USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Exeter > History of the town of Exeter, New Hampshire > Part 4
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 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
29
HISTORY OF EXETER.
22. Thomas Leavitt was very probably a connection of Wheel- wright's wife, and another of those " friends " who reached Boston in July, 1637. It is possible that he proceeded at once to Exeter, and thus antedated the organized settlement, as the tradition is. He took upland on the eastern side of the fresh river just above the falls, and the same long remained in the possession of his descendants. In the first division of lands he received one of the smaller shares, four acres and twenty poles of the uplands ; being then a young man, for he lived till November 28, 1696. His name was also appended to the Combination. IIe became an inhabitant of Hampton about 1643. His wife was Isabel, daughter of_John Bland of Martha's Vineyard, who came from Colchester, England. They had eight children, and numerous descendants. Three of the sons were probably residents of Exeter.
23. Edmund Littlefield not improbably came to Boston with Wheelwright's other friends in July, 1637, accompanied by his son Anthony. His wife Ann and six of their other children did not accompany him, but sailed later, and reached Boston in the ship Bevis in May, 1638. Littlefield was a warm partisan of Wheel- wright, and probably was early at Exeter. He had assigned him in the first division of lands, twenty-one acres of upland ; and was a subscriber of the Combination. The circumstance that he had no share of the meadows implies that he owned no cattle, which is likely to have been the case, as he was a new comer in the country. Littlefield remained in Exeter no longer than Wheel- wright, but accompanied him to Wells, where he was a leading man, and is spoken of in handsome terms by Judge Bourne in his history of that town. He died December 11, 1661.
24. Francis Littlefield was the eldest son of Edmund, and was born in 1619. Tradition, fortified by some known facts, asserts that he had at an early age quitted his parents, who, believing him to be dead, gave the name Francis to another son born in 1631 ; but that the older Francis, who was really living, crossed the Atlantic and rejoined his father, probably at Exeter, and before the division of the uplands in 1639. In that division he received one of the smaller shares, four acres and twenty poles. It is probable that he was already married, or he would hardly have had an assignment separate from his father's. He probably left Exeter as early as his father did, and went to Woburn, Massachusetts, where his wife Jane died December 20, 1646, leaving a daughter six days old. Shortly afterwards he went to
30
HISTORY OF EXETER.
Dover. In 1648 he was again married, and after two or three years removed to Wells, and there passed the rest of his long life. He died in 1712, leaving several children.
25. Christopher Marshall was of Boston in 1634, and joined the church in Angust of that year. He was admitted freeman May 6, 1635 ; in 1637 belonged to the party of Cotton and Wheelwright. He was married between August, 1634, and May 13, 1638, and was dismissed to the church at Exeter, January 6, 1639, but did not remain long in the place. Savage thinks he returned to Eng- land in 1640 or 1641, and nothing more is learned of him.
26. Francis Mathews was one of the company sent over by John Mason in 1631. He was a signer of the Combination, but probably soon afterwards removed to the part of Dover which is now Durham, with his wife Thomasine and three children. There he died about 1648, and his descendants in Strafford county have been numerous. They more commonly spell the name Mathies.
27. Griffin Montague was of Brookline in 1635. He received in December, 1639, ten acres and fifty poles in the division of uplands in Exeter, and one acre and thirty-six poles in the division of the marsh " next the town." From this we infer that he had a family and some cattle. His name appears several times upon the Exeter records within the ensuing twelve years. He belonged to Cape Porpoise, Maine, in 1653, and died before April 1, 1672, leaving his property to his wife Margaret.
28. William Moore (spelled Mauer or Mawer) was probably the same person to whom it appeared to the selectmen of Boston, on the twenty-sixth of September, 1636, that William Hudson had " sold a house plot and garden without the consent of the appointed allotters, contrary to a former order, said Mawer being a stranger." On February 19, 1638, there was granted to him " a great lot at the Mount (Wollaston) for nine heads." On February 7, 1640, he was described as " late of Boston," in a conveyance which he made to Captain Edward Gibbon, for fifteen pounds, of one house and garden plot with the building thereon and appurtenances. William Moore received in Exeter in December, 1639, twenty-two acres and one hundred and ten poles, in the division of the uplands, two acres and forty poles in the marsh " on this side of Mr. Hilton's," and one hundred and twenty poles of that at Lamprey river ; the amount of the former corresponding well with the " nine heads" of his family, and the latter showing that he was possessed of cattle. He did not subscribe the Combination,
31
HISTORY OF EXETER.
for what reason is unknown. He remained a lifelong inhabitant of the town, and bore his share of its burdens, as well as enjoyed its rewards and honors. He received grants of lands, and held various offices of responsibility. He was a captain in the militia ; and the last appearance of his name upon the records is as mod- erator of a town meeting in 1699. He must have been then an old man, and probably died soon afterwards. He left numerous descendants.
29. Richard Morris was of Boston, having probably immigrated thither in the fleet with Winthrop in 1630; and in 1631 was, with his wife Leonora, admitted to the church. At that time he was styled sergeant ; in 1633 he was made ensign, and later lieutenant. He was deputy to the General Court in 1635 and 1636, and the next year was in command of the fort at Castle Island. Appar- ently something had occurred to weaken his standing with the authorities before 1637, but in that year he forfeited all their good will by signing a remonstrance in favor of Wheelwright ; so that he was disarmed, and retired to Exeter, the next year, probably. In the first division of lands he received thirty-three acres of upland, and seven acres and forty poles of marsh ; so he probably had a considerable household and cattle. His name appears on the records with the honorable prefix of " Mr." He was a signer of the Combination, and was dismissed to the church at Exeter in January, 1639. It is probable that Mr. Morris did not care to remain in Exeter after Wheelwright's departure, and the extension of the jurisdiction of Massachusetts over the New Hampshire set- tlement ; and it seems likely that he was the person of that name who went to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1643, and was living there in 1655.
30. Nicholas Needham was of Boston in 1636, and received on the twentieth of February of that year an allotment of two acres of land at Mount Wollaston, "only for his present planting." No doubt a parishioner and sympathizer of Wheelwright, he proba- bly came with him to Exeter, as he was made a grantee in one of the Indian deeds of 1638. In the apportionment of the lands, he received twelve acres and sixty poles of upland, and four acres of marsh. He also set his signature to the Combination. Being elected the second Ruler of the settlement, he held the office about two years, when he resigned it October 20, 1642. His residence in Exeter did not outlast that of Wheelwright. Foreseeing the hour of need, he, with others, negotiated with Thomas Gorges in
32
HISTORY OF EXETER.
1641 for a tract of land in Wells, to which Wheelwright and his immediate friends retired, when the long arm of Massachusetts power was extended over the New Hampshire plantations. The historian of Wells is not certain whether Needham settled in that place. If he did not his subsequent history is unascertained. Savage thinks he was living in 1652.
31. Thomas Pettit was of Boston in 1634, from which time he served for three years and a half with Oliver Mellows, and there- upon January 8, 1638, received from the town a grant of a house plot " towards the new mylne." Mellows was in sympathy with Wheelwright, and was disarmed in 1637, and it would be very natural that his journeyman should be led by the same feeling to migrate to the new settlement which Wheelwright was founding. Pettit received six acres and thirty poles as his share of the Exeter uplands, and also affixed his name to the Combination. He was for a while a man of some prominence in the town and served as selectman in 1652 and 1655, after which his name disappears from the records. His wife was named Christian ; they had a daughter Ilannah, born in Exeter in the beginning of February, 1647-8. Ilis son, Thomas Pettit, Jr., had a grant of thirty acres of land in 1649.
32. Philemon Pormort was married in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, October 11, 1627, to Susanna, daughter of William Bellingham. They emigrated to New England, probably with one child or more, and were admitted to the Boston church in August, 1634. He was chosen schoolmaster April 13, 1635, and in 1637 had a grant of thirty acres of land. Pormort was an adherent of Wheelwright, having quite likely known him in England, and was, on Wheelwright's expulsion from Massachusetts Bay, advised to depart himself, on pain of imprisonment ; therefore he came to Exeter. Ile was a subscriber of the Combination, was dismissed in January, 1639, to the Exeter church, and received fourteen acres and seventy poles in the division of the uplands. He had three children, at least, born in this country, one or two of them at Exeter. He went with Wheelwright to Wells, and, according to the historian of that town, remained there some years, taking an active part in the affairs of the church, but at length was denied the privilege of communion for the reason that his theological views did not agree with those of the ruling powers in Massachu- setts. Ile was in Boston in 1653, and is supposed to have re- moved thence to Great Island or Portsmouth. Descendants bearing his name have till lately lived in the vicinity.
ยท
33
HISTORY OF EXETER.
33. Robert Read was of Boston as early as 1635, and in Exeter early enough to be entitled to an allotment of nine acres and fifty poles in the division of the uplands, and to set his name to the Combination. He removed to Hampton after 1645, according to Kelly, and afterwards to Boston, and finally to Hampton again, according to Quint. To him and his wife Hannah were born three children : Rebecca, September 29, 1646 ; Deborah, January 25, 1649 ; and Samuel, who was baptized April 3, 1653, and died March 31, 1654. Read's wife died June 24, 1655, and he himself was drowned October 20, 1657, with six others by the upsetting of a boat sailing out of Hampton river ; a catastrophe on which was founded Whittier's poem of the Wreck of Rivermouth.
34. Edward Rishworth was baptized at Saleby in Lincolnshire, England, May 5, 1617. In all probability he came to this coun- try with others of Wheelwright's friends in July, 1637, and became one of the earliest settlers of Exeter. He appears to have been nearly connected, by his marriage, with the family of Wheel- wright's wife. In the division of the uplands he was awarded one of the smaller shares, and he was a signer of the Combination. In 1640 he was chosen by the court of the town to be " Secretary, to look to the book, and to enter all actions that are brought." This undoubtedly included the functions of Town Clerk. When Wheelwright left Exeter, Rishworth departed with him to Wells, where he became a man of consequence. He was a magistrate and a representative of York, to which place he removed from Wells, for thirteen years. He lived to be nearly seventy, and a son of his, bearing the same name, was the husband of Wheel- wright's daughter Susanna.
35. Henry Roby was of the Combination, but had no share in the first division of the uplands or meadows ; so very likely he did not come to Exeter till the spring of 1640. IIe was granted liberty in 1649, with others, to set up a saw-mill, and in 1650 was chosen selectman. Soon afterwards he removed to Hampton where he died in the spring of 1688. After the erection of New Hampshire into a royal province, Roby was appointed a judge of the Court of Sessions, before which the Rev. Joshua Moody was tried in 1684 for refusing to administer the Lord's Supper in the form set forth in the book of common prayer, to Governor Cranfield. Roby was at first for acquitting Moody, but Cranfield " found means " to gain him over, and he concurred with other justices in the judgment of condemnation. In his later years Roby is said
3
HISTORY OF EXETER.
by Kelly to have become intemperate and embarrassed, so that at his death he was buried hastily to avoid arrest of his body. His wife was named Ruth, and they had several children. His descend- ants are still found in this region.
36. George Ruobone or Rabone was assigned one of the smaller shares in the division of the uplands ; and was a subscriber of the Combination. Ile appears to have remained in Exeter but a short time, as he is represented by Judge Bourne in his history of Wells, to have been one of the earliest settlers of that place "before Wheelwright and his fellow refugees came from Exeter." He seems afterwards to have changed his rather unusual name to Haborne, and under that designation is described in a deed as of Hampton in 1650.
37. Robert Seward subscribed the Combination, but had no share of the uplands, having probably not arrived in Exeter before the spring of 1640. IIe staid but a brief time, and was living in Portsmouth in 1649, after which nothing has been ascertained respecting him.
38. John Smart came from the county of Norfolk, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1635, with his wife and two sons, and in September of that year drew his house lot there. He came to Exeter in time to receive an assignment of one acre and twenty- six poles of the meadows " next the town," which implies that he had cattle or goats. The lands he first took up appear to have been situated on the eastern or Stratham side of the river, and he did not subscribe the Combination. But he was a public-spirited citizen, and joined with others in the agreement to purchase Wheelwright's house, to be used as a parsonage. He lived in the northerly part of the town, now Newmarket, and his descendants live there still.
39. Robert Smith is thought to have been of Boston in 1638. In the division of the Exeter uplands he had six acres and thirty poles, a share one-half larger than the smallest ; and his name was affixed to the Combination. When the town came under the Mas- sachusetts government, on the seventh of September, 1643, he was appointed one of the magistrates " to end small business at Exe- ter." After a residence of some years in the place he removed to Hampton. Hon. Joseph Smith, a judge of the Superior Court, and a man useful and prominent in his day, was his son.
40. Anthony Stanyan, described as glover, was a passenger from England to Boston in 1635, and in February, 1637-8, had
35
HISTORY OF EXETER.
assigned to him " a great lot for eleven heads" at Mount Wollas- ton. In Exeter, in December, 1639, there were awarded to him, under the honorary designation of "Mr.," twenty-seven acres and one hundred and thirty-five poles of upland, and ten and one-half acres of the marshes. These large grants imply that he had a considerable family, and a good number of cattle. He was a member of the Exeter church, and though a resident of the town prior to the execution of the Combination, did not set his hand to it. Possibly he was in doubt whether to fix his residence in the new settlement, as in July, 1641, he was " granted to be a towns- man " of Boston, and on the twenty-fourth of July, 1642, his son John was baptized there, at the age of six days. But if he medi- tated abandoning Exeter he soon changed his mind, for he was back again in May, 1643, and held the office of magistrate to end small causes in 1645, and that of town clerk in 1647. Subse- quently he removed to Hampton from which he was representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1654. He was living in 1683. Ilis first wife was named Mary, and after her decease he married, January 1, 1656, Ann, widow of William Partridge of Salisbury, Massachusetts. IIe left children by whom his name has been handed down to our time.
41. Augustine Storre was doubly a brother-in-law of Wheel- wright, being a brother of his first wife, and the husband of a sister of his second. He undoubtedly came over from England in July, 1637, and probably left Boston in the autumn following, and was in Exeter in the spring of 1638. When the first division of lands was made, he was allotted, with the title of respect of " Mr.," twenty acres and one hundred poles of upland, and two and three-quarters acres of the marshes. Ilis name appears on the Combination, the next in order to Wheelwright's, and he was chosen an assistant to the first Ruler. It is evident that he was held in high esteem by the inhabitants. When Wheelwright's resi- dence in Exeter came to an end, Storre, as might be expected from their connection, quitted the place also, and is understood to have gone to Wells, after which nothing is learned of him.
42. Samuel Walker had one of the smaller assignments of land in Exeter, and was a signer of the Combination. Of his former history nothing has been discovered. In 1643, in a time of scarcity, he was one of those appointed by the town to appropriate and dispose of to the needy, any corn not required by the owners before harvest. This appointment speaks well for his character
36
HISTORY OF EXETER.
for discretion and fairness. It is supposed that he left the town soon afterwards, probably for the eastward.
43. James Wall was a carpenter, and was sent over from Eng- land, with two others, by John Mason, the patentee of New Hampshire. They came in the Pied Cow, under a written contract dated March 14, 1634, to run five years, by which they were em- ployed to build saw-mills and houses for him at Newichwannock. They arrived there the thirteenth of July of the same year, and there Wall remained till some time after the death of Mason in 1635. He was in Exeter April 3, 1638, and witnessed one of the Indian deeds to Wheelwright of that date, and no doubt remained there during the formation of the settlement, when his services as a carpenter would be most important. On the assignment of the lands, ten aeres and ninety poles of uplands and something less than two acres of the marshes fell to his share. His name also appears upon the Combination. Ile must have lived in Exeter about twelve years, and was a useful citizen, repeatedly intrusted with town offices. In 1650 he changed his residence to Hampton, and died there October 3, 1659, leaving a widow, Mary, and two children.
44. George Walton, born about 1615, became an inhabitant of New Hampshire about 1635, and so remained till his death, half a century later. He had no assignment in the first division of lands in Exeter, but joined in establishing the Combination a few months later ; so it is not unlikely that he came to Exeter between those events. Ile did not remain very long, for in 1648 he was in Dover, where he was licensed to keep an " ordinary," and in 1662 was a vintner in Portsmouth. His later years were passed at Great Island, where he suffered from the persecutions of a " stone- throwing demon," an account of which may be found in Mather's Mugnalia and elsewhere. Less superstitious persons, however, attributed his tribulations to mischievous human agency. His wife was named Alice, and they had several children, one of whom was Shadrach Walton, well known in the military, civil and judi- cial service of the province.
45. Thomas Wardell, a shoemaker, and an inhabitant of Lin- colnshire, England, came to this country, and was admitted to the Boston church November 9, 1634. By his wife Elizabeth he had two children, baptized in Boston ; Eliakim, November 23, 1634, and Martha, September 3, 1637, and two others, born probably in Exeter ; Benjamin, in February, 1640, and Samuel, May 16, 1643.
37
HISTORY OF EXETER.
In January, 1637, he was allotted twenty acres of land in Boston, but being an outspoken supporter of Wheelwright he was dis- armed ; and thereupon proceeded, in 1638, no doubt, to Exeter. In January, 1639, he was recommended by the Boston church to membership in that formed at Exeter. He received twelve acres and sixty poles in the division of the Exeter uplands, and was a signer of the Combination. Evidently he was a man in whom his townsmen reposed confidence ; for in 1641 he was chosen sergeant of the band of soldiers in Exeter, and approved as such by Nicho- las Needham, Ruler ; in 1642 he was chosen one of the committee to collect and distribute to the poor the surplus corn, in a time of scarcity ; and in 1643 he was appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts a magistrate to end small causes in Exeter. But he did not continne there very long afterwards. It is uncertain whether he removed to Ipswich or to Boston, where the death of a person bearing his name is recorded December 10, 1646.
46. William Wardell, supposed to be a brother of Thomas, probably came to this country in 1633 with Edmund Quincy, whose servant he is described as being, and joined the Boston church February 9, 1634. By his wife Alice he had a daughter Meribah, born May 14, 1637, and a son Uzell, April 7, 1639; the latter born in Exeter. He received in Boston February 20, 1636, two acres of land laid out at the Mount (Wollaston) only for his present planting ; and February 19, 1637, a great lot at the same place " for three heads." But the next year he migrated to Exe- ter, on being disarmed as a friend of the Antinomian party. He took with him some cattle, or goats, as it appears that he had in the first division of lands one hundred and twenty poles of meadow " on this side of Mr. Hilton's," and the same quantity at Lamprey river. He also had ten acres and fifty poles of upland : and set his hand to the Combination. Ile left Exeter with Wheelwright, and his name is subscribed as a witness to the deed of Sagamore Thomas Chabinocke to John Wadleigh at Wells October 18, 1649, and attested by said Wardell's oath March 25, 1657. IIe also swore allegiance to Massachusetts at Wells July 5, 1653. Another person of the same name was living in Boston at the same time, but whether a relative is not known.
47. William Wenbourne was of Boston in 1635, in which year there was born to him and Elizabeth his wife, a son John, on the twenty-second of November. A second son was born September 21, 1638, bearing the same name, the former one having doubtless
38
HISTORY OF EXETER.
died. The latter part of the next year Wenbourne was in Exeter, where he was allotted seven acres and thirty poles of upland, and a few months later signed the Combination. Upon the town being received under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, he was appointed clerk of the writs and one of the three inferior magistrates. He probably returned to Boston before 1648, where he was chosen constable in 1653, and was living in 1662. The name of Winborn has been preserved in Durham up to recent times, so it is not unlikely that his descendants are still to be found in the vicinity.
48. William Wentworth was a native of Lincolnshire, England, and was born in March, 1615-16. He was a family connection and parishioner of Wheelwright, and probably came to this country in July, 1637, in the vessel with others of Wheelwright's "friends." No doubt he made little stay in Boston, but pushed on speedily to the Pascataqua country, and was one of the earliest at the settle- ment of Exeter. He had in the division of the uplands one of the small shares, and set his signature, in excellent chirography, to the Combination. When Massachusetts began to stretch out her hand over the New Hampshire towns, he joined Wheelwright in departing into Maine, and resided in Wells until 1649, when he removed to Dover, where, with the exception of temporary absences, he spent the residue of his life. He was a ruling elder in the church, and as such was a preacher and expounder, though not technically a clergyman. At some time after the decease of the Rev. Samuel Dudley, which occurred in 1683, he was employed to preach at Exeter, and continued to do so until 1693, when by reason of age and infirmity he was compelled to desist. He lived, however, till March 15, 1696-7, when he had completed his eighty- first year. Ilis physical vigor was remarkable, as is evidenced by his successful resistance to the attempts of the Indians to enter the house where he was at the Dover massacre in 1689 ; and no one of the little company of Exeter pioneers, save Wheelwright, was of a more sturdy manhood than Wentworth. He was the progeni- tor of a long line of descendants, able and stalwart, mentally and physically ; three of whom held the highest executive offices in the province of New Hampshire ; others have sat in the councils of the nation, and many more have manifested the hereditary capacity and force in various callings. The history of the family has been laboriously compiled by one, by no means the least dis- tinguished of Elder Wentworth's descendants.
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.