Settlers of Scituate and Hingham, Mass.
Many Bissell direct ancestors were original founders of Scituate and Hingham in the 1630's, 1640's and 1650's. They included the Rev. Nicholas Baker, 10th Great-grandfather and a well-educated man with an advanced degree from St. John's College, Cambridge, England who was one of the first ministers in Hingham and Scituate; the Rev. William Wetherell, 9th Great-grandfather, also educated at Cambridge and also one of the first ministers in Scituate; and Great-uncle Timothy Hatherly, "the father of Scituate." (And we know the early settlers of nearby Dedham included at least one Bissell ancestor, 10th Great-grandfather Edmond Culver, one of the signers of the Dedham Covenant in 1636.)
Links to Stories Below of Ancestors Who Were Founders of Scituate and Hingham
Map of Scituate Early Settlers' House Lots, 1633
Humphrey Turner, 9th Great-grandfather, tanner and Constable of Scituate
Timothy Hatherly, 10th Great-Uncle, Merchant Adventurer and "Father of Scituate"
Eglin Hatherly, 10th Great-grandmother
Rev. William Wetherell, Minister and Schoolmaster and Mary Fisher, 9th Great-grandparents
Rev. Nicholas Baker, 10th Great-grandfather, Minister
Nicholas Wade and Elizabeth Hatherly Hanford, 9th Great-grandparents & Tavern-keepers
Robert Sprout and Elizabeth Sampson, 8th Great-grandparents
John Cowen, 9th Great-grandfather, Prisoner of War and Indentured Servant
John Rogers, 9th Great-grandfather and Quaker sympathizer
Elisha Besbeech/Bisbee, 8th Great-grandfather, Tavern-keeper and North River Ferryman
Thomas Oldham, Sr., and Mary Wetherell, 8th Great-grandparents
Henry Merritt and John Merritt/Elizabeth Wyborn
Click Here to See Below for "Bissell Ancestor Settlers of Hingham, MA."
Click Here to See Below for Thomas French, early settler of Ipswich, MA.
Looking at a map today, one sees that Scituate and Hingham are only about 10 miles apart. It's easy to see how the very early founding of these coastal Massachusetts town progressed -- from the founding of Plymouth in 1620; about 5 miles (as the crow flies) from Plymouth up north to Duxbury, settled perhaps as early as 1632 and fully founded by 1637; about another 5 miles north to Marshfield, first established as a separate settlement in 1632 by Edward Winslow.
[Note that Bissell 10th Great Uncle by marriage, Peregrine White (first Pilgrim born in the New World, on the Mayflower in December 1620), was adopted by Edward Winslow after Winslow married Peregrine's widowed mother, Susanna White in 1621, Peregrine growing up in Marshfield and marrying Bissell 10th Great-Aunt Sarah Bassett (SEE FIRST COMERS)]; just under 10 miles from Marshfield to Scituate, which may have had settlers as early as 1628 and was certainly settled by 1633; and finally 10 miles from Scituate to Hingham, settled in 1635. Inland towns, developed in part as a defensive system against Indian attacks, followed and included Dedham (settled in 1636) and Bridgewater, chartered in 1645.
Return to Top of Page
The following information about the "Men of Kent," the founders of Scituate from County Kent in England, is excerpted from the Scituate Historical Society website, http://scituatehistoricalsociety.org/the-land-of-the-men-of-kent/ .
"Through the coastal area lying between Boston and Plymouth, which later became Plymouth County and where Chief Massassoit and his people roamed, flowed numerous streams, one of which these Indians called Satuit, meaning Cold Brook. This brook, wending its way into salt-marsh lands, finally merged into the tidal waters of a sweet little harbor opening eastward to the sea. The name of the brook was spelled by the first settlers “Seteat,” “Sytiate” or “Sityate” until about 1640 was the present spelling “Scituate” established.
"Circling the inner bight of this harbor was a mat of lush marshlands, framed by a jungle of primeval forests. It was flanked on its north by a point of sand dunes covered by ancient, wind-blown cedars. South it was guarded by the first of four cliffs sloping inland to broad marshlands through which flows what is known as the North River.
"Sailing up from Plymouth, shortly after it was settled, came the Men of Kent. They discovered this harbor and realized its future possibilities of farming and trade. The first plantations of Satuit were laid out by the Men of Kent before 1623 on Third Cliff and here the whining creek of their first windmills merged with the soft soughing of the breezes which turned their great sails.
"They were a band of “merchant adventurers” from England’s garden spot, County Kent. Led by one Timothy Hatherly, founder of Scituate, they formed a group known as “The Conihasset Proprietors” and built a road from Third Cliff around the marshes to the Harbor which still bears the name they gave it – Kent Street. Along it in 1633 they laid out “Six houses lots of four acres extending eight rods along the street and eighty rods up into the woods,” and on July 1 of that year Scituate was established as a town. Like their Pilgrim neighbors, they pushed back the forests, built their thatch-roofed log houses and established their first log meeting house and cemetery on the little hill above their homes. Thus the nucleus of Scituate township was born. Its confines extended as far inland as the town of Abington, included parts of Pembroke, Hanover and Cohasset, all of Norwell and two miles south beyond the North River into what is now Marshfield. This latter stretch is still spoken of as “Two Mile.” This little family of townships still share with Scituate in marked degrees, her charm and history and must historically be included in the mother town.
"The kindly succor of Massassoit and his people saved the lives of the Pilgrim adventurers of Plymouth through their first winter, but it was chiefly the verdant marshlands with their gift of salt water hay that made possible the early establishments of the farms upon which the Men of Kent depended for their security, No other part of our country was more difficult to clear for planting than the dense New England jungle with its horse briers, elderberry, sumac and other dense undergrowth throughout which nature densely strewed her granite rocks and stones. To clear the undergrowth, fell the trees and clear land of rocks and stumps would have been an Augean task, and without horses and oxen would have been almost impossible. But meantime, horses, oxen and cows had to be fed, and it was there marshlands that in the interim produced this feed. So the hay of the marshlands of Scituate harbor and its North River was its fundamental economic factor."
The Men of Kent Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Meetinghouse Lane in Scituate, Massachusetts. The cemetery dates from the earliest days of Scituate's settlement, estimated to have been established in 1628. It is the town's oldest cemetery, containing the graves of some of its original settlers. The 0.75 acres cemetery is also the site where the town's first meeting house was built in 1636. The cemetery marker includes the names of Bissell ancestors Henry Merritt, Humphrey Turner and Timothy Hatherly.
Information from Lockridge, Kenneth (1985), A New England Town (New York: W.W. Norton & Company) and quoted on the Wikipedia page about the founding of Dedham provides that, "The first public meeting of the plantation they called Contentment was held on August 18, 1636[20] and the town covenant was signed; eventually 125 men would ascribe their names to the document." Edward Culver was one of those signers. Rev. Nicholas Baker, whose name is on the plaque below as one of the first ministers in Scituate, is a Bissell Great-grandfather.
Humphrey Turner
Some of the following information on Humphrey Turner, 9th Great-grandfather (except for all the information on tanning), is from Robert C. Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: Humphrey Turner. Humphrey Turner was born about 1593, based on his date of marriage. He died After November 1, 1672, and before May 29, 1673. He came to New England on an unknown ship, likely in 1632. In England, Humphrey Turner was from southeastern Essex, in the area of Terling and Little Baddow. He was a tanner in New England, and learned the trade there.
The work of a tanner was difficult. Tanners produced leather for making everything from horse bridles to book covers to holders for weapons. The following information about tanning, unless indicated otherwise, comes from the website for the National Historical Park in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
Before the development of feed crops which would allow the majority of a herd to be keep over the winter, most livestock was slaughtered in the fall, when grazing and foraging materials were becoming scarce.
In a community of any size, a complex involving slaughtering pens, tanneries, horn works and finally soap and glue making facilities would arise, always placed near a source of running water and invariably downstream of the village or town proper. At such sites were usually located pits where waste products (useful as compost in the spring) could be collected.
After slaughtering, the hides were washed in the river or stream to remove blood, loose flesh and other soiling, then kept soaking in water until ready to process further. Cattle, swine, sheep and goats provided most of the hide commonly worked.
The most important part of the tanning process involved vats containing a variety of equally noxious solutions. These large containers (on the average about 12 feet square) were sunk slightly, with an earthen wall to help retain the water supplied by diverting part of a stream or river. The first vat contained a lime solution (obtained from limestone or shells), into which the hides were placed and left to soak, hair side down. Chemical action caused some of the hair to fall off. The skins were then removed and the bleached fat and hair-lime residue was scraped off, the latter later sold for plastering.
The hides, scraped free of the bulk of the hair, were returned to the liming vats, which by now contained large quantities of decaying organic matter full of bacteria which aided the process of hair and connective tissue removal. In a procedure which took about two months, the skins were alternately soaked for a few days and removed from the vats, folded and left out for a few days more. By the end of this process, the remaining hair could be easily removed without harming the hide. The skins then entered a similar soaking and resting period, involving vats of lime in weak solution. This process took more than six months.
In the next phase of leather production, the hides were combined with oak, beech or willow bark, which would provide the tannic acid necessary in preserving and coloring the hide. Other acidic additives to this dressing included sour milk, cider pressings and ferment of rye, recipes varying according to the materials at hand, the weather and the ultimate finish desired. Bark was spread in the bottom of the tanning pit, then hides and bark alternately stacked until the pit is full. A foot of tanbark covered the pit, and the whole well trampled down and kept moistened for three months.
Information about how bark was obtained for the tanning process comes from http://www.colonialsense.com/Society-Lifestyle/Signs_of_the_Times/Tanning.php.
The bark mill, which was tanning's first mechanized accessory that used horsepower, was used until the end of the 19th century. A tanbark mill was no more than a vertical post with a heavy pole attached to it which served as an axle tree for a thick stone wheel with corrugated edges. It was the corrugated edges that crushed the bark in a circular wooden trough.
Many times the bark mill was attended by boy apprentices as young as eight years old. With rake in hand, they would stand behind the horse or cow and rake off crushed pieces of bark or put larger bark pieces back into the path of the horse to be crushed again. The older boys would keep the troughs filled with bark faster than the horses and cows would crush the bark. The pulverizing process averaged one cord to one cord and a half of bark a day.
Unpacking the pit was a risky business, because the hides were very soft and vulnerable to tearing. To stop the action of the acetic solution, alkaline dressings were then applied. Ingredients included soft soap, boiled meal and dog, pig or fowl dung.
The final step in leather preparation was performed by the currier, a specialist who worked the leather with oils and greases, using a variety of tools to prepare the leather for its intended use. So now we know how Great-grandpa Turner spent his day!
******************************************
Humphrey Turner first appeared in Plymouth records in the March 25, 1633, tax list. He was also on the list of freemen that year. He received a lot of land in Scituate on October 14, 1633, being allotted the fourth house lot south of the stony (Satuit) brook where he built the sixth house constructed in Scituate by September 1634. He built a second house on the same lot by 1636. He and his wife ("Goody Turner") were founding members of the church in Scituate, 8 January 1634/35. He had enough education to write his name. He served on a number of juries, was the deputy for Scituate to the Plymouth General Court on numerous occasions between 1640 and 1653, and was Scituate constable for three years. He was a supervisor of highways and on a committee to divide lands, both in 1640.
Unusually for New England, Humphrey Turner had two adult sons, by the same wife, of the same Christian name (John, the elder and John "Young Son"). Humphrey married Lydia Gaymer on October 24, 1618, in Sandon, Essex and had eight children. She died between July 23, 1669, and February 28, 1669/70. Genealogist Robert Anderson speculates that Humphrey had probably married twice in England and that these two sons both named John were actually half-brothers.
John "Young Son" Turner, one of Humphrey's sons, was an active man but was not physically strong, and was freed from military duty or training. He was active in town affairs on various committees with his elder brother, John, Sr.; Young Son was one of the local Council of War, and a colonial collector of the excise tax on ‘tarr, borads and oysters.’ He lived northeast of Hick’s Swamp, on the Country Way, near the old Clap mansion-house at Greenbush. It is "Young Son" who is the Bissell 8th Great-grandfather in this line. John Young Son Turner married Ann James, on 25 April 1649 in Scituate, and they had a son Japheth Turner, see Bisbee Chart 2.1.5. Ann had come to Hingham, MA in 1638 aboard the Diligent. Her father was Philip James.
Return to Top of Page
Timothy Hatherly and the Merchant Adventurers
Timothy Hatherly, Bissell 3G generation 10th Great-uncle and known as “the father of Scituate,” was baptized at Winkleigh, Devonshire, England 29 Sep 1588. Described as a felt maker in England, he was one of the "Merchant Adventurers" who financed the Pilgrims and he made several trips to New England before settling permanently in Scituate by 1634.
The Merchant Adventurers, as described on the website http://mayflowerhistory.com/merchant-adventurers/ , were 50 British merchants who put up the money to pay for the Pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower in 1620.
"[The] company they invested in hoped to make a profit from the fur trade, from fishing, and from any other method they could invent. The number of investors was initially about fifty [including Hatherly], but began to drop substantially as various internal disputes arose. "
In colonial times, the process of "felting" included making hats from animal furs, so it's no wonder that Hatherly was interested in this investment, since he was a felter. By about 1626, there were closer to 40 investors remaining. According to the MayflowerHistory website, "(a)fter much financial problems, the flailing company reorganized in 1628, with James Shirley, Richard Andrews, John Beauchamp, and Timothy Hatherley [four of the original investors], and a group of leading Plymouth colonists, buying out the remaining shareholders." In addition to Hatherly, among the "leading Plymouth colonists" buying out the English investors was 10th Great-grandfather Henry Merritt.
Hatherly arrived in Plymouth on the ship William by 22 Feb 1632 “to set up a fishing in Scituate” according to notes of John Winthrop of the Bay Colony.
The Town of Scituate website provides an explanation for how the town developed at http://www.scituatema.gov/about/pages/a-historical-overview. In 1636, the General Court at Plymouth (which had jurisdiction over this large area on the east coast of Massachusetts) established the boundaries of Scituate, including setting aside a large portion in the north part of the town for the Hatherly group. In 1646, Hatherly bought out all the other partners, saved a large tract of land for himself and re-sold the remainder to a company which became known as the Conihasset Partners. Per the website:
"(this) Company functioned as a Government, carrying on its own affairs, building its own roads, keeping its own records etc., in disregard of the fact that they were legally and technically a part of the Town of Scituate with no objections on the part of the Town, which was due probably to the fact that the proprietors of the Conihasset Grant were also men interested in the government of the Town itself. The last meeting of the Partners was held in 1767, after which their affairs reverted to the town."
Return to Top of Page
Eglin Hatherly, 10th Great-grandmother
Eglin Hatherly, 10th Great-grandmother and the sister of Timothy Hatherly, was born in Winkleigh, Devonshire, England in 1586. She married Jeffrey Hanford/Handford, born in Fremington in 1585, as her second husband. They had children -- Susanna, Margaret, Lettice, Elizabeth and Thomas -- and Jeffrey died in England in Alverdicott, Devonshire, and was buried on 12 May 1626. Eglin was 46 years of age when she left London for New England 10 Apr 1635 on the Defence with two of her daughters - Margaret Hanford, age 16 and Elizabeth Hanford, 14. Her older children, Susanna and Lettice, may have come over with her brother, Timothy Hatherly, in 1632, on the William and Frances. Lettice was married in New England, 8 April 1635, before her mother left England. Timothy Hatherly gave land to his sister when she first got to New England: the deed to Eglin dated 24 Feb 1640 reads “This land [five acres] was given to Egline Hanford the xxvith day of Septembr in the yeare AD1634.” The description continues: “bounded on the east end by the common path that runneth from the brooke to the harbours mouth... on the north by Gowin White; on the west with a common drift path or lane that runneth almost north and south... on the south by land of Richard Sealis.” (PCLR 1:71) Hatherly described it as the third lot north of the stony brook. Eglin Hanford married Richard Sealis in 1637.
Edward Foster and Bissell Great Aunt Lettice Hanford, the daughter of Eglin Hatherly and niece of Timothy Hatherly, were married at James Cudworth’s house by Miles Standish in 1635. Standish came on the Mayflower and was the military leader of the Pilgrims. He must have had a close relationship to the Hatherlys so it would make sense that he would perform the marriage. Foster was among those who were released from the Church at Plymouth in 1634 in order to move to Scituate and was granted the first lot south of the stony (Satuit) brook, bounded by the highway on the east. His house is listed as the ninth in Scituate, built about 1633/34. He also owned land on Second Cliff and at First Herring Brook.
Miles Standish
Rev. Nicholas Baker and Rev. William Wetherell
Two Great-grandfathers Were Among the First Ministers in Scituate
The website today of the First Parish Universal Unitarian Church of Scituate tells the story of the founding of this church when Scituate was founded. A group of Nonconformists had started meeting in London in 1616, led by the Rev. Henry Jacob. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Lothrop, a former rector in the Church of England, in 1624. Discovered worshipping clandestinely in 1632, 42 members of the congregation were arrested and jailed. After two years in jail, Rev. Lothrop was released from jail with the proviso that he leave England forever. With a majority of the members of his congregation, he and these "Men of Kent" sailed for New England and arrived in Scituate in September, 1634. A few months later, Rev. Lothrop and about a dozen people gathered together and made a covenant with each other, forming what is now known as the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church of Scituate.
Over a span of some 60 years and the succession of six ministers, First Parish was the scene of considerable theological dissention. The principle points were, first, baptism and later, the Unitarian/Trinitarian schism. These disagreements led to the separation, at three times, of a major portion of First Parish's members to form new churches, the first major one being Lothrop himself who led an exodus of a majority of the church to Barnstable. After two more ministers (each of whom was an early president of the new Harvard University), the fourth minister was the Rev. Nicholas Baker, Bissell 10th Great-grandfather.
Rev. Nicholas Baker (1610-1678) and his brother Nathaniel came from England to America in the spring or early summer of 1635. Savage in his Genealogical Dictionary of New England, correcting a statement of Cotton Mather that Nicholas had but a private education, says that Baker attended St. John's College, Cambridge, that he had his A. B. 1631-2 and his A. M. 1635. This indicates that he received his A. M. after March 25, 1635. He must have sailed from England soon after, apparently landing first in Roxbury. On Sept. 18, 1635, Nicholas and Nathaniel drew house lots of five acres each, in Hingham, on Town (North near Beal) Street, in the locality of the sightly eminence known to this day as Baker's Hill; which is 141 feet high and is the second highest hill in the town of Hingham.
St. John's College, Cambridge, England where Nicholas Baker received his college education.
Nicholas was made freeman in 1636, and served as the first Deputy from that town to the General Court, 1636 to 1638. He removed to Hull in 1644, and then to Scituate as the third pastor of the First Church there in 1660, retaining this charge until his death 22 Aug. 1679. During that time, he was able to reconcile the long-standing dispute between the two churches in Scituate. Rev. Cotton Mather, a Bissell cousin and son of Rev. Increase Mather, was an influential colonial minister. Mather, in his catalogue of early New England ministers, said of Nicholas Baker:
"I am content that there should be received (for the saints of this catalogue already departed have received him) honest Nicholas Baker of Scituate was so good a logician that he could offer ye to God a reasonable service, so good an arithmetician that he could wisely number his days, and so good an orator that he persuaded himself to be a Christian; and being also one of good natural parts, especially of a strong memory, was chosen pastor of the church there; and in the pastoral charge of that church he continued about eighteen years, until that horror of mankind, and reproach of medecine, the stone (under which he preached patience by a very memorable example of it; never letting fall any word worse than this, which was an usual word with him, `A mercy of God it is no worse!') put an end unto his days."
Nicholas' daughter Sarah, Bissell 9th Great-grandmother, was born about 1650 and got married in Scituate on 22 Feb 1671/72 to Josiah Litchfield.
Hingham was first known as "Bare Cove" (see note below) but when the first settlers came there from Hingham, in Norfolk, Eng., in 1635, the name of the town was changed to Hingham by authority of the General Court. This was a small band of colonists, and thirty persons drew for houselots and received grants of pasture and tillage lands. Nicholas Baker married Mary Ripley and their daughter Sarah married Josiah Litchfield, part of the family line that founded Litchfield, CT.
The other ancestor who was a minister in early Scituate was 9th Great-grandfather Rev. William Wetherell who was a Puritan in England, born there about 1600. He was educated at Cambridge, obtaining a BA 1626 and a MA 1627 and was listed there as being from York. Licensed as a Cure of Souls and teacher but not given a parish, William was a teacher at Boughton, England and later taught at Maidstone in County Kent, England. In 1634, William was critized by the Church of England and ordered to stop teaching the catechisms of William Perkins, a well-known Puritan theologian who was not approved by the Church. (Perkins' teachings were also followed by the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth.) Shortly thereafter, William, his wife, Mary Fisher, and children, along with a servant, Ann Richards, boarded the ship Hercules for New England, arriving in 1635.
Wetherell briefly settled at Charlestown, establishing the first grammar school there before moving to Newtowne (Cambridge), MA and by 1638 to Duxbury, MA where church beliefs were similar to those he espoused in England. He later moved to Scituate, where he had been invited as minister of the 2d Church of Scituate 2 Sep 1645, which position he would hold until his death there on 9 Apr 1684. (Note that this is a different church in Scituate than the one where Nicholas Baker became minister.) Most of this information about Rev. Wetherell is from http://www.langeonline.com/Wetherell/williamI.htm., and some of that is drawn from English Provencial Society from the Reformation to the Revolution: Religion, Politics and Society in Kent 1500-1640. Peter Clark, Harvester Press, London, pages 199 & 372. There is an extensive biography of this man in the book THE HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE WITHERELL/ WETHERELL/ WITHERILL FAMILY OF NEW ENGLAND, by Witherell & Witherell, Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1976.
From the Langeonline website, "...(Scituate) had been struggling within their church and had looked for a new minister upon the departure of Rev Lothrup. Some Church members voted to invite Rev. Charles Chauncy who was at the center of a controversy at Plymouth (more about Chauncy and this baptism controversy below) to fill that position, but several disagreed with that decision and proceeded to form a 2nd Church of Scituate, then they invited William Wetherell to be their minister. This created a animosity between the two churches that was to continue until Chauncy accepted a position in Boston to act as head of the new Harvard University. He remained in that position until his death. The problem between the two churches continued in 1671/2 when a Josiah Palmer was fined for speaking "opprobriously" of William's church.
Wetherell was ordained the Pastor of the 2nd Church September 2, 1645 after writing numerous letters defending his position to many of the other ministers and churches of New England. He was to hold this position the rest of his life, some of these letters are extant in the records of the second Church of Scituate.
In a list of "emigrants in the Hercules of Sandwich bound for the Plantation called New England in America," is the following record:
"Will. Witherell, of Maidstone, schoolmaster, Mary, his wife, three children, and one servant. Certificates from Sam. Marshal mayor of Maidstone, Tho. Swinnuck, Edw. Duke and Rob Barrel, cl. 14 Mar 1634." Drake's Founders of new England page 82
With this clue the marriage licence of William Witherell was found in Canterbury Marriage Licences, Second Series, page 1087.
"Witherill, William, M.A. of Maidstone, ba., about 25, and Mary Fisher, of Boughton, Monchelsea, maiden, about 22, who is now under govt., of her mother, Joan Martin, alias Fisher, now wife of John Martin, s.p. yeom., who consents. At S. Mildred's Cant. March 26, 1627."
Return to Top of Page
Nicholas Wade and Elizabeth Hanford
Nicholas Wade and Elizabeth Hanford, 9th Great-grandparents, were married in Scituate in about 1642. Elizabeth was the niece of Scituate founder Timothy Hatherly. In 1657, Nicholas was licensed to keep a tavern. This picture is described as a "Colonial British tavern in North America" and so may give some idea of what Nicholas and Elizabeth's tavern might have looked like.
Nicholas Wade, 9th Great-grandfather born about 1615 in England, was in Scituate by 1638 when he took the oath of fidelity. He married Elizabeth Hanford, daughter of Eglin Hatherly and niece of Timothy Hatherly, about 1642. Bissell 9th Great-grandmother Elizabeth Hanford, was born in 1621 in Fremington, Devonshire, England.
I'm not sure what occupation Nicholas followed early in life, perhaps farming. Later in his life, he was licensed to keep an ordinary, a tavern, in 1657. There is no record that Nicholas became a freeman, but in 1662 he was among those former servants and ancient freemen given land at Saconett Neck. Stratton, a reference, says that this suggests that he might have come to Scituate as a servant, but that sometimes people were given land because of a connection to a family that had made an early contribution to the colony. His marriage to Timothy Hatherly's niece might put him in that category.
According to the occasionally unreliable Deane’s History of Scituate, at page 49, Nicholas Wade's house and homestead were on the west side of Brushy hil, and north-east side of the road where Shadrach Wade, his descendant of the sixth genteration, now resides in Scituate (written in 1831). Brushy Hill is a large hill, located in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The elevation above sea level is 27 metres.
Nicholas Wade died between 7 Feb 1683/4, when he wrote his will, and 11 Mar 1683/4, when inventory was taken. In his will, he mentions an unnamed wife (his wife Elizabeth presented the inventory), and mentions his eldest son John Wade, son Thomas Wade, daughter Susanna White, son Nicholas Wade, Jr. (the Bissell 8th Great-grandfather born about 1660), son Nathaniel Wade and daughters Elizabeth and Hannah. Nicholas Wade, Jr. was baptised on 1 Jul 1660 in Scituate and died on 16 Mar 1723 in Scituate.
Noted elsewhere on this website, at Military Service, Nicholas and Elizabeth's son Joseph Wade fought in King Philip's War under Bissell Great-grandfather Captain Michael Pierce and was killed during the fighting at Rehoboth on 26 Mar 1676, the same day his brother Thomas's wife Hannah Ensign's brother John was killed.
Elizabeth died on 9 Oct 1711 in Scituate, MA. The will wasn’t probated until many years later, in 1712 after the death of his wife, Elizabeth. By then Nathaniel had died without issue. Nicholas, Jr. was appointed adminstraor.
Note: It has been shown that Nicholas Wade married Elizabeth Hanford, rather than the non-existent Elizabeth Ensign sometimes attributed to him. Check out the two-volume work Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and His Wife Frances Helen Miller, by Mary Lovering Holman and Wiifred Lovering Holman, published 1948-1952, especially volume I, pages 485-487.142
Return to Top of Page
Robert Sprout and Elizabeth Sampson
Robert Sprout -- b. about 1634. Sprout (also spelled "Sproat" early on) may have been born in Scotland. He came to New England as an indentured servant to a Walter Briggs, who lived in Scituate between 1652 and 1660. As described in Wikipedia,
"Indentured servitude was a labor system whereby young people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a certain number of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North Americaand elsewhere. It was especially used as a way for poor youth in Britain and the German states to get passage to the American colonies. They would work for a fixed number of years, then be free to work on their own. The employer purchased the indenture from the sea captain who brought the youths over; he did so because he needed labour. Some worked as farmers or helpers for farm wives, some were apprenticed to craftsmen. Both sides were legally obligated to meet the terms, which were enforced by local American courts. Runaways were sought out and returned. About half of the white immigrants to the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries were indentured."
This is an example of the kind of legally enforceable contract that an indentured servant signed in order to get passage to America.
We get our information about Sprout's indentured servitude from Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620-1691 Part Two:Topical Narratives, Chapter 11: Man and Master. On 4 May 1658 Robert Sprout complained to the court in Plymouth that his former master, Walter Briggs, was keeping the document of his indenture from him to avoid complying with Briggs' obligations, and the court ordered Briggs to give Sprout the indenture. Briggs lived in Scituate between 1652 and 1660. Here is the record found that told us of Robert Sprout's Indenture: At a "Court of Assistants holden at Plymouth the 4th of May 1658 " - Court Assistants William Collyare, John Alden, Josia Winslow and Thomas Southworth," appeared Robert Sprout, formerly servent to Walter Briggs, and complained that his master keeps his indenture from him at the end of his term. Wherefore the Court orders, that Walter Briggs shall return the said Robert Sprout his indenture and that the said Sprout may have his libertie to worke with any other man in Scittuate until June Court next " .... A month later, the record indicates, "Att the General Court holden at Plymouth the fifth of June 1658, before Thomas Pence, Gov. William Collyare, John Alden Josias Winslow, Thomas Southworth, William Bradford and Thomas Hinckley, Assistants Ec. Walter Briggs complained against Robert Sprought in an action of the case to the damage of twenty pounds, for not serving one year of his (indenture) time, and for other debts and dues. The jury finds for the defendant (i.e, the jury found for Robert Sprout) the cost of the suit." Thus, Robert Sprout is now a "freeman."
Elizabeth Sampson, daughter of Mayflower Pilgrim Henry Sampson, b. 1639, Duxbury, MA, married Robert Sprout about 1661.
Return to Top of Page
John Cowen and Rebecca (Short) Mann
Oliver Cromwell at The Battle of Worcester
John Cowen, 9th Great-grandfather, was born about 1636 in Scotland (perhaps Edinboro). He died between 1697 and 1703 at Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Although nothing is absolutely certain about John's arrival in New England, it is thought that he probably arrived at Boston, Massachusetts in February 1652 aboard the sailing ship John & Sara. This ship contained 261 Scots held prisoner by the British following the 3 September 1651 Battle of Worcester, including a person identified as John Coehon/Colquhoun, who perhaps was the John Cowen who later appeared in Scituate records.
According to Wikipedia, the Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England, and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II. The 16,000 Royalist forces were overwhelmed by the 28,000 strong "New Model Army" of Cromwell.
About 3,000 men were killed during the battle and another 10,000 were taken prisoner. About 8,000 Scottish prisoners were deported to New England or the West Indies to work as indentured servants for wealthy landowners.
If indeed our John Cowen was the John Coehon/Colquhoun who sailed on the John & Sara, he would have been an indentured servant in some capacity in Massachusetts for a number of years before marriage. In any event, wherever he came from, John Cowen after marriage was employed farming the farm which his wife, Rebecca (Short) Mann, inherited from her deceased husband Richard Mann. He died in 1654. It may be that the Mann family had left England for Holland and came to Scituate from there in about 1644. John married Rebecaa Mann in March 1656 and became a Freeman in 1657. In 1670 John developed land that Rebecca's husband Richard Mann had purchased in Connihassett from Timothy Hatherly. Their children were Joseph b. 1657; Mary, 1659; John, 1662; Israel, 1664; Rebecca, 1666. Bissell Great-Uncle Joseph Cowen, b. 1657, was killed with fourteen others of Scituate in the Indian fight at Rehoboth, 1676.
As a side note, Richard Mann (not a Bissell ancestor) died from falling throught the ice in the winter time. A grand jury inquiry into his death determined "...that hee brake through the iyce, and was in soe. deep that .hee could not git out, and by reason of the cold of the weather and water made him vnable to healp himselfe, neither could any other psent aford him any healp that could healp him out, though they vsed their best endeauors for the space of about an houre, as is reported to vs by the wittnesses that saw him, in which time hee died. This wee find to bee the cause of his death, as wee all judge."
Return to Top of Page
John Rogers and Frances
John Rogers and his wife Frances are Bissell 3G 9th Great-grandparents. Their daughter Ann Rogers Hudson is the Bissell 8th Great-grandmother. The following information is from the book John Rogers of Marshfield and Some of His Descendants, by Josiah Drummond, published by Smith and Sales, 1898.
"Neither the date or place of his birth, nor the time when he came to this country has been ascertained. The name of John Rogers is given in the 1643 list of freemen of Scituate, although the date of his admission has not been found. On September 20, 1699, John Rogers, the son of John Rogers of Marshfield, gave a deposition before the Justices of the Court at Plymouth, that, in or about the year 1647, his father, John Rogers, lived in Scituate on a lot of land between the land of Thomas Hicks and the land of John Stockbridge, adjoining Hicks's swamp; and about the year 1647, "my father John Rogers aforesaid, being about to move out of said Scituate" (in effect) sold his house and land to Thomas Simons, " and my father removed out of Scituate about the time aforesaid..."
John married Frances, her last name uncertain. Their children, part probably born in England and the others in Scituate, were (in the order listed in John, Sr.'s will): John, b. about 1632; Joseph; Timothy; Ann; Mary; and Abigail. Ann is listed in John, Sr.'s will as "Ann Hudson," as she had by that time married John Hudson, SEE Bisbee Chart 2.1 - Jotham Bisbee.
This book also reports that John Rogers may have been a friend of William Wetherell and came to Scituate and Marshfield for that reason. He was fined (as appears by the town records) for not attending town meeting, Dec. 11, 1649, May 15, 165 1, Aug. 23, 1652, Nov. 8, 1652, and Mar. 28, 1653. John Rogers died in 1661.
Ann Rogers was probably born in Scltuate. She married (1st) George Russell, and he died before 1659. She married (2nd) John Hudson, who died about 1688, leaving her surviving him. She and her first husband had two children. Her first of four children with her second husband was Hannah Hudson, the Bisbee ancestor who is Bissell 7th Great-grandmother, born about 1657.
Another good source of information on John Rogers is "Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteenth Multi-Ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Hayley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants)" compiled by Maine's Formost Genealogist, 1916-1963 Walter Goodwin Davis with an Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts, Director of Special Research Projects, New England Historic Genealogical Society Volume III Neal - Wright pp. 234-235.
"JOHN ROGERS was one of the inhabitants of Scituate listed as able to bear arms in 1643. He took the Oath of Fidelity in Scituate January 15, 1644(5). He may possibly be the John Rogers who proposed to take up his freedom in the Plymouth Colony September 7, 1641, and who was admitted March 1, 1641/2. He presumably came from England with his wife Frances and several children, but nothing certain is known of his origin or his life before his appearance in Scituate. He moved to Marshfield in 1647. His son John Rogers signed a deposition in Plymouth court on September 29, 1699, in which he says that in or about the year 1647 his father John Rogers lived on a lot of land between the land of Thomas Hicks and the land of John Stockbridge, adjoining Hicks' swamp, that about 1647 being about to move out of Scituate his father sold his house and lands to Thomas Simons and did so move, and that the deponent who lived with him many years had never heard him lay any claim to the said land after he removed from it.
In 1651 John Rogers of Marshfield was fined for vilifying the ministry and bound to good behavior in the sum of L20. He was fined for not attending town meetings in 1649, 1651-1653. Probably he had Quaker sympathies. He died in 1661. His son John, Junior (Ann's brother and thus a Bissell Great-Uncle) was later a Quaker and was fined on several occasions for his Quaker beliefs, including one fine levied by John Alden, one of the Mayflower passengers and a leader of Plymouth. Alden in his later years intensely disliked Quakers and Baptists, who were trying to settle on Cape Cod. One contemporary letter complained that Alden was too strict in dealing with these different religious groups.(Bissell Great-grandfather John Adams, Jr. was also a Quaker, see below, who left Marshfield, MA and moved to eastern Long Island, then still considered to be part of New England.)
Quakers formed in England in the late 1640s. They were much persecuted in their early decades, both in England and in New England. In England they were often imprisoned beginning in the 1650s, for disturbing the peace or for blasphemy.
According to Wikipedia,"In 1647 some Quakers were able to find refuge to practice in Providence Plantations established by Roger Williams. Other Quakers faced persecution in Puritan Massachusetts. In 1656 Mary Fisher and Ann Austin began preaching in Boston. They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported.
Some Quakers in New England were only imprisoned or banished. A few were also whipped or branded. Christopher Holder, for example, had his ear cut off. A few were executed by the Puritan leaders, usually for ignoring and defying orders of banishment. Mary Dyer (pictured just above) was thus executed in 1660. Three other martyrs to the Quaker faith in Massachusetts were William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, and William Leddra. These events are described by Edward Burrough in A Declaration of the Sad and Great Persecution and Martyrdom of the People of God, called Quakers, in New-England, for the Worshipping of God (1661)"
So, the persecution of Great-Uncle John Rogers, Jr. occurred in the larger context of this widespread persecution of Quakers. According to Quaker History, Vol. 1-10, John Alden (who is noted above as having fined John Rogers, Jr.) was one of the signers approving the 1657 Massachusetts law that was the first law in the colony against the Quakers. Alden at that time was one of only two of the original Pilgrims still alive and was probably the only one of the original Pilgrims who persecuted Quakers, although in the 1650s and 1660s there was much more persecution of the Quakers. One source says that the Boston persecution was more inclined to violence, while the Plymouth approach was to bring the offending Quakers to financial ruin through fines.
Return to Top of Page
Elisha Besbeech/Bisbee and Johanna
Thomas Besbeech/Besbedge/Bisbetch/Bisby was from Hedcorn, Kent, England, born in 1618. He and his daughters Mary and Alice were part of the Tilden group who came to Scituate on the ship Hercules in 1634/5. Thomas was a freeman in 1637 and deacon of the First Church in Scituate at its first institution. In early records he is styled as “Mr.” After 1639 he may have moved to Duxbury. He was married to Joanna (last name unknown) in Scituate in 1644. He died 12 Nov 1695 in Duxbury. His son Elisha was born between 1619-1620, in Hedcorn and died in 1690, in Duxbury, MA
Elisha Bisbee married Johanna (last name unknown) and lived on the west side of North River, south of the road between Marshfield and what is now Norwell, Mass. He lived there for a number of years and ran a ferry where Union Bridge now stands. He also kept a tavern there for travelers between Plymouth and points North. Ferry rates were fixed by law. Jonathan Turner, son of Elder Turner and Elisha's son in law, lived about 30 rods northwest of the road near the river where he had a tannery. Elisha was appointed Bisbee a Constable of Marshfield June 9, 1659. He served on juries in 1651, 1658, 1660 and 1662. He was engaged in business as late as 1662, when on "... October 2, 1662 Elisha Besbey complained against John Rogers in an action of case to the damage of 20 pounds for unjustly detaining timber and cooper stuff which was in partnership between them. Jry finds for the plaintiff 7 thousand of half hogshead timber or full value of it in place, 2 pence damage, and cost of suit. (Volume 7, Judicial Acts, page 104)," winning a suit against another Bissell Great-grandfather, John Rogers, to recover 20 pounds for "timber and cooper stuff." On June 7, 1670, Governor Prence appointed Elisha Bisbee as a Committee with John Bourne to look after the Minister's Rate (Collector of Minister's Rates or taxes.)"
From Genealogy of The Bisbee Family Descendants of Thomas Besbeech (Bisbee) of Scituate, Duxbury and Sudbury, Massachusetts by Frank J. Bisbee Ottor Brook Press 1956. Elisha Bisbey Sr. made his will 6 April 1688. It was probated 4 June 1690. He bequeathed to his sons Hopstill, John and Elisha Jr., and to his daugher Mary Beal, Martha Turner, Hannah Brooks and to his grandchildren. His Estate was appraised at L83 15s 4d.
In his will he called himself a glover but was commonly known as a cooper, or barrel-maker. (Plymouth County Wills Vol 1, Page 69). He was listed in "The first planters of the Colony of Mass. Bay" (from 1623 to 1636) by Alexander Young.
There were several ferries and bridges across the North River: Little's Ferry and Bridge was 3 miles below Union Bridge at a place called Daggert's ferry. The upper ferry was tended by Elisha Bisbee in 1645. John Tolman was the last ferryman before Union Bridge was built in 1801 with priviledge of taking toll. The Union Bridge is on the road between Marshfield and Norwell, Mass.
Rev. Charles Chauncy
Elisha was also involved in a defamation claim with Rev. Charles Chauncy, the minister who served in Scituate from 1641 to 1654, when he left to become president of Harvard College. Wikipedia has a thorough explanation of why Rev. Chauncy had upset so many people in Massachusetts:
"During his time at Plymouth and Scituate, Chauncy got into a heated debate with the religious and secular leaders of the Plymouth Colony over the issue of baptism. Chauncy taught that only baptism by full immersion was valid, while the Separatist Elders taught that sprinkling water over the body was just as valid. The sprinkling method of baptism was much preferred in New England due to its cooler and harsher climate. The religious leaders of the Plymouth Colonyheld public debates, trying to convince Chauncy to change his views. When Chauncy still did not change his views, the Pilgrim leaders wrote to congregations in Boston and New Haven soliciting their views, and all the congregations wrote back that both forms of baptism were valid. Still, Chauncy did not change his teachings. It was because of this issue that Chauncy left Plymouth for Scituate in 1641. A year after arriving in Scituate, Chauncy had a chance to practice what he preached, when he publicly baptized his twin sons by full immersion. The plan backfired when one of his sons passed out due to being dunked in the water. The mother of the child who was supposed be baptized at the same event refused to let it happen, and according to John Winthrop, got a hold of Chauncy and "near pulled him into the water". When Chauncy was hired to be President of Harvard, he had to promise the leaders in Boston that he would keep his views on baptism quiet."
When Chauncy came to Scituate, many members of the church who did not agree with his baptism theology invited Great-grandfather Rev. William Wetherell to come to Scituate and they began a Second Church of Scituate. Several decades later, Great-grandfather Rev. Nicholas Baker came to the FirstChurch of Scituate. Rev. Baker, by the consent of the First Church of Scituate, signed ‘an instrument of reconciliation with the Second Church of Scituate,' on April 1, 1675. At this time the First Church had returned to the practice of infant sprinkling from which ‘they had been lead away by President Chauncey.'
Rev. Baker is, then, credited with reconciling the First Church of Scituate with the Second Church of Scituate, who had been quarrelling over this practice for thirty years.
So, what about Elisha's legal spat with Rev. Chauncy? I can't find any details except that it was about the same time when Chauncy first came to Scituate, in 1642; and it was some kind of defamatory statement by Elisha about Chauncy, likely over this issue of how to perform a baptism. I don't know how the matter was resolved and could not find any final resolution in the Plymouth Court Orders for that time period.
Other Bissell Ancestors Who Were Early Settlers of Scituate
Thomas Oldham, Sr.
Thomas Oldham, Sr. was born in Derbyshire in 1624. In 1643, he was in Duxbury, MA. He was perhaps the youth that came from London in 1635 on theElizabeth and Ann. He may have been the brother of John Oldham, his fellow passenger. Thomas married 20 Nov 1656 Mary Wetherell, daughter of Reverend William Wetherell. Thomas died 7 Mar 1710/11 in Scituate, MA. Thomas Oldham, Jr. was born in Scituate 30 Oct 1660 and married Mercy Sprout (b. 15 Jul 1662 in Scituate) on 27 Jun 1683 in Scituate. Their daughter Mary married John Bisbee, Jr. (b. 31 Jan 1710/11 in Scituate) and their son was Gideon Bisbee, born 23 May 1719.
Walter Woodworth.
Walter Woodworth was in Scituate by 20 Feb 1634, since the property records show that he was named as an abutter in a grant of land to Anthony Annable at First Herring Brook. On 10 Oct 1634 a four acre lot, the third lot on the south side of Meeting House Lane, was allotted to him.
According to Wikipedia, Walter settled in the Plymouth Colony, coming from Kent, England in 1633. He first appeared in the tax records of the Plymouth Colony in 1633. Woodworth settled in 1635 amongst the "Men of Kent" in Scituate, Massachusetts, which included Nathaniel Tilden, Edward Foster, Humphrey Turner, Isaac Chittenden, and William Hatch, who were influential in the building the settlement.
Walter took up residence at the third lot on Kent Street along the oceanfront at the corner of Meeting House Lane, where he built a home. He would acquire more property throughout his life in Plymouth Colony including a tract on the Herring Brook, a tract on Walnut Tree Hill, which in colonial times was referred to as Walter Woodworth Hill, and 60 acres (240,000 m2) in Weymouth. He would serve as surveyor of highways (1645–1646, 1656) and arbiter (1645, 1662–1663). He was a member of the First Church and had 10 children, who were Thomas, Sarah, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Martha, Isaac, Mehitable, and Abigail. There is a minor question in my mind whether the Deborah Woodworth who we know is the Bissell 3G 8th Great-grandmother is properly shown as a descendant of this Walter Woodworth.
Sources for the Wikipedia information on Woodworth include:
-
New England Historic Genealogical Society.
-
"History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts", p.408.
-
The Descendants of Walter Woodworth, p. 9.
-
"Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire.", p. 1134, Retrieved 25 dec 2008.
More generally, sources for this information on the founding of Scituate includes:
Anderson, Robert Charles. “The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1633;” 3 Vols. NEHGS; Boston, 1995>
Anderson, Robert Charles; Sanborn, George F.; Sanborn, Melinde Lutz. “The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635.” NEHGS; Boston, 1999-2005
Bangs, Jeremy Dupertuis. “The Seventeenth Century Town Records of Scituate Massachusetts” 3 Vols. NEHGS. Boston. 1997-2001.
Collard, Mrs Julia, Hon Archivist, St. George's Church, Benenden, Kent, UK
Deane, Samuel. “History of Scituate, Massachusetts from Its First Settlement to 1831.” J. Loring, Boston. 1831.
McConnell. Dan R. “The Roots of the Ancient Congregational Church in London, Scituate, and Barnstable, Rev. John Lothropp, Minister” Cape Cod Genealogical Society Bulletin, Fall 2008.
New England Historic and Genealogical Society. Vital Records of Massachusetts to the Year 1850.
Charge of the Eddy Town-Record Fund. Boston, Mass., 1909 (various towns)
New England Historical and Genealogical Register "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills in the Probate Office, Plymouth," Vol. 4, 1850, 33-36,173-174,280-284,319-320; Vol. 5, 1851, 259-262,335-338,385-388; Vol.6, 1852, 93-96, 185-188.
New England Historical and Genealogical Register “Scituate and Barnstable Church Records” Vol.9, 1855, 279; Vol.10, 1856, 37
New England Historical and Genealogical Register “The Sutton Family” Vol. 91, 1937, pp 61-68 Pulsifer, David, Ed.
“Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Deeds, etc. Vol.1, 1620-1651”
Press of William White. Boston. 1861 Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., Ed.
“Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Court Orders. Vol. I.” Press of William White. Boston. 1855.
Stratton, Eugene Aubrey. “Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691” Ancestry Publishing. 1986
Henry Merritt.
Although it is advised to rely on Deane's History of Scituate with some caution, that history notes that,
"Henry Merritt was one of the earliest settlers of Scituate, though not a freeman until 1638. There is a deed in the Colony records, dated 1628, from Henry Meritt to Nathaniel Tilden, conveying planting lands on the third cliff. [I'm not sure the claim about the deed is accurate.] He was doubtless amongst the first settlers as early as 1626. [This claim of 1626 is also questionable, although the plaque at the Men of Kent Cemetery includes this date.] His house lot in 1633, was at the corner where Greenfield lane and ‘the drift way’ united: we believe it is now [1831] known as Merritt’s corner. He had large shares in the New Harbour marshes. He was also one of the Conihassett partners.”
The assertion that Merritt was in Scituate by 1626 is apparently one of Deane's misstatements. The Scituate Historical Society places Merritt in Scituage "before 1639." The record about being made a Freeman in 1638 should be accurate.
John Merritt and Elizabeth Wyborn, 9th Great-grandparents, were married in Cambridge, MA on 3 Apr 1655. On 3 Apr 1655 Elizabeth and John Merritt were married by Capt. Humphrey Atherton.
From the Revised Merritt Records by Douglas Merritt, page 12:104:
"John Merritt. Able to bear arms in Scituate 1643. Administrator of Will of Henry Merritt 6 June, 1654 (Plymouth Records Vol. 3, p. 51). A grand juror, 3 June, 1656, Constable 6 June, 1660. On jury 29 Oct., 1673. Land assigned to him 1673. He and Charles Stockbridge complain against Isaac Chittenden for setting a fence on the common near Merrits’ Meadow 29 Oct., 1673. Occupied his father’s homestead. Inquest 6 March, 1676, on the body of John Merritt, he having fallen from the works on the rocks 1 March, 1676. On 7 June, 1677, the Court orders that Elizabeth, wife of John Merritt, deceased, shall have the improvements of the estate until the children come of age (Plymouth Reg. Wills, Vol. 2, p. 68)."
Thomas Wyborn, Elizabeths' father, was baptized 1580 in England, and settled first in Plymouth and later in Boston. Per one website, "...in 1648 Thomas bought a house on High Street in Boston. In the city he appears to have been rather prominent. He was Commissioner of the Highways and Constable, meanwhile pursuing his trade of saddler [which is what he had been in England]. He had money to loan, invested in some real property, and at his death in 1656, left an estate valued at nearly four hundred pounds." Another site notes that, “Thomas Weyborn, senior, died in Boston 1656. His will gives ‘To sons Thomas and James, &c. to wife Elizabeth one half the windmaill in Boston, and 40s. per annum. To son John 40£ at 21, to daughter Elizabeth Merritt 5£, to daughter Mary 20£ at 16, and to board at expence of Thomas and James Executors.’” Thomas’s will was dated 1 Sep 1656, probated 28 Oct 1656."
Return to Top of Page
The Early Settlers of Hingham
A list was developed more than a century ago of The First Settlers of Hingham, extracted from the New England Historical & Genealogical Register Vol 2, p 250 to 252 July 1848. This lists the names of the first proprietors in Hingham, who drew their house-lots on 18 Sep 1635, from the Cove on the north side of the road to Fort hill. The list includes Bissell ancestors John Strong and Nicholas Baker. By 1640, Hingham landowners included additional ancestors Thomas Clapp (to Hingham in 1637), James Bucke and William Ripley (to Hingham in 1638). The town was originally called Bare Cove, perhaps because of the mud flats in the harbor at low tide. The harbor is 21 miles south of Charlestown, at the southern tip of Boston Harbor.
Elder John Strong, founder of Windsor and other towns, is covered in detail elsewhere on this website. Similarly, while Rev. Nicholas Baker settled first at length in Hingham, his biography appears above with the early settlers of Scituate.
Thomas Clapp and Jane
Thomas Clapp, son of Nicholas Clapp and Elizabeth and 9th Great-grandfather, was born 1597 in Venn Ottery, Devonshire, England, and died 20 Apr 1684 in Scituate, MA. He married Jane Martin (?) on about 1639 in Weymouth, MA. Thomas was also the first cousin to Roger Clapp b. 1609, England. (Note that one of the standard writings on this family, "The Clapp Memorial," appears to be in error on the name of Thomas's father.) [Roger Clapp is well known because he wrote one of the very few contemporaneous accounts of everyday life for the early settlers in New England in the 1600s. Roger's wife Joanna Ford is also a Bissell Great-Aunt through her father Thomas Ford -- Joanna was 12 and her sister Abigail (Bissell 10th Great-grandmother) was 10 when they arrived and their parents founded Dorchester, MA in 1630. Abigail married Elder John Strong.]
Roger Clapp (also spelled Clap) did many things, however, his real career was that of a Captain in the Military of Massachusetts. Located in what is now South Boston on the shore of Boston Harbor was Castle Island. Castle Island is the oldest military site in North America established as early as 1634, for the purpose of defending Boston against attack from the sea. Captain Clapp was stationed there as Captain of the Dorchester Company. In August 1665 he was named Captain (i.e., commander) of "the castle", a post he held for 21 years. In September 1686 he left the castle having resigned, to a nine gun salute. He never left Boston and remained there until his death. Captain Roger Clapp died on 2 February 1690 in Boston. Joanna and Roger are both buried in Boston, MA at King's Chapel Burying Grounds. Their headstones are still there in very good condition.]
Thomas, together with his brother, Nicholas, and probably sisters Prudence & Redegon, and his cousins Jane Clapp and Edward Clapp (cousin Roger's older brother), emigrated from England to Dorchester, MA, arriving on July 24, 1633, aboard the ship Hopewell. See Ancestry.com online database, "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s" which lists Thomas Clapp arriving in America in the year 1633 together with his brother, Nicholas, and cousins, Jane & Edward Clapp. One source reports as follows:
"July 24, 1633. A ship arrived from Weymouth (England), with about 80 passengers and 12 kine, who sat down at Dorchester (MA). They were 12 weeks coming, being forced into the Western Islands by a leak, where by stayed three weeks and were very courteously used by the Portugals; but the extremity of the heat there, and the continual rain, brought sickness upon them, so as (?) died."
Cousin Roger, son of William Clapp, arrived in New England in 1630 aboard the Mary & John.
After 1637, Thomas's brother, John, emigrated from England; but there is no evidence that his brother, Ambrose, ever left England. Thomas removed to/arrived in Weymouth in the year 1638. See NEHGS "List of Freemen" of Mass. Colony, C.R. Vol. I, pg. 196, 1638/39. This information is taken from Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657, Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975, pg. 64, by Meredith Colket. It appears that Thomas was in Hingham by 1639, because on 4 Jun 1639 William Sprague of Hingham, a planter, was sued by Thomas Clap of Hingham, planter, over a cow [Lechford 80-81] -- and see "First Settlers of Hingham" pg. 251, NEHGS, which lists Thomas Clap 1637 -- then he moved to Scituate before 1639, where he raised his family. He had a total of 9 children by (it would appear) two different wives. From the Pane-Joyce Genealogy: "In 1645 Timothy Hatherly sold to Thomas Clapp of Scituate, 24 acres of land in Scituate." It has been suggested that Abigail Wright was Thomas's first and only wife, but since she was the widow of Robert Sharpe, and married Thomas about 1657, she could only be the mother of his three youngest children. See NEHGS and Ancestry.com. It would appear from the online "Marriage Record Index" at ancestry.com that Thomas did, in fact, marry Jane Martin about 1639, although this appears to be the only documented evidence to support that fact. The updated (2004) Great Migration Series at Ancestry.com, indicates that Abigail Wright married (1) Robert Sharpe before 1640; married (2) Thomas Clapp about 1657; and married (3) William Holbrook about 1696. (TAG 67:38).
Thomas was Deacon of the Church in Scituate in 1647, and was warmly engaged (as apparently were many Bissell ancestors!) in a theological controversy respecting the form of baptism, which commenced about 1641, with the Rev. Charles Chauncey, then minister in Scituate, but afterwards President of Harvard College. Mr. Clapp was one of the committee of three, in 1675, who sent a letter to the Second Church, informing them that a reconciliation had taken place after a controversy of 33 years. Mr. Clapp was a Deputy to the Court in 1649, and overseer of the poor in 1667, that being the first year such officers were chosen. He died April 20, 1684.
Thomas and Jane's son (and Bissell 8th Great-Uncle) Eleazar Clapp was killed in King Phillip's War in the Massacre of March 26, 1676, along with other Bissell ancestors.
Sources for information on Thomas Clapp include Winthrop's History of New England.; The Clapp Memorial, p. 91. See NEHGS. Ancestry.com's online database "American Genealogical-Biographical Index" lists "Thomas CLAPP, b. 1597, England, Vol. 29, Pg. 184. Ref: Directory of the Ancient Heads of New England Families. Comp. by Frank R. Holmes, NY 1923. 48 Gen. Column of the "Boston Transcript" 1906-1941.And the database "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s" lists Thomas Clapp, year 1633, Place- America, Family Members: Brother Nicholas; Cousin Edward; Cousin Jane; Source Publ. Code 8878.3; Primary Immigrant, Clapp, Edward; see Colket, Meredith B., Jr., "Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657. Cleveland: General Court of the Order of Founders and Patriots of America, 1975, p. 64."See also, "Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers," @ Ancestry.com, which lists: "Thomas [Clap], Weymouth, br[other] of Ambrose, John, Nicholas and Richard, b.at Dorset, Dorsetsh. freem. 13 Mar. 1639, had Thomas, b. 15 Mar. 1639, bapt. at Dedham, 17 oe 24 May 1640; removed to Scituate, there was deac. 1647, rep. 1649, and had Samuel, Eliz. Prudence, Eleazer, wh. fell in Rehoboth 26 Mar. 1676, unm. of all of wh. the dates of b. are unkn. beside John, 1658, and Abigail, 29 Jan. 1660, who d. young; and d. 1684. His will of that yr. calls him 87 yrs. old, provides for w. (prob. a.sec.one) Abigail, Thomas and Samuel, and d. Eliz. that had m. 1669, Thomas King."
Samuel Clapp was one of Thomas' sons and the Bissell 8th Great-grandfather. Samuel married Hannah Gill, daughter of Thomas Gill of Hingham, on 14 Jun 1666. (Hannah Gill's mother was Hannah Otis, whose father was John Otis. This Otis family is the cousin connection to Revolutionary War figures James, Samuel and Mercy Otis.) Samuel inherited his father's house and is described as a distinguished man of his time. He was a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts for most of the years between 1692 and 1715. This was after the time when the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Colony joined together. Before that, he was a Deputy to the Plymouth Government. He worked on committees to settle boundary disputes between Scituate and neighboring towns. Samuel had a grist mill and a saw mill where "the Stockbridge Mills" later stood. He may have been a Major in the militia. Hannah died 27 Feb 1722. Their daughter Jane, born in Nov. 1689, married Samuel Holbrook, Jr. of Scituate in 1708.
Return to Top of Page
William Ripley
William Ripley, 10th Great-grandfather also came from Hingham, England on the Diligent with his wife and four children including Abraham. William was baptized 14 May 1598 in Ripon, Yorkshire and married (1st) Katherine Banks in 1618. Their third son John settled in Hingham, MA. William married (2nd) Amia Emmote (Jackson) Watker 14 Aug 1621 in Whitby, Yorkshire and their first child was Abraham, who also eventually settled in Hingham, MA. William was granted land in 1638 on Main Street. His house remained in the Ripley family for 300 years before it was torn down in 1940 and replaced by a fire house.
Abraham was born 9 May 1624, in Ingleby Greenhow, Yorkshire. He married Mary Farnsworth, b. 30 Mar 1637 in Dorchester, whose father Joseph is the immigrant ancestor in America for the Farnsworth family. The Farnsworths are the cousin connection for the Bissells to Winston Churchill and General Douglas MacArthur. Abraham Ripley and Mary Farnsworth Ripley, 9th Great-grandparents, had Mary (8th Great-grandmother who was born 1 May 1660, in Hingham, MA.) who married Nicholas Wade, Jr.
The picture to the right is the Ripley Homestead on Main Street, Hingham, MA. There were originally several homes here built by Ripleys. This remaining house was originally built in 1692 as two distinct houses. This home, now one of the oldest homes in Hingham, was built by William’s grandson, Peter, a cooper, prior to his marriage in 1693.
William Ripley was a "glover" in England (someone who makes gloves) and became a "weaver" in Hingham Plantation. He became a Freeman May 18 1642, remarried Mrs. Elizabeth Thaxter in 1654, and died shortly after in July 1656. The picture at the left shows a typical colonial America weaver representing about the same time period during which William Ripley was a weaver.
Information from a Ripley family website http://www.craw.us/crawfords/massachusetts/WelchHingham.html provides that "the story of Hingham, Massachusetts, really starts in Hingham, and the neighboring town of Wymondham, Norfolk, England, three years later. Hingham lies 100 miles northeast of London, a small town (around 2,000 people in the year 2000) centered around St. Andrews Church (pictured in photo), while Wymondham is 5 miles further to the east (current population around 13,000).
"Many of the St. Andrews parishioners were strong Puritan followers of their minister, Rev. Robert Peck. In 1632 the Puritan-friendly Bishop of Norwich died, and his replacer, Bishop Matthew Wren, tightened many Anglican restrictions such as removing English bibles and restoring Latin in religious services. Religious strife, along with an economic depression in the area since the 1620s, led many in Hingham (and eastern England in general) to decide they would be better off leaving England."
"The first of three waves of immigrants from the Hingham area arrived in Bare Cove in 1633 led by Edmund Hobart and three of his sons. The second wave came in 1635 when another of the Hobart sons, Rev. Peter Hobart, arrived with another boat load from Hingham. With his arrival the Mass. General Court incorporated the town and renamed it Hingham Plantation to encourage more emigrants to come from Hingham, England. The final wave came in 1638 when the former minister of St. Andrews Church, Rev. Robert Peck arrived with another 133 including most of the remaining Puritans from the parish. This final departure left old Hingham decimated, and tipped the political balance in Hingham Plantation from an uneasy rivalry between Westcountry non-Puritans and Norfolk Puritans, to a solid Puritan majority, and cemented Hingham Plantation as virtually a transplant of the old culture, with a similar social structure. The people in Hingham Plantation were regarded in one of three social classes: at the top were the clergy, political leaders, and the very wealthy; next came the lesser gentry or yeomen; and at the bottom were the cottage farmer.
"By the end of the Great Migration [the period from 1630 to 1640], the population of Hingham was around 700 with 47 founding families (in the year 2000 the population was 19,882). At some point in the 1640s, all of the available land was accounted for and the town no longer accepted new settlers, and with the Puritan propensity to having large families, many of the children of the founders left to seek land and opportunities elsewhere. Those children that stayed, intermarried, so that after a few generations most residents of the town could claim ancestors coming from the major families like the Hobarts, Lincolns, and Ripleys."
The Ripley family website noted above also provides a good description of how Hingham was laid out:
"In Massachusetts in the 1630s, land was owned by the Mass. Bay Company, and was allotted to individuals only after a town became incorporated by vote of the General Court. Once incorporated, a town could allot its land among the freemen living in the town. To be a freeman, one had to be a member of the local Church and have lived in the town long enough to be considered respectable. In order to provide protection from Dutch pirates, French soldiers, or hostile Indians, every incorporated town had to have a meetinghouse, which served as the Church, town hall, and fort; a militia training ground; a town common; and a school. All homes had to be built within 1/2 mile of the meetinghouse, so towns were built with a dense cluster of homes along the major roads surrounded by the individual fields. Hingham was built south and west from a sheltered cove that provided access to the bay around Boston, and initially most travel and commerce between Hingham and the rest of the colony was by boat. Much of the original farmland was already meadows cleared of trees by the members of the Massachusetts Indian nation, under Chief Chickutabut. Epidemics of probably smallpox, spotted fever, and measles had decimated the Indian population in the decade before the Pilgrims. Those that still lived in the area were friendly to the English and lived as neighboring communities. The Indians traded their furs, did day-labor type jobs in Hingham, and some even came to the weekly Sunday church services. The land was officially bought from the Indians on July 4, 1665, when the tribe's chief, Josiah Wompatuck, presented a detailed legal deed with all of the typical legalese wording of more modern deeds, signed by seven Indians, to Captain Joshua Hobart and John Thaxter.""The only conflict Hingham had with Indians involved not the friendly local Indians, but the marauding Indians from further south in the conflict known as King Philip's War. Hingham built three separate forts within the town to combat the threat, and probably escaped any serious attack by having a well trained militia. Only one man was killed and five houses burned in a night-time raid on April 19, 1676, while the adjacent town of Scituate to the southeast was completely destroyed."
The documentation for William Ripley, Abraham Ripley and the other family members' arrival in New England is the Passenger List of the Diligent, in 1638, Ipswich, Suffolk England to Boston Harbor, taken from: The Planters of the Commonwealth by Charles E. Banks, published by Houghton Mifflin Co. (1930),pages 191-194.
[Cushing's List] "DILIGENT, of Ipswich, John Martin, Master. She sailed from Ipswich, Suffolk, in June and arrived August 10 at Boston, with about one hundred passengers, principally from Hingham, Norfolk, destined for Hingham, Massachusetts [other sources have that the Diligent sailed from Gravesend on 26 Apr 1638].
... WILLIAM RIPLEY of Wymondham, Norfolk
Mrs. Ripley
Mary Ripley
John Ripley
Abraham Ripley
Sarah Ripley
William's son Abraham was admitted a Freeman in Hingham, May 14, 1656.
Return to Top of Page
Isaac Buck and Philip James
p
Two other early settlers of Hingham should be mentioned here. One is Philip James
Information about Philip James from the website http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ski/scott/diligent.html includes the following: from the Passenger List of the Diligent, 1638, from Ipswich, Suffolk England to Boston Harbor, taken from The Planters of the Commonwealth by Charles E. Banks (1930). Sources also include A New Look at the Family of Francis and Philip James of Hingham: Immigrant Ancestors by Marya Myers and Donald W. James, Jr. in the January 1997 issue of the NEHGS Register. “Philip was probably the brother of Francis James. Philip was born about 1600-1605 in or near Hingham, Norfolk, Eng. and died soon after arriving in MA. His widow Jane married George Russell on 14 Feb 1639/40, and she died 22 Feb 1688/89 in Hingham "age about 83 years". Diligent passengers William Pitts and Edward Mitchell came as servants of Philip and Jane James. Though not named in the above list, the names of the four children of Philip and Jane were Anne (b. 1629), Francis (b. 1622), Jane (b. 1634) and Sarah (b. 1636).”
Regarding John Adams, Jr. b. 1627, he married Jane James 27 Dec 1654 in Marshfield, MA. John is mentioned here not because he was a settler of Hingham but because his wife Jane was from Hingham. John Adams, Jr. was the son of John Adams and Ellen Newton, First Comers to Plymouth. John Adams, Jr. and Jane had a daughter Martha Adams, born 6 Mar 1658, in Marshfield, MA, died 29 Dec 1717, Scituate. John later converted to Quakerism (see below) after moving to Long Island and the death of Jane, and went to sea for 2 years after her death.
John² Adams (John¹) settled first in Marshfield. [The source of this information is from October of 1879, Volume 33, and on pages 410—413, of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, an Article published about the Family of John Adams of Plymouth, Massachuessetts].
"He dwelt near Mount Skirgo, an elevation of the Marshfield bounds of the forest which lies between this town and Pembroke." [Miss Thomas's Memorials of Marshfield, p. 37] John was admitted a freeman of Plymouth Colony, June 1, 1658. He was a witness in a case of manslaughter, Jan 1654-5; a grand-juryman June, 1658; a member of a coroner's jury, July, 1658; and was appointed a constable of Marshfield, June 8, 1660. He subsequently removed to Flushing, Long Island, as is shown by a deed on record at Plymouth, Bk. iii. p. 127. The following is an abstact of an attested copy by William S. Danforth, register of deeds.
"Captain John Adams, of the towne of Flushinge, in Long Island in New England, America," sells Dec. 10, 1666, to "Nathaniel Warren of the Towne of Plymouth in the jurisdiction of Plymouth in New England, in America, " &c. "all that my share lot and portion of land att or neare a place commonly called and knowne by the name of Nama Nakett in the jurisdiction of Plymouth, aforesaid, which was granted unto mee the said JohnAdams as being one of the children of the old comers of the said Jurisdictin according to grant of the court for the jurisdiction of Plymouth aforesaid bearing date the third day of June An° Dom: one thousand six hundred and sixty and two [See list of grantees in Plymouth Colony Records (Boston, 1855), vol iv. p. 19.] being the twenty eighth part of the tract of land purchased by Captaine Thomas Southworth of the Indain Sachem named Josias Wampatuck in the behalf of said court." and also share of lands "purchased by Major winslow lying and being att Namassakeesett ponds." signed by John Adams and the mark of Elizabeth Adams, his wife.
After learning that John and Elizabeth Adams had removed to Flushing, I wrote to Henry Onderdonk Jr., Esq. , of Jamaica, L. I. , for any records he maght have of John Adams, of Flushing, and received in February ,1878, the following valuable memoranda, from his manuscript collections relative to Long Island history, which he has kindly permitted me to print: [recall that the Quakers did not use the pagan names of the months of the year, but used the number of the month, March being the first month. The order of dates is day, month, and year]
Children of John Adams and his first wife Joane: Mary, born 3, 5, 1656. Martha, born 4, 1, 1658. Rebecca, born 13, 12 1661; married Henry Clifford, of Flushing, 29, 3, 1686.
Children of John Adams and his second wife Elizabeth: John, born 17, 6 , 1664; died 4, 8, 1665. Elizabeth, born 9, 1, 1665. [married 23, 1, 1692, William Hollingshead] Sarah, born 28, 2, 1668. James, born 4, 8, 1671. Susanna, born 6, 9,1674. Hannah, born 15, 12, 1675. Deborah, born 7, 3, 1678. John, born 10, 7, 1680; died 30, 10, 1688. Abigail, born 2, 11, 1682. Thomas, born 12, 11, 1684. Marsey, born 13, 10, 1686. Phebe, born 9, 12, 1690.
John and Elizabeth Adams were Friends or Quakers; and were both living in 1690; do not know where they died. In 1678 John gave a long narrative of his being a persecutor of Friends in New England when he was a constable; He was a sober young man, but full of vanity. He was a member of the Independent Congregational Church for many years; he had a wife and children there, but by God"s Providence he was brought to Flushing; having first taken from him his dear wife Joane. He went to sea at her decease for two years.
John Adams was converted to Quakerism by the preaching of John Burnyeat and John Stubbs, preachers in New England [which then included Long Island east of Oyster Bay.] John had meetings at his house. In 1667 he was a leading member of the Meeting at Flushing. In 1684 the meeting lent him some money to pay for a negro he had bought as a loborer on his farm. His name appears in Meeting records in 1667—1673. In 1691 he sold his farm at Bayside, Flushing, to John Rodman, of Block Island." [end of Onderdonk information]
In a subsequent letter Mr. Onderdonk says, in reply to the suggestion that Joane and Jane were identical names: "Joane and Jane I think to be the same name. John and Elzabeth Adams exchanged their farm of 130 acres in Flushing, for house, 500 Acres of land and £190 cash, in West New Jersey, June 4, 1691. John's confession, in which he gives an account of his life, was made to the Meeting. He was charged with going over to the Ranters, a noisy faction of Friends. He retracts his error, and therein gives a long account of his opinions, and how God controlled his actions, &c. &c. It was a case of discipline, and of course not printed. I copied all of it that was not torn off years ago, because I thought it so interesting; and so with the births; and you are the first that has applied to me for that knowledge." John² Adam's last child, Rebecca, by his first wife, Joane, was born Feb 13, 1661, probably 1661-62, and his first child, John, by his second wife, Elizabeth, was born Aug. 17, 1664. His wife Jane, or Joane, probably died soon after the birth of Rebecca, as he states in the document quoted by Mr. Onderdonk, that he went to sea for two years after the death of his first wife, before settling at Flushing.
The other settler to note is Isaac Buck. I have not listed Isaac Buck in the genealogy charts as a confirmed ancestor, because there is some question in my mind about the connection coming forward from Isaac Buck in the 1700s to Jotham Bisbee and the Bisbee line. If he was an ancestor, he was a key figure in the early history of Scituate, according to the Buck Surname Booklet, V. 1, Fall 1988.
"William Buck, a plowright, was born in 1585 in England, sailed with a son Roger to AMerica on the Increase, landing in July 1635. Eight other sons came to America on other ships the same year or shortly after. All settled first in Massachusetts. William Buck settled in Cambridge, MA and died 24 Jan 1658. His sons may have been born in Norfolk, Eng. Sons arriving in Massachusetts included Isaac, at age 33 (thus born in 1602), sailing on the Amitie 13 Oct 1635 (although he may have arrived in 1638); "Cornet John" Buck of Scituate, who married Elizabeth (Holbrook) Sprague; and a brother James, who landed in Boston 10 Aug 1637.
"Isaac BUCK Lieutenant was born between 1602 and 1605 in England. He died in 1695 in Scituate, MA. xrom the History of Scituate: "Lieutenant Isaack Buck was in Scituate before 1647. He was town clerk from 1665 to 1695.....He was a very useful man, often engaged in public business. He was lieutenant in the Philip's War and repulsed the Indians with great bravery from Scituate, in March 1676. He died intestate in 1695."....The children of of Isaack and Frances Buck were Thomas, James, Joseph, Jonathan, Benjamin, Elizabeth, who married Robert Whitcombe; Mehitable, who married Stephen Chittenden, November 5th, 1679; Ruth, who married Joseph Garrett, January 17th, 1676; Deborah, who married Henry Merrit; Isaack and John.
Title. Double click me.
Return to Top of Page