Settlers of Bridgewater
The land that constitutes Bridgewater was originally part of the town of Duxbury, MA. In 1645, the governing Court in the Massachusetts Bay colony approved a grant of land which, when finally purchased from the Indians (click to find more about Indian land deals), was 16 square miles. The grant was to 56 men who were the "founders of Bridgewater," (originally called Duxbury Plantation until separately incorporated in 1656). They were represented by a smaller group that included such famous founders of Plymouth as Miles Standish and John Alden. Some of these men and their families, almost all from Duxbury, never actually lived in Bridgewater.
The original founders (or in John Ames' case an early settler) who actually lived in Bridgewater included Bissell Great-grandparents:
Thomas Hayward & Susannah Towne
John Willis & Elizabeth Hodgkins
John Ames & Sarah Willis
Deacon Samuel Edson & Susanna Bickley
The other Great-grandfathers whose names were among the 56 granted land in Bridgewater but who did not live there themselves (perhaps their children did) were Francis Sprague, William Bassett and Henry Sampson. These three men had settled at Plymouth 25 years earlier.
Sources for some of this history of Bridgewater include Nahum Mitchell, History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater, in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, including an extensive Family Register (Boston: Printed for the author by Kidder and Wright, 1840; repr. Bridgewater: Henry T. Pratt, 1897; Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1970; Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1983; Salem, MA: Higginson Books, 1992).
From Mitchell's book, "BRIDGEWATER was originally a plantation granted to Duxbury. When the township of Marshfield became a separate and distinct corporation, Duxbury, from which Marshfield had been principally taken, applied to the Old Colony court, at Plymouth, for a grant of common land, or, as they expressed it, "an extension to the westward," as a compensation for the great loss of territory they had thus sustained. We find in the records the following order of court relating to it: —
"1645. The inhabitants of the town of Duxbury are granted a competent proportion of lands about Saughtuchquett (Satucket), towards the west, for a plantation for them, and to have it four miles every way from the place where they shall set up their centre; provided it intrench not upon Winnytuckquett, formerly granted to Plymouth..."
The grant of this plantation was considered by the Massachusetts colony Court as little more than an authority or right to purchase it of the natives: and accordingly Capt. Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, and Constant Southworth, were appointed to make the purchase, which service they performed as will appear by the following deed.
"Witness these presents, that I Ousamequin, Sachem of the county of Poconocket, have given, granted, enfeofed, and sold unto Miles Standish of Duxbury, Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth of Duxbury, aforesaid, in behalf of all the townsmen of Duxbury, aforesaid, a tract of land usually called Satucket, extending in the length and breadth thereof as followeth, that is to say, from the wear at Satucket, seven miles due east, and from the said wear seven miles due west, and from the said wear seven miles due north, and from the said wear seven miles due south; the which tract the said Ousamequin hath given, granted, enfeofed, and sold unto the said Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, and Constant Southworth in the behalf of all the townsmen of Duxbury as aforesaid, with all the immunities, privileges, and profits whatsoever belonging to the said tract of land, with all and singular all woods, underwoods, lands, meadows, rivers, brooks, rivulets, &c., to have and to hold to the said Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, and Constant Southworth in behalf of all the townsmen of the town of Duxbury, to them and their heirs forever. In witness whereof I, the said Ousamequin, have hereunto set my hand this 23d of March, 1649.
} JOHN BRADFORD Witness the mark of OUSAMEQUIN.
In consideration of the aforesaid bargain and sale, we, the said Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, and Constant Southworth do bind ourselves to pay unto the said Ousamequin for and in consideration of the said tract of land, as followeth: —
7Coats, a yard and a half in a coat, 9Hatchets, 8Hoes, 20Knives, 4Moose Skins, 10Yards and a half of Cotton.
} MILES STANDISH,SAMUEL NASH,CONSTANT SOUTHWORTH.
Sachem Rock Farm is an historic farm at 355 Plymouth Street in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The farm location is important for a variety of reasons. Its earliest historical association is with the Wampanoag people, who are known to have used the area, particularly around Sachem Rock, a granite oucrop that is the property's high point, prior to European contact.
Sachem Rock itself is historically significant as the site of a meeting in 1649 between English settlers from the Plymouth Colony, including Myles Standish, with the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit. In this meeting the colonists purchased rights to a large tract of land, including East and West Bridgewater, Bridgewater, and Brockton.
The land around Sachem Rock was settled by 1665, with a farm and gristmill nearby on the Satucket River, and has seen agricultural uses ever since.
In 1686, another deed, executed by an Indian Josiah Wampatuck, confirmed this original 1649 purchase to three representatives of Bridgewater, the three being Samuel Edson, John Haward and John Willis. "The one hundred acres received by Wampatuck as part of the above confirmation were afterwards re-purchased by individuals in the town. From this deed it appears the greatest part of the town was twice purchased of the Indians, once of Massasoit, and again of Wampatuck, and a valuable consideration paid each time." At that time, Bridgewater was thought to be an area of nearly 100 square miles (or 64,000 acres), essentially paid for with the cost of 100 acres of land, a few coats, a few tools and some cotton.
From The History of Bridgewater, "Bridgewater was the first interior settlement in the Old Colony. Settlement was not commenced till after 1650. Each settler had at first a grant of a house lot of six acres on the town river, then called Nuckatest or Nuncketetest... These house lots were contiguous, and the settlement compact, with a view to mutual aid when common protection and defence against the Indians should be required... Deacon Samuel Edson, from Salem, was an early settler in the new plantation, and built the first mill in the place."
Samuel Edson and Susanna Bickley
Samuel Edson was baptized 5 Sep 1613 in Fillongly, Warwickshire, England. When about twenty-five years of age, immediately after his marriage to Susanna Bickley, then aged twenty-one, he embarked in England on board of a ship with his young wife for America. They are 10th Great-grandparents. See note on Susanna Bickley on Myrtie Bisbee Chart 2.3.6. He arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, in July, 1639. On 25 July of 1639, Samuel applied for a grant of a site for a dwelling, and for a parcel of land for cultivation was acted on, as recorded in the Town Book, page 49: "Samuel Edson is intertayned to be an inhabiand within this towne, and halfe an acre is graunted him neere Catt Cove & 5 acres more for plantinge ground." He had granted to him that land near Catt Cove, where he first resided. Samuel became a farmer, in August 1642 when the "Townsmen accourding to their minutes, granted to Samuel Edson 25 acres of land joyning to Humprey Woodbury's frme in Mackerell Cove & 2 acres of medow wher ehe can fynd yt thereabout, to be laid out by the town." His property when he left Salem in 1651 totaled 63 acres. He sold the land and his house to William Browne for 38 pounds sterling on 24 September 1655.
He engaged, perhaps at first, in catching and curing fish, as did many of the immigrants on first reaching America. He continued to reside in Salem at Mackerell Cove until not later than 1651, when he removed to Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He was one of the fifty-six original proprietors of that town, and became one of the earliest, if not its first settler. He was made a Freeman in 1657.
Besides his original share in the town he purchased other lands and became a very large farmer. He owned two saw mills, and built the first corn mill there in 1662, for which he was given an additional share of the proprietary lands. The mill irons were brought from England. The mill was built upon Town river. The site of his mills has been continually occupied by a mill ever since.
An early New England grist mill, for grinding corn and other grains, got its power from a river. Water diverted through a mill race turned the waterwheel which through several shafts and gears turned two millstones, and grain was ground into flour or meal between the stones.
The site of his residence was south of Town river, in what is now West Bridgewater.
On 17 May 1656, he had purchased another share of the original ownership of Bridgewater from Joshua Ren, who had moved to Salem. This share included land and a house, as well as two sawmills. The sawmills were on the Town River, in what is now the Park at West Bridgewater.
In 1676 he represented the town in the general court or legislature of Plymouth. For nine years he was selectman of Bridgewater. He was an active member of the council of war from 1667 to the end of King Philip's war, and also of the committee to distribute contributions made by the Irish people for that war, and also to those entitled thereto in Bridgewater. Many homes in Bridgewater were burned by the Indians during King Philip's War. Edson was on the committee with two others to negotiate for, and received from the Indian Chief Pomonoho a conveyance of the Titcut purchase, also from the Chief Wampatuck a confirmatory deed of lands of the town, previously conveyed by Massasoit. In 1680 he, with John Willis and Thomas Hayward, was appointed to settle the boundary line between Bridgewater and Middleboro, and also the line between Bridgewater and Taunton.
Although he had not received the liberal education for his day, he apparently had a keen intelligence, was enterprising and in every sense was a man of affairs. He was chosen to fill many offices in the town of Bridgewater. He was one of the first deacons of the Bridgewater Church, elected in 1664, and so continued until his death. Samuel Edson also led the choir: the Bridgewater Historical Society has a pitch pipe he used to pitch the choir. He was also presented a silver communion service that is also preserved. Susanna's education and natural abilities were said to be fully equal to his. They had three sons and five daughters.
The Bissell ancestor among their eight children is Samuel and Susanna's daughter Sarah, born about 1641 in Salem, MA, who married John Dean 7 November 1663 at Bridgewater. Sarah Edson is the Bissell 3G generation's 9th Great-grandmother. As a note of interest, Sarah's older sister and Bissell Great-Aunt Susanna, born about 1640 in Salem, married in Bridgewater to the Rev. James Keith in 1668.
The Keith Parsonage, pictured above, was built in 1662 for Rev. Keith, the first minister in the area who came to Bridgewater in 1664 and served as minister from 1664 to 1719. It was a garrison house and reportedly held the captured wife and son of the Indian chief King Philip before the chief's death during King Philip's War. The wife and son were later sold by the colonists as slaves. According to the Old Bridgewater Historical Society, the building is the oldest parsonage and garrison house in America.
Samuel died July 19, 1692. Susanna died February 20, 1699. In the old burying ground at Bridgewater, the oldest monument of the kind is that standing over their graves. The inscription reads:
"SAMUEL & SUESANAH EDSON
INTERD HE July Ye20, 1692 & SHE
FEBRUARY Ye 20, 1699 HE AGED
80 7 SHE AGED 81 YEARS"
This material on Samuel and Susanna Edson is mostly by William Richard Cutter from Genealogical and Family History of Western New York (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1912) pp 838-839.
John Haward (or Howard) and Martha Hayward
John Haward (sometimes spelled Howard) was born in Sandwich, Kent County, England in 1628 and came to Duxbury, MA with his brother George when he was 15 years old and lived with the Miles Standish family. His father had died in England and his mother had stayed there with at least one sister. John was one of the first militia officers of Bridgewater. Before about 1700 the family name was commonly spelled Haward. He was the son of James Howard (found in records circa 1635) and Mary Cooper. He married Martha Hayward, daughter of Capt. Thomas Hayward,in 1657-61, in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. John was listed as a surveyor, innkeeper, and a carpenter in various records. He was one of the original 54 settlers of West Bridgewater (circa 1651). John Howard was an Ensign in the Bridgewater Militia, in September 27, 1664. In May, 1676, during King Philip's War, Ensign John Howard, with twenty others, according to one text "fought with some Indians and took seventeen of them alive with much plunder, and all returned without serious injury." He was promoted to Lieutenant on October 2, 1689. John was also the Deputy and Representative of the General Court (1678-1683) and again in 1689.
In 1670 he was licensed to keep an "ordinary" or tavern, the first public house in Bridgewater, and kept it 30 years until his death in 1700. His eldest son then became the proprietor, and he was followed by three more generations of Howards until John's great-great grandson, Capt.Benjamin Beal Howard, died in 1821. The house was taken down in 1838. When he died, John's estate included about 450 acres of land and the estate was valued at about 840 pounds .
John died in 1700 in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
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One of the websites with Howard family history reports that a letter in the possession of a family member is an original
letter supposed to have been written to John Howard, the progenitor of this family, by his mother, who spelled her name Hayward, which was not an uncommon way of spelling the name. The site provides a transcription:
London, Aug. i6, 1652.
Loving Son : —
Having a fitt opportunity by a friend to send to you, I could not, out
of my motherly care to you and your brother, do less than write these
few lines to you to certify you that both I and your sister are in good
health, praysed be God, and that I earnestly desire to hear from you both,
how you do and how and in what condition you are both. Your sister
desires to be remembered to you both, and she and I have sent you some
small tokens of our love for you. I have sent George 3 bands and a hand-
kerchief, and an handkerchief to yourself, and I have sent you a shilling
to you to pay for writing of a letter, if by long silence you have forgott.
I wonder, son, you should so forgott your mother, whose welfare she
tended more than anything in the world. Your sister hath sent you a
book of your father's to you and a bible to George. Did we conceive
you were alive, we would have sent you better tokens. Child, with my
blessing to you both, desiring to hear from you and whether you ever
intend for England, and how your cousing Sarah doth, with my daily
prayer to the Lord for you, I rest.
Your Loving Mother,
Mary Hayward.
For her loving son, John Hayward,
this :—
In case he be dead, to George Hayward in New England.
Thomas Hayward & Susannah Towne
Thomas Hayward was born circa 1597, in England. Per James Savage in his Genealogical Dictionary, he may have first arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 5, 1632 in the ship William and Mary but a more reliable and more modern assessment from Robert C. Anderson suggests he initally might have arrived with his wife Susannah and their five children to New England on the ship Hercules, sailing from Sandwich to Boston and landing on May 14, 1634 but doesn't show up for sure in town records until 1637. Thomas Hayward was a proprietor in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in 1635 or 1636, and bought land in 1638 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, MA. Thomas was a freeman in April 1637 and was appointed the constable in Duxbury in 1648. By 1665, he sold the land originally granted to him by the Plymouth Court to George Russell. In 1669, he sold his Duxbury land to William Pabodie. The Great Migration Begins, V. 2, p. 900 indicates only that any Thomas Hayward who came before 1633 died or left soon, so the conclusion is that our Thomas Hayward cannot be counted as having arrived until he shows up in Duxbury records circa 1637.
The early records of their voyage to New England are stored in the records of Sandwich, Kent County, England, in Yearbooks C and D, dated 1608 and 1642 by J.A. Jacobs, Esquire, of Sandwich. Other information is from an article by Shirley Drury Patterson, Associate Genealogist of the Towne Family Association, Inc. in their publication called ABOUT TOWNE, Vol. XXII No. 2, June 2002, 30-31 and also from Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania by John W. Jordan, Google Books. Thomas and Susannah Hayward's daughter Martha Hayward, Bissell 3G generation 9th Great-grandmother, married John Howard about 1657 - 1661 in Bridgewater.
A final note on Thomas Hayward: his and Susannah's son Thomas (junior) married Sarah Ames, the sister of 9th Great-grandfather John Ames, below.
John Willis & Elizabeth (Hodgkins) Palmer
Only 15 years after the Plymouth Colony was founded in 1620, John Willis set foot in the New World. The year was 1635. John Willis' father Nathaniel Willis was born about 1575 in Chettle, Dorset, England and died in London. John Willis, at age 29, sailed April 3, 1635, on the ship Paul from Gravesend (a town in northwest Kent, England, near London, on the south bank of the Thames River) for New England. John Willis first appears in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1637, when he married Elizabeth (Hodgkins) Palmer on January 2, 1637. Elizabeth was the widow of William Palmer, Jr., whom she had married in 1634 in Plymouth County, MA. After Palmer died about 1636, she married John Willis.
Elizabeth Hodgkins was born in 1617 in England, the daughter of Henry Hodgkins (sometimes spelled Hoskins) and Anne Winthrop. Anne was from an influential and well-to-do family in England -- Anne's first cousin was John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Masssachusetts Bay Colony. Henry Hodgkins was from Cork, Ireland and Anne Winthrop was born 1592 in either Aghadown, Cork, Ireland or at the family estate in Groton Manor, Suffolk, Eng. In addition to Elizabeth, Anne and Henry Hodgkins also had a son William, born 1615 in Cork, Ireland, who became a planter in Plymouth.
John Willis and Elizabeth Hodgkins Palmer Willis had nine known children, all of whom were born in the Plymouth area of Massachusetts. They were Sarah, John, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Comfort, Elizabeth, Joseph, Hannah and Benjamin.
Regarding John's springtime voyage to America, the Great Colonial Hurricane was in August of 1635. It was the most intense hurricane to hit New England since European colonization. If John Willis had sailed a month or two later he might not have made it to America alive. In 1630, Plymouth Colony had only 300-400 inhabitants. By the time John Willis arrived, it had grown in the early years after 1630, the first part of the Great Migration. And from May 1634 the population of New England rose sharply through the rest of the decade but the bulk of the new immigrants went elsewhere, not to Plymouth Colony.
John Willis died in 1692 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Elizabeth Hodgkins died in 1681. Some of this information on John Willis came from a publication by Louisiana College about the ancestry of one of their alumni.
John Ames and Sarah Willis
John Ames, 9th Great-grandfather, was born in Braintree, MA in 1647 and would have been about 3 years old when Bridgewater was founded around 1650. His father William Ames had come from England to Braintree, MA. In 1671, he married Sarah Willis, whose father Deacon John Willis was a founder of Bridgewater, as noted above. Although sources report Sarah being born in Bridgewater in March 1650/51, it seems more likely she was born in Duxbury and moved to Bridgewater as a young child when it was settled in the early 1650s.
Elizabeth Ames was born to John and Sarah 6 Sep 1680 in Bridgewater. Her brother Nathaniel, born 9 Oct 1677, was the father of Nathaniel Ames, Jr., first American almanac publisher, making Nathaniel, Jr. a Bissell 1st Cousin. Further, Nathaniel Sr.'s wife Susannah Howard was born 1683 in Bridgewater, the daughter of John Howard, Jr. and Susanna Latham. John Howard, Jr. was the son of John Howard and Martha Hayward, Bissell Great-grandparents. So Nathaniel Sr.'s wife is a 1st cousin to the Bissells as well, making her son Nathaniel Jr. a 2nd cousin on her side of the family.
An Ames Family Website at http://john.rootsweb.ancestry.com/Ames/heritage.html says that this William Ames line of descent came from Bruton Parish, Somersetshire. This website says the first immigrants from this family to America were brothers William (the one noted above) and John and that Anthony Eames (also a Bissell ancestor) was some part of this same family line, although from a different town in England. Anthony (and others who used the “E”) later dropped that first letter from their name.