," and was elected as an Assistant to the Chief Magistrate.6 There is no further mention of him except incidentally until 1659, when he was witness to the sale of Nantucket to the "Ten Associates" July 2 of that year,7 and on December 2, same year, a com- monage and a ten-acre lot on the line was granted to "Brother Sale."8 In 1660 there is a further record about his lands, and on Dec. 23, 1661, he submitted to the Patentees Govern- ment.9 He had a suit against John Pease, elsewhere referred to, in 1662, and the next year was granted the small island in Sanchacantacket, now known as Sarson's island.10 The last
1Gen. Reg., XIV, 312.
2Court of Assistants, I, 197, 200; comp., Winthrop, "Journal," II, 349. There was a John Sayle bound out to service with his daughter Phebe in 1633 (Ibid., I, 99). 3 Arnold, "Vital Records of Rehoboth, 910. John Daggett and Edward Seale were associated in Rehoboth.
Edgartown Records, I, 131. To this was added three acres of swamp in 1654. (Ibid., 119.)
BIbid., pp. 131, 172. 6Ibid., 122. 7Macy, "History of Nantucket, 20.
8Edgartown Records, I, 132.
9Ibid., 110, 144.
10Ibid., 108, 138.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
record of him personally is under date of April 8, 1663, when he acted as a juror, and before December 30, same year, he had sold all his lands and estate in the town and thenceforth disappears from the records.1
Whither he went is not positively known, but again at Rehoboth is found a record that Goodman Searle was accepted as inhabitant July 3, 1663, and granted a home lot, and we may assume that he returned thither, where twenty years be- fore an Edward Sales had lived.2 It further appears that Jared Ingraham, son of Richard of Rohoboth, married in Boston, May 28, 1662, Rebecca, daughter of an Edward Searles, from which, in connection with the fact that Christo- pher Gibson of Boston speaks of "my brother Eddward Sealle," we may infer that Gibson was her uncle, and that we here have further clues to this Sales family and its descend- ants.3 We may have a final view in old age of our first settler in the person of Edward Sale of Weymouth, who died before Oct. 6, 1692, when an inventory of his estate was taken, and on April 13, 1693, administration was granted to John Rogers of Weymouth.4
"MRS." SCOTT.
A person of this name is entered on the early records of Edgartown, as one of the proprietors of land in 1664, and is credited in the division of shares with two drawings of lots during that year.5 This is not the first mention of her name, however, as in the previous year, when a "general fence" was to be built, the "engagers" (i. e., subscribers), who were charged with the expense, are given in a list, and she appears in the following entry: "Thomas Mayhew for himself, Thomas
1Edgartown Records, I, 135.
2 Bliss. "History of Rehoboth," 53. In July, 1664, "Rebeckah Sale, the late wife of Edward Sale .... hanged herself in her own hiered house," according to a coro- ner's inquest. (Plymo. Col. Rec., IV. 83.)
3Boston Record Com'rs Report, IX, 86; comp., Suffolk Probate, VI, 64. In his will proved in 1674 Christopher Gibson names Hannah Seale, Alice Sealle, Ephraim Sealle, and "sister Ingrham & her husband my friend Willyam Ingrham." and Jarrat (Jared) Inghram and his wife Rebecka Sealle. There is no Edward Sale, Seale or Searle in the Suffolk Deeds.
4Suffolk Probate, XIII, 156, 403. We are further confronted with another Ed- ward Searle who lived in Rhode Island, at Warwick, about 1670, and married, prob- ably as second wife, Joan White, a widow, sister of Edmund Calverly of Warwick. This Edward had a son Edward, who in 1671 married Ann, widow of John Lippit, Jr., and removed to Cranston in that colony. This Edward senior died in 1679. (Savage, Gen. Dict., IV, 45.)
5She drew lot 27 at Felix Neck and seven at Meachemy's Field.
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Annals of Edgartown
Harlock, Thomas Paine 3, younger Mayhews one, Mrs. Scott one, Widow Foulger one, all in eight Lott(s)."1 In this connection a previous entry may be of significance, a list of lot owners as defendants in a suit, 1661, which reads: "Thomas Mayhew for Myself and all Relations in the town that is eight lotts." These two entries taken together may be interpreted as a list of the relatives by marriage or blood of Governor Mayhew, then living, or owning property in Edgartown, for the first contains the name of Thomas Harlock, son-in-law; Thomas Paine, step-son; "younger Mayhews," grandchildren, and "Mrs." Scott and "Widow" Foulger (Merible, wife of John), by implication as "relatives." It is believed that the identity of "Mrs." Scott can be established, and the following facts are marshalled to indicate that she was Elizabeth, wife of Robert Scott of Boston: --
Malachi Browning and an Elizabeth Scott had legal business connected with their respective relatives in London on the same day in Boston, 27 (8), 1649, though no relation- ship between them is stated .? This conjunction would not necessarily be conclusive of anything more than accident, but for the further fact that Malachi Browning died four years later "at the house of Robert Scott," in Boston, as appears by the town records. He was probably on a visit to "Mrs." Scott when his death occurred, Nov. 27, 1653, and this asso- ciation of these two incidents seems to enable us to extend the name of this lady in full to Mrs. Elizabeth Scott, the wife of Robert, a haberdasher of Boston.
Just how Mrs. Scott came into possession of a lot in Edgartown before 1664 cannot be determined, as the records give no clue. It is possible that in consideration of care during his last illness in Boston Malachi Browning bequeathed this proprietary share to her, but there remains no record of his will by which this surmise can be re-enforced. There is no record to show how Mrs. Scott's share passed into other hands.
Elizabeth Scott received a bequest of money from her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Hussey of London, some time before May 21, 1648, when Robert Scott, her husband, gave a power of attorney for collecting the legacy.3 This might indicate that she was born a Hussey. After the death of Robert Scott,
1Edgartown Records, I, 147.
2Aspinwall Notarial Records, 226.
3Ibid., 147.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
in February, 1654, she became the wife of John Sweete. Doro- thy, wife of Nicholas Upsall, made a bequest in 1675 to her "sister, Elizabeth Sweete," who may or may not be our Eliza- beth. In a deposition, 1663, Elizabeth Scott, aged forty-seven (born 1616), testified to matters in London about twenty-six years ago (1637).1
RICHARD SMITH.
A person of this name, born about 1617, resided here before 1652, and was the owner of a half lot, one of the Five and Twenty, the fifth from Pease's Point. He drew a lot on May 8, 1653, in the division of the Planting Field, which he sold to John Folger.2 On June 6, 1654, he was chosen with six others "to end all controversies," and to hold Quarter Courts.3 Previous to this, however, he had been prospecting for another settlement in Connecticut, and had received a grant in 1652 in the town of New London.4 He had relatives also in other portions of that colony, as he speaks of "my brother Matthias Treate," who took him on a trip up the Sturgeon River, in the present town of Glastonbury. "I will show our country here," said Matthias, "it may be you will come and live here."5 This was "30 or 40 years ago," as Richard Smith deposed in 1684, making the date of his visit 1644-1654, of which the latter is the more probable. Smith remained in the new town, or at least sold out here about that time, and ended his connection with the Vineyard.6 Diligent effort has been made by the author and others to indentify this person in his new home and to learn more of him and his family there, as nothing is of record here to help the solution." The number of Richards, Senior and Junior, in that town has proven an almost hopeless barrier to a satisfactory con- clusion, and as he belongs to Wethersfield, his record after leaving the Vineyard is left to the historian of that town.8
1Pope, "Pioneers of Massachusetts," art. Robert Scott.
2Dukes Deeds, I, 252.
3Edgartown Records, I.
4Caulkins, History of New London, 322. He was called "of Martin's Vineyard." 5Connecticut Archives, Vol. III. (Personal Controversies.) Hollister vs Bulke- ley, No. 122.
6He sold his harbor lot to Thomas Burchard. (Deeds, I, 320.)
"Particular mention must be made of the help given by Mrs. D. E. Penfield, of Vineyard descent, who has spent much time and labor in the attempt to clear up the doubts about this Richard.
8Stiles, History of Wethersfield, I, 299, is equally befogged with the rest who have undertaken to identify the various Richard Smiths in that town.
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Annals of Edgartown
JOHN STANBRIDGE.
This man was a tailor by occupation, who is first heard of in Boston, 1674, on the tax list, and in 1678 he took the oath of allegiance in that town. He is found there in 1681, 1687 and 1688, but before this, probably about 1673, he had married Sarah, daughter of Nicholas Norton, which explains his connection with our island.1 How soon he came here to live is not definitely known, possibly before 1692, when he was a witness to a deed.2 After this he seems to have removed as in 1703 he bought property here (part of the Mayhew home lot), and is then called "late of Newport."3 Evidently he was a roamer. He remained here for some ten years, and is mentioned in the records until 1714, when it appears that he again removed to Newport. The next record of him is in 1719, when "John Stanbridge, Taylor and wife, wich came from R. Island" were warned to depart from Boston by the authorities. This however was not followed out by Stanbridge, as he was an unsuccessful petitioner in that town for a license to retail liquor in 1723, the last we hear from him.4 In 1731, his wife, or widow probably, entered suit in our courts against ten of her nephews by blood and marriage, alleging that they had invited her to come from Boston to Edgartown, promising maintenance, which they had failed to perform, and asking damage. The court awarded her £100 and the defendants appealed.5
SAMUEL STREETER.
This man was a tailor originally, settling at Gloucester and later at Nantucket. He was granted a ten acre lot on the "line" Jan. 12, 1663, is mentioned in a deed, 1665, and a short
1Sarah, wife of John Stanbridge, was convicted of selling rum without a license, Jan. 30, 1685-6. (Dukes Court Rec., Vol. I.)
2Dukes Deeds, I, 48. He was plaintiff in a suit in the Cambridge, Mass., Court 1690. (Records, Court of Assistants, I, 330.)
3Ibid, I, 134.
4Boston Town Records.
5Dukes County Records, Vol. II. She called herself a seamstress. It is possible that the plaintiff may be a daughter of Sarah (Norton) Stanbridge, who sues her cousins. There being no court files in the county archives of that date, the pleadings are not available.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
career was terminated on Nov. 19, 1669, when he was drowned with Richard Arey between this island and Nantucket.1
PETER TABOR.
This person was among the earliest settlers, almost con- temporaneous with Mayhew himself. He had first seated himself at Watertown, where he was made a freeman May 14, 1634, and about four years later he removed to Yarmouth, Cape Cod .? He remained there for an undetermined period and moved thence to Great Harbor. As he had been a towns- man of Thomas Mayhew in Watertown his migration to the Vineyard after the latter had purchased the island in 1641, may be attributed to personal acquaintance with Mayhew. Taber was in Edgartown before 1647, at which time he sold to John Bland "all his Right that he then Possessed," but it is evident that Taber acquired further holdings, not recorded, as he continued to reside on the Vineyard and participated as a proprietor in all the divisions of land until 1655.3 In this year, on May 15, "it was agreed" by the magistrates that he had been guilty of immoralities, and on Aug. 2, 1655, "Philip Taber now being at Portsmouth in Rhode Island" sold his estate on the Vineyard and thenceforth lived elsewhere.4 He had lived here for at least nine years, but the New London records show a house lot granted to him in 1651, on which a house was built, presumably by him. This was sold in 1652 or 1653 by Cary Latham, in behalf of "my brother Philip Tabor now dwelling at Martin's Vineyard."5
In the "History of New London," he is mentioned as coming to that town from "Martha's Vineyard" with a body of Eastern emigrants, and was among those who "wrought at the mill dam" that year in July.6 It is possible that he removed to New London from the Vineyard in 1651, remained a year or two, and returned to the latter place in 1653, when a land grant to him is recorded. But he had drawn lots in
1Edgartown Records, I, 130. Dukes Deeds, I, 354; Savage, Genealogical Diction- ary, IV, 223. The late Abner Mayhew owned a book, printed in 1632, which was once the property of Samuel Streeter and containing his autograph, 1664. Its sub- sequent owners were Matthew Mayhew, Experience Mayhew, Joseph Mayhew, Jane Bassett and Benjamin Bassett, all of whom left their autographs inside the covers,
2He had a son baptized at Barnstable, Nov. 8, 1640, John, "son of Phillipp Tabor, dwelling at Yarmouth, a member of the Chh att Watertown." He was propounded as freeman, Jan. 3, 1638-9 at Yarmouth.
3On Oct. 14, 1647, he signed as witness at Great Harbor. (Suffolk Deeds, I, 86.)
4Dukes Deeds, I, 325.
5Caulkins, Manuscript Collections.
"Caulkins, History of New London, 70
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Annals of Edgartown
August, 1651, at Edgartown, thus practically giving us con- flicting dates with the New London records.
In 1656 he appears as a freeman of Portsmouth, R. I., and not long after at Providence, of which place he was a Representative in 1661. Later he was of Dartmouth (1667-8), and probably ended his days there after all these wanderings.1 Descendants continued to reside in this latter named town during all of the next century, and probably all of the name in that vicinity can trace their lineage to him.
He was born about 1605, and married, as is stated, three times. His first wife was Lydia Masters of Cambridge. The others are not known to the author. By her, perhaps she was the mother of all his children, he had John, 1640, Philip, Lydia, Thomas, 1646, and Joseph.
During his life on the Vineyard, about nine years, his name appears frequently on the records, as grantee of sundry lots. He owned No. 2 in the "Five and Twenty" homestalls, and in 1653 acquired by grant of the town a considerable tract at Mashacket. He was one of the magistrates chosen in 1653, but was not re-elected the next year, and in 1655 was convicted as above stated and left the Vineyard.
PETER TALLMAN.
It is probable that this man came to New England in 1648, bringing "three negros" in the ship Golden Dolphin, and settled in Rhode Island.2 He became a freeman in 1655, and in 1661 was Solicitor General of that colony. Whether he ever lived here is problematical, but it is certain that he was a land owner in 1663 and 1664, taking shares in the land divisions of those years.3 He acquired the William Case lot, but in what manner is not known, possibly by marrying his widow. The lot is spoken of as "William Cases which is
Tallmans." 4 With his son-in-law, Thomas Lawton, also a proprietor here, he bought Homes Hole Neck of the Indians about 1664 or 1667, as will be related in the annals of that place, and lost it through the opposition of Mayhew. This is his last connection with the Vineyard.
1Plymouth Colony Records, V, 254. No record of the settlement of his estate is to be found in the Bristol County registry. Savage states that he was also of Tiverton, but the author finds no evidence to substantiate the claim.
2 Aspinwall, Notarial Record, 359, 370. He was an apothecary.
3Edgartown Records, I, 109, 127.
‘Ibid., I, 4.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
ROBERT WADE.
He was a juror here in 1681, which probably indicates residence of some duration prior to that date. He is, it may be assumed, the person of that name who was of Dorchester, 1635, Hartford, 1640, then Saybrook, and in 1669 of Norwich, showing that he was a roamer.
JOHN WAKEFIELD.
There were in New England before 1653 a number of Wakefields bearing the baptismal name of John, and the meager data respecting the John Wakefield who owned a lot here prior to 1652 does not afford any definite clue to the particular one who came to the island early and left it equally so. He was witness to a document signed here Oct. 14, 1647, in relation to a guardianship for Thomas Paine.1 Whether he was the John of Salem and Marblehead, 1637, 1638, or the John of Plymouth, 1639, or John of Watertown, 1646, who may all have been one person having these residences in suc- cession, cannot be satisfactorily determined.2 Under date of Nov. 11, 1652, "the Lott that is next that which was first given to John Wakefield" is mentioned, and this tells us of his disappearance from the island before that date, and his possessions had passed either by purchase or regrant to Thomas Paine.3 A John Wakefield appeared in Boston subsequent to this and died there about 1667, and administration of his estate was given to his widow Anne on July 18, that year.4
PHILIP WATSON
This settler was a late arrival in the town, coming hither from an unknown direction, about 1670, but soon attaining prominence. He became town clerk in 1671, which office he held for an undetermined period, but as late as 1686 he was still in office as such.5 He was selectman in 1676, juror in 1681, and during the twenty years of his life here maintained the usual activities of a citizen in and out of court. It has been hinted in the sketch of John Bland that Watson may have been some "kith or kin" of Mrs. Joanna Bland, as he and his son had dealings with parts of the Bland property. Beyond this supposition there is no clue to his origin prior to
1Suffolk Deeds, I, 86.
2Savage, Gen. Dict., IV, 385; Pope, "Pioneers of Mass.," art. Wakefield.
3Edgartown Records, I, 120, 147. 4Suffolk Co. Probate.
5Edgartown Records, I, 13, 35, 36.
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Annals of Edgartown
settlement at the Vineyard. No person of his name is to be found in any of the Watson family histories, nor in any of the New England settlements.1 He may have been a recent im- migrant from England 2
He died April 28, 1690, and an inventory of his estate showed property to the value of £56-7-1, and a son Elias was recorded as "heir of Philip Watson late of Edgartown, late deceased."3 No wife is mentioned, or known to the author. Elias remained in Edgartown as late as 1704, when he was a witness to a deed, but nothing further is known of him, whether married or having descendants.
AUGUSTINE WILLIAMS.
This transient resident was another son-in-law of Nicholas Norton, and he is first found here in 1679, as a witness, and again in 1684 and 1687 in the same connection.4 The town records have an entry relating to him in 1681, and it may be inferred that he was a constant resident here between the earlier and later dates. Of his antecedents nothing is definitely known, but he was probably a resident of Stonington, Conn., (1663), and possibly a mariner. He married Hannah Norton (13), and had Thomas [1678], Hannah, 1680, Daniel, 1683, Bethiah, 1686, and Matthew, 1688, all recorded at Killing- worth, Conn., whither he removed about the last named date. He died shortly after this, as in 1692 his widow Hannah was empowered by the General Court to sell certain property, according to a verbal bargain made by her deceased husband.5 She was here on Aug. 17, 1692, as witness to a deed, probably on a visit.6 She married a second time, before 1699, elder John Brown of Killingworth.7
1There was a Philip Challis in Salisbury, who was sometimes called Philip Wat- son Challis and had a son born in that town in 1657. (Hoyt, "Old Families of Salis- bury," 89.) He was fifty-two years old in 1669, and died about 1681 in Amesbury.
2A Philip Watson married Margaret Seele in Nottingham, Nov. 30, 1630, ac- cording to the Parish Registers.
3Dukes County Court Records, Vol. I; comp., Deeds, I, 398. Thomas Harlock was appointed one of the administrators of his estate.
‘Dukes Deeds, I, 322, 331. The Diary of Thomas Minor of Stonington speaks of delivering corn to Augustine Williams in 1680 (p. 160), indicating residence in Connecticut at that date.
5Conn. Col. Records.
6Dukes Deeds, I, 184.
"Killingworth Town Records. Thomas Williams, natural son and heir to Augus- tine Williams, deceased, deeds to his natural mother, Hannah Brown, administratrix of estate of his father, March 12, 1699. Elder Brown died in 1708, but whether she survived is not known to the author.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
Although the conditions of government for the settlements on the island, made at the time of its purchase, were presented to be "such as is now established in the Massachusetts," yet we have seen that this course was not pursued by the patentees in the general administration of its affairs as a whole, nor was it in the town of Great Harbor. In Massachusetts the towns were governed by boards of selectmen, chosen annually by the freemen, but this practice would not be countenanced by Mayhew, and there is no evidence to show that any town officers having the powers of selectmen were chosen for manag- ing its business. John Burchard had been "chosen town Clarke" in 1656 and John Butler "chosen Constable" in 1658, and these officers were filled annually from those dates, but beyond these two necessary officials, without initiative authority, we have no town government like that "established in the Massachusetts."
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