USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 4
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Our Thomas Bayes was born in 1615, and had just reached his majority when he emigrated. As appears by the above quoted record, he was a carpenter by trade, possibly a ship carpenter. In 1648, he resided in Boston, and from the fol- lowing record it would appear that this supposition regarding his trade and relations with shipping, may be well founded: -
Thomas Bayes of Boston, carpenter, constituted Joseph Wilson of Boston his attorney to ask of all persons in Barbadoes, Christophers and any of the Carribbee Ids. Monies due him.4
When Thomas Bayes removed to the Vineyard is not accurately known, but he was a proprietor at Great Harbor as early as 1652, for in that same year he was chosen hog reeve for the town. In 1655 he was made a constable, and in 1656 was chosen leader of the train band. This office he filled in 1661, 1662 and 1663. These are all the recorded instances of his military leadership, but as no other person was chosen to this position in subquent years, it is probable that he continued to hold it. In 1676 he was chosen select- man, the last office filled by him prior to his death.
1He was convicted in 1643 of "mutinos & turbulent speaches," and bound over "to bee of good behaviour the meane while" to next Quarter Court.
2 Aspinwall Note Book, 68. A genealogist searched the principal court in London, and the local courts, whose records are deposited at Norwich, all formerly exercising probate jurisdiction over Burgh Afton and the vicinity, for the period of 1646 back to 1630. The result was that no will of any Wiseman described as of Burgh Afton was found. Four wills of Wiseman of Co. Norfolk, 1634 to 1638, and eight wills of Wisemans of other counties, 1634 to 1645, were found. This will be a sufficient record for some descendant to follow.
3See Familiae Minorum Gentiorum and County History of Norfolk. Wills of Thomas Bayes, 1619, William Bayes, 1630, Thomas Bayes, 1652, are recorded in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Somerset House, London.
*Aspinwall Note Book, 145, dated II (9) 1648.
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He lived on one of the ten-acre lots known as the "five and twenty," which had its southern boundary on Main street, and extended as far back as Pease Point way. His proprietary holdings are recorded as follows in the town records: --
This is a true Record of the Perticular percells of Land and town Rights on this Island Marthas Vineyard as followeth: which are now in the possession of Thomas Bayes & belonging to him the sd Thomas Bayes: first one house Lott being Ten acres more or less bounded by the Harbour which is Twenty Pools broad by the sea on the East, the high way as the same stands on the south the common on the West William Wix on the North with one Devident known by the name of Thomas Bayes neck bounded by the Pond on the south & west Isaac Nortons on the North Richard Sarsons on the East this being Thirty acres more or Less, with one Ten acre Lott upon the Line bounded by William Wix on the East Mr. Mayhew on the west with the Tenth Lott at Crackatuxett, with the third Lott on the adjoyning Neck, with the Thirty first lott at Quanamaca, with the Twenty fourth lott at Mechmas field, with the 19th Lott at falex neck, with two acres of Meadow adjoyning to Mrs. Blands, which was Tabors on the south, Thomas Daggets which was Barnes on the North: with all the upland adjoyning up to the old high way, some I bought of Mr. Mayhew the younger, this Land & meadow being ten acres more or Less, with the Northermost neck of Chappaquiddick for a Thach Lott, upland & Meadow being four Acres more of Less, with two acres of Mea- dows at Chappaquiddick lying in the great meadow, with the southermost point of the Neck at Chappaquiddick, upland & meadow being three acres more or Less, which was Cases on the North, with one full Right of Common & all other Dividable Lands in the Town Bounds, with one six & Twentieth part of fish & whale, with small shares of fish & whale: these Lands were confirmed by the Town this 19th of March 1666.
In addition to the above he owned the eastern half of Watcha Neck, which he bought of the Sachem Josias in 1676.
The death of his only son Thomas, Nov. 17, 1669, with- out issue, and his own death which took place between Feb. 4 and May 31, 1680, terminated this family name in the male line, but it has been perpetuated in the Norton family in every generation to the present time following the marriages of his daughters, Mary and Ruth, to the brothers Joseph and Isaac Norton. Bayes Norton is a familiar name on the Vineyard, and Bayes as a baptismal name was also used in the New- comb family, after the marriage of Andrew Newcomb to Anna Bayes. His will was dated Feb. 4, 1679-80, and the inventory taken May 31, following. Among the personal property of this martial leader was "one gunne & loadeing staffe" and "one rapier." The total value of his estate as inventoried
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amounted to £214-07-06. This is a large amount for those times, and is equivalent to about $5000. His will is as fol- lows :-
[Dukes Deeds, I, 309]
I Thomas Bayes finding myself weake in boddie but sound in memorie and understanding doe make this my last will and testament as followeth; And first my will is that my wife Anne Bayes, shall have and improve all my Estate of land and moveables, whatsoever for her comfortable sub- sistence, during her Natuiel life provided that she continue a widdow: Secondly, I will and bequeath to Hannah Bridges, my Daughter twenty pounds after the decease of my Said wife or changing her condition of widdowhood:
Nextly, I will and bequeath to my two Daughters, Mary the now wife of Joseph Norton, and Anna the wife of Andrew Newcomb, to each of them fifty pounds, so to be understood, with what they have alreddy re- ceived of mee, with what was also received of the estate of their brother deceased; to be payed after the decease of my wife as aforesaid.
Nextly, I will and give to my daughter Ruth, wife of Isaack Norton five pounds to be payed within a year after my own decease, in Bibles and bringing up the children to reading and Education.
Nextly, when all these legacies shall be payed, according to this my will, if any estate be left, it shall be equally Devided among all my Daughters, and children of my daughter Abigall Deceased, and my will is that if any my said Daughters shall decease before they receive their portion herein willed, then it shall go to their children, and in defect of their issue, or the issue of any my beforesaid Daughter Abigall's children then such portion shall be equally devided among the surviveing.
Lastly my will is, and I do order and Request that my wife aforesaid, and Thomas Mayhew Junior, be whole executors and administrators to this my last will and testament: And in witness of this to be my last will and testament I the said Thomas Bayes, have hereunto Subscribed with my hand and put to my Seal, this fourteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred seaventy and nine or eighty. Witness.
MATTHEW MAYHEW, THOMAS BAYES, (seal).
WILLIAM WEEKES.
Nothing further is known of his wife. She was living at the date of the will, but when or where she died is not of record.
JOHN BLAND, ALIAS SMITH.
There is a certain air of mystery about this person, who was one of the earliest settlers at Edgartown.1 If the town records can be trusted, he must have been here as early as the elder Mayhew, and perhaps before. The following entry
1A John Bland was a passenger in the ship Globe in 1635, aged twenty-six years. Whether the same person as John Bland of Martha's Vineyard is unknown.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
in them shows that he had acquired property in the vicinity of Katama prior to 1646: --
Mr. John Bland has bought of John Pease of Martins Vineyard a parcell of Land about ten acres & two acres of medo Lying against Mr Blands house att Mattakeekset. March 23, 1646.
Mem : Mr John Bland bought of Philip Tabor March 2, 1647 all his rights that he then possessed.
He was a resident of Colchester, England, prior to his emigration to New England, and it seems that for reasons which will be explained later in this sketch, he had adopted the alias of John Smith, under which name he would in all probability successfully defy identification. He is undoubt- edly the John Smith associated with the Mayhews in the first movement from Watertown, of whom we hear no more in subsequent Vineyard history, as he resumed his correct name when he established himself here. Certain it is, that there was some controversy about him and his identity as two of his early acquaintances, Nathaniel and Abraham Drake of Hampton, N. H., deposed that "he was sometimes called John Smith, but his name and his ancestors was Bland."' His known family consisted of Joanna his wife and two daughters, Annabel and Isabel, both married, and that his station in life was above the average of his neighbors here is evidenced by the prefix of distinction, Mr., which uniformly precedes his name in the records. His wife is given the prefix of Mistress also, and with Nicholas Butler he is the only one besides the elder and younger Mayhew so distinguished by a title which had a definite significance in those days.
In 1654, John Bland was chosen one of the seven magis- trates to assist the elder Mayhew in the government, but beyond this it is not known that he held any office. He par- ticipated in all the divisions of land up to the time of his death and his possessions are thus recorded in the town books: -
These are the petickelers upon the Vineyard of my Known Lands and are above Intended: Twenty acres of Land Lying near the North pond with two acres of Meadow Joyning: which Land and Meadow More or Less Bounded By the pond on the East, the Comon on the South, the Comon on the West, John Bland on the North: with Ten acres of Land Lying in the Planting feild Bounded with. with one Ten
1Deeds, I, 282.
2Records, Commissioners of United Colonies, II, 205, 261. For "helpfulness in Phisicke and Chirurgery att Martin's Vineyard" and "for her pains and care amongst the Indians there and for Phisicke and Surgery." His wife was paid a gra- tuity by the Society for Propagating the Gospel.
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acre Lott upon the Line Bounded with. with two acres of Meadow Lying at Chapequideck Bounded By. with a full Right of Comonage and the six and twenty part of fish.
These Lands were Confirmed By the Town the 30th of December: 63.1
This property he bequeathed to his wife by an instru- ment dated or "confirmed" Nov. 2, 1663. He died, in all probability, shortly before Jan. 6, 1668, as Mrs. Bland begins to participate in the divisions of land credited to his share in the commons from that time forth. His estate was inventoried at £355-10-0, an especially large sum for that period, and the full list of articles shows evidence of household refinement in the way of looking glasses, silver plate, table linen, books, and china, while among his stock are found horned cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. A servant, "a Lad for a Term of Time," was rated at f10, and his houses and lands were valued at £120, all of which he distributed by a will in the following terms: -
The Sixth of Jan'ry 1663: this is the Last will and Testament of me John Bland of Martens Vineyard in or Belonging to the Province of Main in New England I say made By me John Bland Delivered Into the Possession of my wife Joanah Bland this Second of November in the year of our Lord one Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and three.
In the name of God, Amen. Be it Know unto all men By these Pre- sents and Express Partickelars that I John Bland Being in perfect memory and full understanding But Week in Body:
first I do willingly Bequeath my Body to the Earth from Whence it came When the Lord Shall Be Pleased to Call for itt and my Soul and Sperit unto God that Gave itt. Now for my Temporall Goods after my Decease as Well as Whilst I am aLive I doe wholly Give unto my well Beloved wife Joanah Bland all my houses and Lands with all my housellstuff to- gether with all my Goods or Chattles of what Kind So Ever Giving her Most Hearty thanks for all Her Care and Gratt Love Toward me in all my needs and Nessessityes: Excepting Twenty Shillings Which I doe Give unto my Two Dafters Anable and Isable who are all the children that are aLive whome I own and Give them Twenty Shillings that is to say ten Shillings to each of them after my Decease to Be Truly paid to them at there demand: and I Do Here by these Presents make and ordain my well Beloved Wife my real and Sole Executive of this my Last will and Do apoint her to Pay my Debts and Leagecies Dated this Second of November in the year of our Lord 1663 and Confirmed By Me John Bland as witness my hand this same Second of November 63
witnesses Thos Daggett Richard Sarson
his John X Bland 2 mark
1Edgartown Records, I, 7.
2Ibid., I, 54. The signature with a "mark" can be explained upon the theory of physical inability as he was "weak in body" when it was made.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
The terms of this will, by which he disowned all children except the two daughters, Annabel and Isabel, together with his dual personality as Bland and Smith, led the author into a long and finally successful search to identify him as "John Smith" prior to his migration to the Vineyard. His early appearance here, contemporary with the first coming of the Mayhews, indicated Watertown as the possible place of his settlement upon his arrival in New England. A John Smith was found there in 1630 with a wife Isabel, and this name being borne by a daughter of Bland was regarded as significant. The Watertown records contain an entry of the death of Isabel Smith, the wife, who was buried July 12, 1639, aged sixty years.1 An examination of the Watertown land grants and estates also disclosed the fact that John Smith's homestall was contiguous to those of Jeremiah Norcross and William Barsham and that later William Barsham succeeded in 1645 to the possession of Smith's lot. It further appeared that the wife of Barsham was named Annabel and this cumulative evidence further pointed to an identity with the John Bland and his daughter Annabel, a most unusual name and therefore an aid to a solution of the problem.2
The connection of Jeremiah Norcross with Smith also proved to be important and convincing, practically establishing the connection between John Bland and John Smith. Nor- cross was a later arrival in Watertown than either Bland and Barsham, as he did not appear until 1639, with a second wife Adrian, who was the mother of our John Bland. From all the facts in the case, too numerous to rehearse, she had prob- ably married first Bland and second Smith and third (late in life) Jeremiah Norcross, a well-to-do gentleman of a London family, connected with the parishes of S. Mary, Sunbury, Middlesex and SS. Dunstan and Sepulchre in the metropolis. He was son of Thomas Norcross, a linen draper, married his second wife, Adrian Smith, about 1630, and came to America
"This is a possible error as the early Watertown Records are a copy transcribed by John Sherman, who enters this explanation: "What was taken before was by Mr. Eirs and uncertaine in the transmitting." It seems that this age as given is ten years too great and may be an error for fifty years.
2William Barsham was of Watertown in 1630 and d. July 13, 1684. His wife Annabel signed a deed in 1678, but is not mentioned in his will dated Aug. 23, 1683. By her he had ten children, 1635-1659, and it is estimated that she was b. 1614-16, and married after her arrival in New England.
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eight or nine years later.1 The connection between Norcross and John Bland-Smith is found in the following record: -
Mr Collens, Mr Sparhawke & goo:(dman John) Bridge are desired to heare businesses betwen John Smyth & his father Jeremy Norcros & examine accounts, & settle things if they can: if not to make report to the Courte if there be cause.2
This indicates a family disagreement between the son and step-father, probably about inheritances, and surely es- tablishes the relationship of the two, and Adrian as the mother of John. It enables us to conclude that John was the son of her first marriage (Bland) and that as a boy he adopted the name of Smith at her second marriage (Smith), or was legally adopted by the second husband. In adult life, for reasons unknown, but possibly to be found in property interests, he resumed his true birth name of Bland when he came to the Vineyard.
Jeremiah Norcross returned to England after making his will in 1654, and died there three years later. In this will he bequeaths to John Smith "my wives sonne" and to Joanna Smith his wife, "one ewe sheep."3
Nothing has been developed to explain the reference in Bland's will to his two daughters as the only living children "whom I owne." It is inferred that he had others by the first wife, and that his second marriage to Joanna resulted in opposition from some of them which caused him to ignore them in the division of his estate.
As to the identity of this second wife, we are likewise in darkness. She was living here Aug. 12, 1680, when she sold part of her husband's estate,4 but when and where she died is not known. The Bland property in part came later into the possession of Philip Watson, through means not of record,
1A manuscript genealogy of this family by Joel W. Norcross, in the library of the N. E. Hist .- Gen. Society, furnished many corroborative facts in the Bland-Smith search. This genealogy gives no authority for date of second marriage. Adrian Bland-Smith-Norcross was probably born about 1575, and was undoubtedly con- siderably older than her third husband. It is not believed that she returned to Eng- land with him, and may not have survived him.
2Record, Court of Assistants, Dec. 1, 1640.
3This apparently ignores the Bland connection, but in view of all the circumstances which have developed, Norcross may not have known that John Smith had reassumed his true name at the Vineyard, and it is clearly apparent that there was a family dis- agreement and a probable estrangement. Bland's will further corroborates this.
'Dukes Deeds, III, 116. This was the "Home" lot on the harbor front just south of the burying ground.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
and it is surmised that he was a relative of Mrs. Bland and obtained it by gift or inheritance.1
Isabel Bland, the second daughter, married first about 1636 Francis Austin of Dedham, Mass., by whom she had three daughters, and second, about 1643, Thomas Leavitt of Hampton, N. H., by whom she had six children at least. Mrs. Isabel Leavitt died Feb. 10, 1698-99, aged "about 87 years."2
He left no known descendants on the Vineyard, and only those through the Barsham and Leavitt lines are certain descendants elsewhere.
MALACHI BROWNING.
This person was one of the Watertown contingent of first comers. He had been an owner of a home stall in that place in 1642, and probably emigrated to New England some two years before that date.3 He was from Maldon, Co. Essex, England, a few miles distant from Baddow Magna, the home of John Pease, and Bromfield, possibly the residence of the Vincents prior to their emigration. Malachi Browning and his brother Jeremy were appointed in 1630 administrators of the estate of their sister Sarah Armestronge als Browninge of Maldon,4 and in 1647, after his arrival in this country, he gave a power of attorney to a party to agree with Mr. Thomas Browning of Maldon in Essex, Clerk (i. e., minister), con- cerning his reversionary title to lands in the Ratchford Hun- dred in same county.5 These clues enabled the author to make a definite search for his family antecedents, and he had the registers of the two parishes of St. Mary, and All Saints and St. Peter searched for Browning records. The result as given below is a satisfactory solution although the name of Malachi does not appear, yet that of his brother Jeremy and
'A Joanna Watson was a member of the Church in Salem in 1636, but there is no evidence to associate this person with the wife of our settler.
2Dow, "History of Hampton," SIo. Mrs. Isabel Leavitt claimed the Bland estate on the Vineyard, and filed as evidence the depositions of Nathaniel and Abram Drake of Hampton in support of her heirship as John Bland's daughter. These de- positions disclosed the "Smith-Bland" situation and established the clues to his identity.
3On June 2, 1640, "Mr Browning for seling strong water was fined 5s witn: to ha : 2s of it." (Record, Court of Assistants, I, 282.) There was no other Browning in Massachusetts as yet come to light, and taken in connection with a subsequent entry it is entirely probable this relates to our Malachi Browning.
4P. C. C. Administration Book (1630), fol. 173 b.
"Aspinwall Notarial Records, 94.
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his sister Sarah are given, and it will be noted that there is a Daniel in the list of children, and that our Malachi had a son of that name. It is probable that the family removed to another parish as no further record of the father's family is to be found in St. Mary's. Malachi was in all probability, short of absolute proof, the son of William and Dorothy (Vernon) Browning of Maldon, the record of whose family from 1581 to 1599 appears on the parish register of St. Mary.1 By his first wife Martha, who was buried in 1583, he had two daughters, and by his second, Dorothy, to whom he was married Sept. 10, 1583, at All Saints, he had the following children baptized: -
Michael, October 5, 1584 (All Saints)
(all entries below in St. Mary's)
[Mary, bur. 23 June 1588]
Priscilla, December 5, 1587, bur. Mch. 24, 1589
Daniel, December 10, 1588
Jeremy, October 18, 1590
Mary, October 8, 1592, bur. July 29, 1593
Susan, May 12, 1594
Saree, March 28, 1597. [m. --- Armstrong]
Anne, September 9, 1599. m. Michael Cooper, 1615
[Malachi, b. about 1601]
But if this is not convincing we have the will of William Browning of Maldon, dated April 23, 1635, then in business as a merchant of London, of the parish of S. Botolph, Bishops gate, in which instrument he mentions "Malachy Brownyng my sonne." To him he bequeaths his messuages in Maldon. The will was proven a few days after its date as the testator was sick when it was drawn.
In April, 1645, he was an appraiser of an estate in Massa- chusetts, and he probably removed to the Vineyard during the next year or early in 1647, as on Oct. 13, 1647, he is called "late of Watertown in New England, Gent."3 On Oct. 27, 1649, he was in Boston on legal business, in connection with his brother-in-law, Joseph Collier of London. At the same time Mrs. Elizabeth Scott was there also on similar business with her husband Robert Scott.4 In an inventory of the estate of Adam Winthrop, 1652, there is an item of a debt due from "Mr" Browning, and a like entry under date of March IO,
1William was probably son of an earlier William of same parish.
2P. P. C. Sadler, 35.
3Aspinwall Notarial Records, 94.
"Ibid., 226.
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History of Martha's Vineyard
1652-3, in an account of the estate of Robert Bulton of Boston.1 His activities on the Vineyard were very slight. The first and only record of him is under date of May 8, 1653, when he was given a share in the planting field.2 His homestead on which he drew this was the first lot on Tower hill, south of the "Slough" and was apparently part of a lot of which John Daggett owned the western half and Browning the harbor end. On a visit to Boston he died "at the house of Robert Scott," Nov. 27, 1653, thus terminating a short and unevent- ful career in New England.3 His occupation while on the island is shrouded in obscurity, and all clues to his connection with persons on the island end in unsatisfactory threads. A "Mrs." Scott, presumably the wife of Robert, above referred to, appears in 1663 and 1664, as an owner of a share of land at Great Harbor. Conjectures as to relationship with our Browning may be easily entertained, but we are left without any recourse to confirmation as she disappears as suddenly from the scene, leaving no trace.
His known family consisted of a wife Mary, a daughter Susanna, who by her marriage with William Vinson became the ancestress of all the Vincents here, and a son Daniel. The wife was probably born Mary Collier, sister of Joseph Collier, citizen and grocer of London, who in 1648 left a be- quest to "my sister Mrs. Mary Browning in New England."4 Of the son Daniel, but few traces remain. In view of the standing, of the family, an uncle perhaps a clergyman in Eng- land it is fair to presume that this Daniel may have served in a clerical capacity in the town after the decease of the younger Mayhew. The following entry in the records seems to point to that conclusion: -
February 16: 1659
Ordered by the town that what charge shall arise for the finishing of Mr. Brownings house more than the first covenant shall be paid in corne at harvest.5
The building of a house was usually one of the things done for ministers by towns and the "covenant" probably refers to an agreement made when he was settled. How long
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