This web page is part of A Family Reunion of Douglas J. Graham. There is a search page for finding specific information. This page has also been indexed in the Place Name Index. Last update of page: 12 August 2005. Note that I no longer stand by the supposed link between the Lucy Scott of my family (married to Henry Wisdom) and the Joseph Scott who is descended from Degory Priest. I have left this page posted but it seems to have been one of those mistaken leads one occasionall follows in genealogy!
The most famous boat of American history, the Mayflower, set sail out of Plymouth, England in mid-July 1620 and dropped anchor off the tip of Cape Cod on 21 November 1620. One of the 102 passengers was a pilgrim named Degory Priest (ca. 1580-1621). The following is Degory's family tree, but note that the Mary Scott probably married John Graham, not related to me (see Wisdom chapter for further details).
Peter Prust
?
Degory Priest of the Mayflower, b. ca. 1579 ---m. --- Sarah Allerton (link through her to Davis)
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Phineas Pratt, b. ca. 1593 --- m. --- Mary Priest
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Joseph Pratt, b. ca. 1645 --- m. --- Dorcas Folger (link through her to Gibbs and Merrill)
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Joseph Edmunds, b. 1687--- m. --- Mary Pratt
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Lieut. Joseph Scott, b. 1716--- m. --- Mary Edmunds, b. 1719
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Mary Scott
The Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower were members of a religious minority known as the Congregationalists (also known as Separatists or Independents). What drove them to make this perilous voyage? Congregationalism developed as one wing of the broader Puritan movement in western Christianity. The general goal of Puritanism was to "purify" the Church of England and to carry on to completion the work of the Protestant Reformation in England.
Congregationalists in particular were concerned to put into practice the Reformation doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. A fundamental belief was the idea of the "gathered church", which was in contrast to the territorial basis of the Church of England whereby everyone in a certain area was assigned to the parish church. Congregationalists believed that the foundation of the church was God's Spirit, not man nor the state. Those who were definitely Christian believers, should therefore seek out other Christians and gather together to make up an independent local church, separate from the Church of England.
These views of course conflicted with those of the offical Church of England and in the early 17th Century the Congregationalists were subject to religious persecution in England which drove our ancestors to Holland in 1608 and later to the New World. The political influence of those that remained peaked in the 1650s, under one of their own, Oliver Cromwell, but gradually declined thereafter. The Congregationalists remained a religious minority in England; by the early 20th Century they had forged a strong tie with the Liberal Party and the Liberal victory of 1906 is generally seen as the peak of Congregationalist influence in English society and politics. In 1972 the majority of English Congregationalists and Presbyterians joined forces to form the new United Reform Church.
What happened to the Congregationalists in the New World? They were originally distinct from the less radical Puritans who colonized Massachussets shortly after the Mayflower, who believed that the Church of England could be reformed from within. The Puritans eventually however accepted the congregational form of church government in which each local church was independent. Thus, the churches of the Separatists and the Puritans became the Congregationalists of the United States. After a long history in the United States, in 1961 a further merger was effected with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to create the United Church of Christ.
One particularly tenacious cluster of English Congregationalists or Separatists in the 16th century were from a small area of N. Nottingham and the Lincolnshire border. They were under the spiritual leadership of John Robinson (b. ca. 1576). They met regularly at Scrooby. William Brewster, b. 1566, was another prominent leader of this group and an early recruit was William Bradford, b. 1589, later to become the great Pilgrim leader.
To escape persecution in England, the group resolved to flee to Holland, then a rare haven of religious freedom. After an unsuccessful try in 1607 (and brief imprisonment of most of the men), they suceeded in 1608 in making it to Amsterdam. There were other English Separatist groups already there and there was friction among them and so the following year, John Robinson led his flock of 473 to Leyden in southern Holland. They took up a variety of trades there, such as weavers, hatters, tailors, etc., mostly to do with the fact Leyden was then one of the world's most eminent cloth centres. There is a Pilgrim Museum in Leiden but when I visited in late 1999 it didn't seem to be open. Note also that there is a rich collection of 450 pilgrim documents available from the City Archives of Leiden (not yet checked out).
However, ten years later, the leaders felt they needed to leave Holland. A truce between Holland and Spain was about to end and there was a real fear of invasion from Catholic Spain. Also, the group were aging and the young seemed at risk of losing their language, their ties to England, and their religion. Various English companies were at the time looking for colonists for Viriginia and New England to exploit their commercial potential. The Virginia Company agreed to finance the group's trip to Virginia in exchange for various commercial rights. Finally, two boats, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, were ready to make the trip and the group traveled to Plymouth, England. The Speedwell would eventually be judged unready for the trip and so a smaller group squeezed onto the Mayflower.
The ship left Plymouth in mid-July 1620. Of the 102 colonists on board, only 35 were "saints", that is, members of the English Separatist Church. The rest were hired to protect the company's interests; these included the famous John Alden and Myles Standish. Although no detailed description of the original vessel exists, marine archaeologists estimate that the square-rigged sailing ship weighed about 180 tons and measured 90 feet (27 m) long. The Mayflower was prevented by rough seas and storms from reaching the territory that had been granted in Virginia. Instead, after a 66-day voyage, it landed November 21 on Cape Cod, at what is now Provincetown, MA. An exploring party arrived in the Plymouth area on December 21 (now celebrated as Forefathers' Day). The ship remained until the following April, when it left for England, to later disappear into history. In 1957 the historic voyage of the Mayflower was commemorated when a superb replica of the original ship was built in England, the Mayflower II, and sailed to Massachusetts in 53 days. It is now a popular tourist destination (which my family and I visited in July 1999).
The Pilgrims built their first fort and watchtower on Burial Hill (so called because it contains the graves of Gov. William Bradford and others of the original group). Half the settlers died that first winter and were buried on Cole's Hill, which was later levelled and planted to grain so that the Indians could not judge the extent of the colony's depletion. Plymouth Plantation, a modern-day tourist destination at Plymouth, is a recreation of the settlement in 1627, and provides an interesting glimpse into what the life of the settlers must have been like. The town was recognized in 1633 as the seat of Plymouth Colony (absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691). Plymouth was the first permanent non-native settlement in what was to become the United States. See Sources below for further information and some excellent Web sites on the history of Plymouth and the Pilgrims.
These first settlers, initially referred to as the Old Comers and later as the Forefathers, did not become known as the Pilgrim Fathers until two centuries after their arrival. A responsive chord was struck with the discovery of a manuscript of Gov. William Bradford referring to the "saints" who had left Holland as "pilgrimes." At a commemorative bicentennial celebration in 1820, the orator Daniel Webster used the phrase "Pilgrim Fathers", and the term became of common usage thereafter.
It is thought that Degory Priest may be the "Digorius Prust" baptized in Hartland Co., Devonshire, England on 11 August 1582, the son of Peter Prust. In April 1619 in Leyden, Degory Priest stated in a record that he was 40 years old, making him born about 1579. He married Sarah (Allerton) Vincent (see immediately below), 4 November 1611, Leyden, Holland. She was a sister of the famous Isaac Allerton, also a Mayflower passenger. Both are stated as being of London in their marriage record. They had two daughters in Leyden.
Very little is known about Degory Priest. Since he was married in Holland in 1611, it is clear that he was a religious Separatist very early on, and was an early member of the Pilgrims' Leyden congregation. He was a hatter in Leyden and may have been a hatter in London (2?). Degory became a citizen of Leyden in 1615. Many of the pilgrims similarly became citizens as that was a prerequisite for entrance into the guilds (2?).
He came to America on the Mayflower, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. Almost half of the original Mayflower group died in the first year and Degory was among them, dying on 1 January 1621. He had survived long enough to be one of the signers of the famous Mayflower Compact, often thought of as America's first written constitution. Bradford's contemporary history says that many of the passengers "dyed soon after their arrival, in the generall sickness that befell. But Digerie [sic] Priest had his wife and children sent hither afterwards, she being Mr. Allerton's sister".
Sarah Allerton's parents are not given in (3) but information is provided by (11), but from unknown sources. Her parents would have been Edward Allerton, b. 1555 St. Dionis, Backchurch, London, England, died 1590 England, and Rose Davis, b. ca. 1559 in St. Peters, Corningshire, died June 1596 in England. Edward's father was William Allerton, b. 1529. The children of Edward Allerton listed in (11) are in fact children of Isaac Allerton.
Sarah however certainly had at least two brothers. Isaac's will (3) also mentions a "brother Breuster". The two siblings were:
1) Isaac Allerton, b. ca. 1586. He was one of the more famous of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was originally a tailor in London and was married in Leyden, the same day as his sister, 4 November 1611, to Mary Norris of Newbury, England, b. ca. 1588.
He came over on the Mayflower, with his wife and three children, and became First Assistant (1621 to ca. 1631) to Governor Bradford. Mary Norris died in childbirth, with a stillborn son, the first winter. She died 25 February 1620/1 on the Mayflower, while the first houses were still being built at Plymouth. In ca. 1626 he married Fear Brewster, b. 1606 at Scrooby, England (12), daughter of William and Mary Brewster, William being one of the most famous Pilgrims. Fear had arrived in Plymouth in July 1623, on the Anne, the same ship that brought Mary Priest and her two children.
Isaac was well known for his unscrupulous dealings with fellow Pilgrims and eventually left the colony in disgrace in the 1630's when he lost the support of William Brewster. "A most enterprising man, he engaged in commercial pursuits at Marblehead and in Maine and later resided at New Amsterdam." (20). He is often remembered as "the first Yankee trader". Fear died in Plymouth before 12 December 1634. Isaac Allerton was probably married a third time to Joanna Swinnerton, before 1644, probably New Haven, CT. There were no known children from this marriage. He died insolvent between 1 and 12 February 1658/9 in New Haven, CT. Joanna was still living in 1684. Isaac's children (see (3) for more information on him and his descendents or see (12) on the web) were (Sarah and Isaac were by his second wife):
As is the case for Degory Priest, a General Society of Mayflower Descendents book is available on the first five generations of Isaac Allerton's descendents. A somewhat earlier and shorter version, covering four generations, was published in 1996 (3). Isaac Allerton has apparently a relatively small number of descendants compared to other Mayflower passengers, but is an ancestor to Presidents Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt (the latter also descended from Degory Priest through Sarah). The presidents are both thus our very remote (!) relatives: President Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), through Isaac Allerton Jr., was a 5th cousin to Mary (Scott) Wisdom; President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), through Degory Priest, was an 8th cousin to Paul Graham.
2) Sarah Allerton, b. ca. 1588 at London (16). She was first married to John Vincent and then married to Degory Priest as noted above. Having received word of her husband's death, she remarried on 13 November 1621 in Leyden, to Godbert Godbertson (name used in (3) but also often called Cuthbert Cuthbertson). They arrived in July-August of 1623 on the Anne with their three children (two by Degory Priest). It is possible that there were two additional children with them by the first marriage of Godbertson (I think there is a reference to five children that arrived with them in (2) and see also mention of three Cuthbertson below). Francis Sprague, another of my ancestors, was also a passenger. Godbert (ca. 1590-633), a Dutch Walloon, was a hat-maker in Leyden. He had been married previously in 1617 to Elizabeth Kendall. He became a "purchaser", i.e., a shareholder in the Pilgrim Company when it was formed in 1626. He died seven years later, in Plymouth, of "infectious fever". She died in Plymouth before 24 October 1633. On 11 November 1633 their son-in-law Phineas Pratt was appointed "to take possession of the personal property of Cuthbert Cuthbertson and his wife Sarah" (12).
The son, Samuel Godbertson, moved to Dartmouth in 1652. He was one of the original purchasers of Dartmouth (16). The two daughters of Mary Priest are described in the next section.
3) Edward (19), b. before 1590 in England. He died as an infant 26 January 1589/90.
Degory Priest and Sarah Allerton had two children, both born in Leyden and both of whom arrived at Plymouth in 1623 on the Anne, with their mother and stepfather, after the death of their father in Plymouth in 1621. They are:
1) Mary Priest, b. ca. 1613 in Leyden. She m. in 1630 in Plymouth to Phineas Pratt, considered below. Mary and Phineas Pratt had eight children (see next section). Mary died in Charlestown, MA between 7 March 1686/7 (when the Town Council provided for her support) and 22 July 1689.
2) Sarah, b. ca. 1615 in Leyden. She m. John Coombs in about 1631 in Plymouth. John was in Plymouth by October 1630 and was a Freeman in 1633. However he was disenfranchized 3 September 1639 for being drunk and was not restored to Freeman status until 5 June 1644. He was apparently dead by 15 October 1646, when a William Spooner undertook before the Court to promise the town he would spare them any charges caused by "a child that Mrs. Combs left him when she went to England" (the children would have been about 14 and 11 at that time). William Spooner was ordered by the court on 1 August 1648 "to keep the children of Mis Combe and not dispose of them without further order of the court". There is no further record of Sarah in New England so she presumably died after this date in England.
These unfortunate children of John Coombs and Sarah Priest, both born in Plymouth, MA, were:
The source (1) provides no information on Phineas' parents or immediate family suggesting perhaps there is no verified information; other sources however indicate that his brother was Joshua Pratt, also an early settler of Massachusetts, and their father was Henry Pratt, b. about 1545 (13). Henry Pratt was a "minister imprisoned in England because he preached the Gospel contrary to the rules of the established Church" (12). According to (11), Henry's father was John Pratt. The two Pratt brothers were:
1) Phineas Pratt, probably of London, b. ca. 1593, arrived in Plymouth in May 1622 on the Sparrow. Six men arrived in Plymouth with Phineas but this group had not come as colonists for Plymouth. Six months later they joined others from the Charity and the Swan, all three groups had been sent out by the Pilgrims' opponent, Thomas Weston, in establishing the rival colony of Wessagusset, now Weymouth near Boston. These colonists though had few bindings with one another and the colony was doomed to fail. They made quick enemies with the Native Americans. A contemporary account notes they were a "reckless and improvident lot, and quickly made havoc of their provisions". They finally precipitated a minor war in 1623 with the local Indians, and when they attacked the colony Phineas fled to Plymouth in March 1622/23.
Caffrey (4) writes that the Pilgrim's "apprehensions were reinforced by the unexpected arrival of Phineas Pratt with a small pack on his back. He had managed to get to Plymouth from Wessagusset, though he had not had the slightest idea of the way, and had gone off course several times, which was a good thing as the Indians had been after him. Pratt's advice was simple: he dared not stay with the Pilgrims, because from what he had been able to observe, they would all be knocked on the head shortly unless they did the sensible thing and left. Soon afterward, one Indian who had been chasing Pratt came through Plymouth "still pretending friendship". Taking no chances Bradford lodged him in the fort, chaining him to a post where he would have to be content to remain until Standish got back from Wessagusset."
The Pilgrims liquidated Weston's "disorderly colony" in 1623. The Wessagusset colonists went north to Maine and then back to England with the exception of Pratt who would stay on with the Pilgrims. He received land in Plymouth in 1623; (12) notes that "The oldest volume of Plymouth Colony records is entitled: "Plimouths great book of deeds of lands enrolled from 1627 to 1651". On pages 50- 57, we find Phineas and his brother, Joshua Pratt assigned to the first lot in Francis Cooke's Companie. The three Cutbertsons and Mara and Sarah Pratt were assigned to the second Lot in Issac's Allerton's Companie."
Phineas became a purchaser in 1626, and married in ca. 1630 (likely in error when stated to be on 4 November 1630 in Cambridge, MA according to (11)) to Mary Priest (see above). He was on the 1633 "freeman list" (12). In 1646, listed as a "joyner", he sold land in Plymouth and by 1648 was in Charlestown where he purchased land. He died in Charlestown on 19 April 1680, aged 90. Mary and Phineas Pratt had eight children (see next section), the first six born in Plymouth and the last two probably born in Charlestown.
As discussed by (5), the first settlers of Plymouth who came on the Mayflower (1620), Fortune (1621), and Anne (1623) were granted special land privileges not granted to later Plymouth settlers -- a status often referred to as the "First Comers". While Phineas Pratt's residence at Plymouth pre-dated those who came on the Anne, he did not technically fall into the category of a "First Comer" because he came to America on the Sparrow in 1622. Pratt felt he deserved the status of a "First Comer", and in 1662 he petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony to that end [was the petition successful?]. He wrote a supporting paper in which he provides a lot of his memories of early Plymouth; now a very valuable source of historical information. His "A Decliration of the Afaires of the English People [that first] inhabited New England" is available on the web in an exact transcription. It provides some fascinating reading.
2) Joshua, b. about 1593 (14), arrived in America on the Ann in 1623 (12). Joshua Pratt received land in Plymouth in 1623, among the "old comers", along with Phineas ((1) and see above). Joshua married Bathsheba Fay in 1630 in Plymouth (4). Bathsheba (14) was b. 1 January 1592/93 in England and died 1673 at Plymouth, MA. She was also married to John Dogget (12), presumably as her second husband. Joshua was one of the original 36 purchasers of Dartmouth, who met at Plymouth, March 7, 1652.
Joshua died either 1 October 1656 in Plymouth or before 6 October 1656 at Dartmouth (15). Joshua and Bathsheba's children, all born at Plymouth, were:
Phineas Pratt and Mary Priest had eight children, the first six born in Plymouth and the last two probably at Charlestown. Only the briefest and most interesting information is provided here on Joseph's brothers and sisters and on their 40 children. All the details can be found in (1) and there are also other voluminous works available on the Pratts and their many descendents. See also (12).
1) John Pratt, b. ca. 1631. He married Ann Barker ca. 1663. She was b. ca. 1643 and was the daughter of John Barker and Ann (sic) Williams. In 1671 he was living in Kingstown, RI and, at least by 1685 was in Oyster Bay, Long Island. He was appointed keeper of Hog Island (now Centre Island) in the Harbor of Oyster Bay. She died after 27 April 1695 and he died after 14 March 1697/8. They had eight children:
2) Mary, b. ca. 1633. She m. on 1 March 1655/6 in Cambridge to John Swan, b. England ca. 1620. In 1640 John Swan is listed as a "servant boy" in Cambridge. He had previously married in Cambridge on 1 January 1650/1 to Rebecca Palfrey by whom he had two children. John and Mary Swan lived in Cambridge, MA where all their children were born and where she died 11 February 1702 aged 70 and he died 5 June 1708. They had eight children (or nine as (1) seems to have omitted the son Gershom discussed at some length in the text?):
3) Samuel, b. ca. 1636. He married, perhaps in Scituate, MA, betwen 19 December 1667 and 2 November 1668 (December 1665 in Marshfield, Plymouth on (11)), to Mary Barker, b. ca. 1647. She was the daughter of John Barker and Anna (sic) Williams of Duxbury. Her sister Ann married John Pratt, Samuel's brother. After her husband's early death she would go on to marry twice more, including to Francis Coombs, her brother-in-law and first cousin of Samuel (see above for more information on her and on Francis Coombs).
Samuel was killed on 26 March 1676 by Indians on the banks of the Pawtucket River, near Rehoboth. He was one of the 52 "English" that died in that fight. This was an engagement in King Philip's War, which resulted in the virtual elimination of Indians from southern New England. In about 1690, his widow was petitioning for the exemption from military service of her son Samuel and she wrote: "These lines may give information that Samuel Pratt's Father, my first husband,was slain by the heathen in Captain Pierce's fight. He was pressed a souldier when I sojourned att Scittuate, having then noe place of my own, and have brought him up with other small children, and I shall take it very unkindly, Iff he that is the only one son of his father that was slain in the former warr should be compelled to go out againe, itt being contrary as I am informed to the law of England and this country, therefore I desire itt may not be. So petitions Mary Woods from Middlebury".
Their two children ((11) mentions also a Susannah, b. 1665 in Scituate, but this probably not reliable), probably born in Scituate:
4) Daniel, b. ca. 1640. He married Anne (or Anna) _____. Daniel died in Providence, RI between 23 June 1680 and 2 June 1690. His widow remarried in Providence in January 1690/1 to William Turpin (previously married to Elizabeth Hoare). She was still living in Feb. 1718/19. Daniel had one child, born in Providence:
5) Mercy, b. ca. 1642. She married ca. 1662 to Jeremiah Holman, b. England ca. 1629. Jeremiah had come to Massachusetts when he was 6 on the Defense in 1635. He was the son of William and Winifred (sic) Holman. They presumably lived in Cambridge where their five children were probably all born. Mercy Pratt died between 14 December 1691 and 14 March 1694/5. Jeremiah remarried, in 1702 or earlier, to Susanna ____ by whom he had daughter Abigail. He died in Cambridge on 30 November 1709 and his widow a few days later on 4 December 1709. The children of Jeremiah and Mercy Holman were:
6) Joseph, b. ca. 1645 in Plymouth. He married in Charlestown 12 February 1674/1675 to Dorcas Folger, daughter of Peter and Mary (Morrill) Folger. She was still living on 8 July 1728 when the town of Charlestown directed Mr. Hall "to supply widow Pratt with necessaries".
Their first child (1675) was born in Nantucket. The following year Joseph Pratt fought against the Indians in King Philip's War. He must then have returned to Charlestown where the next eight children were born (1677 to 1690). In various deeds in 1698 and 1711 he is listed as "waterman". He died in Charlestown on 24 December 1712. See the next section for their nine children.
According to (10), the parents of Peter Folger were John Folger and Meribah Gibbs. We also know that Dorcas must have had a sister Joanna who married a Coleman (1) because their son would marry his cousin Sarah Pratt (see below).
7) Peter, b. ca. 1647, probably in Charlestown. He married in Lyme, CT on 5 August 1679 to Elizabeth Griswold, daughter of Matthew Griswold and Anna Wolcott. She had previously been married in New London, CT on 17 October 1670 to John Rogers but she had divorced him on 12 October 1676. Peter Pratt bought land in Lyme, CT between 1668 and 1678. His one child was born there in 1680 and he himself died in Lyme 24 March 1688. His widow remarried, probably in Lyme before 1691, to Matthew Beckwith by whom she had Grisell. The one child of Peter and Elizabeth Pratt was:
8) Aaron, b. ca. 1649, probably in Charlestown. He married a first time, in Woburn ca. 1684, to Sarah Pratt, b. Weymouth 31 May 1664, daughter of Joseph Pratt and Sarah Judkins. Neither this Joseph Pratt nor Sarah Judkins are otherwise mentioned in (1) so it is unsure if she was related to Aaron. Aaron seems to have lived his whole life in Hingham, MA where he is recorded as a yeoman. The eleven children of he and Sarah were all born there. She died in Hingham on 22 July 1706 aged 42.
Aaron remarried in Reading on 4 September 1707 to Sarah (Wright) Cummings, b. Woburn 25 February 1670 and daughter of Josiah (or Joseph) Wright and Elizabeth Hassell. He had another four children by his second wife. She had been previously married in Woburn on 28 February 1687 to Abraham Cummings. Aaron died in Hingham on 23 February 1735/36 aged 87. His widow died in Hingham 13 December 1752 aged 84.
The fifteen children of Aaron, all born in Hingham (first eleven by Sarah Pratt and last four by Sarah Wright) were:
Nine children of Joseph Pratt and Dorcas Folger are recorded, the first born at Nantucket and the others at Charlestown. Only the briefest and most interesting information is provided here on Mary's brothers and sisters and on their 13 children. More details can be found in (1).
1) Mary Pratt, b. Nantucket, MA 16 September 1675. Her marriage intention was published at Lynn on 25 October 1707. She m. Joseph Edmunds, b. Lynn 1 March 1686/87. Joseph was the son of John Edmunds and Mary _____ (see immediately below for more on the Edmunds family). Some sources have apparently made Joseph a son of Joseph rather than John and there is apparently much confusion about this family. See (1) for the arguments used to present the family tree shown here. Given the confusion about the father of Joseph Edmunds, (1) questions whether indeed the Mary Pratt he married was the daughter of Joseph and Dorcas Pratt. He would have been 11 years younger than her. However, in her marriage intention, she was "of Charlestown" and there is no other known Mary Pratt who could have been in Charlestown. She would have been 49 when she she had her last child.
They had seven children (see next section), all born in Lynn. In 1724 Joseph, yeoman, sold his homestead in Lynn and bought a tract of land between Woodstock and Oxford. This tract was called "Kickamowad Chaug" which later became the town of Dudley. He was a deacon of the Dudley Church in 1745. Joseph remarried in Woodstock, CT on 6 August 1746 (his first wife having died some time previously, probably in Dudley), to Bathsheba (Sanford) Holmes. He died in Dudley between 12 April 1767 and 9 March 1768.
We have information from (6) on the parents and grandparents of Joseph Edmunds. The name is spelt Edmunds by (1) but other variants that are used, especially in earlier records, are Edmonds, Edmands, and Edmund. I use here whenever possible the spelling of the original source.
Born in England in 1610, William was in "Lin" in 1630. He was made a freeman on 6 May 1635 and drew land in Lynn in 1638. He owned land in "Rumney Marshe (Chelsea), 'neere' Samuel Bennett's" and also held mortgages on real estate in Boston. His "homestall" in Lynn, comprising some ten acres, was at what is now the corner of Boston and Moulton Streets. He was married to Mary _____, a union from which four children are recorded. She died 2 April 1657 and he remarried in September 1658 to Mrs. Ann Martin.
The four children of William and Mary Edmonds were the following:
1) John Edmonds. He married first to Sarah Hudson on 16 December 1662; she died 15 February 1682 after having six children. He married a second time to Mary _____. They had a further seven children (including our Joseph). He died in March or April 1702. She survived him and was executrix of his will in 1702. Church records from Lynn before 1700 have apparently been lost so there are many details that cannot now be confirmed. See next section for his children.
John was a soldier in King Philip's War which began at Rehoboth in 1675. The soldiers of Lynn afterwards petitioned for land in the Nipmugg country (having eliminated the original occupants...) and John was a petitioner. On 3 June 1685 they were granted a tract of land in Worcester County but John did not apparently take up the offer.
He was Constable of Lynn as late as 1688 and "notified" the town meetings. His full three page will of 1701 is transcribed completely in (6). His son Joseph is to be recipient of the homestead when he "be of the age of 21". The exact location of the homestead is described. The source (6) also includes a detailed inventory of his possessions, including eight acres of "salt marsh lying in Rumley Marsh".
2) Mary. She married 1 September 1657 Joseph Hutchings.
3) Joseph. He married three times, to: i) Susanna _____, died 16 December 1670; ii) _____; and iii) Elizabeth Burgess on 27 January 1685. According to (6) his children were (first by first wife, next three by second wife, and last two by third wife):
4) Samuel. He married on 11 August 1675 Elizabeth Merriam. He was a freeman in 1690. They had six children:
The thirteen children of John Edmands (6 by his first wife Sarah Hudson and 7 by his second wife Mary _____) were:
1) William Edmunds, b. 16 January 1664. In his father's will he is described as "lame and decrepit".
2) John, b. 1 February 1666. Evidently he died young as another child would be named John.
3) Jonathan, b. 30 September 1668.
4) Mary, b. 14 October 1671. She is mentioned in his will.
5) Elizabeth, b. 1 May 1677.
6) Nathaniel, b. 2 April 1680.
7) Joseph, b. 1 March 1687. Also mentioned in his will. He is covered above in the section under his wife, Mary Pratt.
8) Benjamin, b. 6 September 1688. Mentioned in will.
9) Samuel. Mentioned in will.
10) Capt. Ebenezer, b. 5 April 1693. Mentioned in will. Ebenezer moved from Lynn and settled at Roxbury and by 1725 was a resident of Dudley, moving in 1724 or 1725. There he had land closely adjoining his brother Joseph. They were both "the first, if not earliest" settlers of the township of Dudley. Ebenezer married in West Roxbury on 12 September 1717 to Elizabeth Griggs, daughter of John Griggs, Jr. and Elizabeth Casse. As the youngest son, in his father's will he was to receive the paternal homestead (i.e., of William Edmands). It is inferred he died about 1761.
There is much more information on Ebenezer in (6), a source which is concerned with his descendents. His three known children are:
11) Mehettabel, b. February 1695/6. Mentioned in will.
12) Rebecca. Mentioned in the will as "sickly".
13) Hannah. Mentioned in will.
2) Joseph Pratt, b. 19 October 1677. He apparently married and had children but no further information is available. He died before 23 July 1712.
3) Bethia, b. 11 February 1679/80. She married ca. 1701 to Sampson Cartwright, b. Nantucket 26 January 1677. He was the son of Edward and Mary Cartwright. They had six children, all born at Nantucket. In 1712, a deed records him as "husbandman of Sherburn" [a part of Nantucket I infer] in which he and his wife sold their land at Nantucket except for their dwelling house. They both died the same day, in June 1741. Their six children were the following:
4) Benjamin, b. 19 January 1681/2, d. 20 February 1681/2.
5) Dorcas, b. 2 April 1683, d. 11 April 1683.
6) Phineas, b. 18 March 1683/4. He was not mentioned in his father's will in 1712.
7) Joshua, b. 28 June 1686. He m. in Boston on 22 May 1722 to Mary Buckley. He was a blacksmith in Boston. He joined the Second Church in Boston in 1725. They were both still living in April 1737. Only one child is known:
8) Lydia, b. 28 November 1688, d. Charlestown 31 August 1694.
9) Sarah, bapt. 19 October 1690. She first married to her first cousin Jeremiah Coleman, Jr., b. Nantucker ca. 1668. He was the son of John and Joanna (Folger) Coleman. They had six children, all born in Nantucket. He died in Nantucket 4 March 1739. Sarah married a second time, in Nantucket on 7 February 1739/40, to John Renuff, laborer. He had previously been marred to Bethiah (Macy) Coffin by whom he had Elizabeth. He died in Nantucket 1 October 1746 and Sarah died there 4 June 1762. The six children of Sarah and Jeremiah Coleman were:
Seven children of Joseph Edmunds and Mary Pratt are recorded, all born at Lynn.
1) Hannah Edmunds, b. 13 January 1708/09. She married in Woodstock, CT on 29 November 1731 to Philip Newell, b. Roxbury 20 March 1692/93. He was the son of Deacon Isaac and Sarah Newell. Husbandman, he had previously married, in Woodstock on 30 December 1728, to Mehitable Morris. Hannah died in Dudley on 26 January 1741/2. Philip married, for a third time, in Dudley on 18 March 1743 to Abigail Scarborough. No children are known by his first or third marriages. Hannah Edmunds and Philip Newell had five children, born in Dudley:
2) John, b. 17 December 1711, died young.
3) Joseph, b. 1 February 1714. He married in Dudley, on 20 December 1750, to Ruth Putney, b. Dudley 26 April 1730. She was the daughter of Joseph and Mehetable (Bowen?) Putney of Dudley. He was a yeoman. She died after 10 January 1776 and he remarried in Dudley 29 July 1779 (intention) to Rachel (Bugbee) Green, b. Woodstock, CT 11 August 1747, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail (Hodge) Bugbee. She had been previously married, 20 September 1763 in Woodstock, to John Green. Joseph apparently married a third time, in Cornish, NH 25 November 1790 to Esther (_____) Hilliard. On 28 September 1797 the inhabitants of Cornish, NH petitioned to have a guardian appointed for Joseph Edmunds "non compos." Joseph filed an appeal in the following month! He died sometime after this. He and Ruth had six children, all born in Dudley:
4) William, b. 14 March 1716. He married in Dudley on 26 December 1738 to Hannah Scott, daughter of Joseph Scott and Hannah Prior. There were no children. See the Scott family for more information on both of them.
5) Mary Edmunds, b. 30 August 1719, married Lieut. Joseph Scott, son of Joseph Scott and Hannah Prior. They had eight children, all born in Massachusetts. After her husband's death in Nova Scotia, Mary would eventually emigate to Nova Scotia, along with her daughter Mary Scott (who would likely marry John Graham). See Scott family for more on Hannah Prior and on the Scotts.
6) Sarah, b. ca. 1721. She married (intention) in Dudley 11 January 1743/4 David Cuttin. They had five children, the first four born in Oxford, all recorded at Dudley. The family apparently moved to Onslow, likely at the same time as the Scotts (1763), since their daughter Sarah would marry there in about 1765 to Joseph Scott (she is recorded in (8) as Sarah Cutting, daughter of David Cutting and Sarah Edmands). David Cutting is also noted in the Scott chapter as one of the original settlers of Onslow in 1763.
A few years later, (1) indicate that Sarah and David were back in Massachusetts (apparently leaving behind at least several children). The period in Nova Scotia is not mentioned by (1) but they cite the Scott Genealogy book (8) so the authors must certainly have been aware of the Onslow interlude of the Cuttins. In 1769 John Cutting appears (9) as one of the grantees of Onslow (but not his father David) so this further supports the idea that the parents by then would have left Nova Scotia. According to (1), Sarah died, probably at Dudley, before 4 March 1770. David apparently remarried, 4 March 1770 in Dudley, to Dorothy (_____) Sabin. He may be the David Cuttin who bought land in Shaftsbury, VT on 12 February 1776 (1). Their children were:
7) Benjamin, b. ca. 1724. He married (intention on 26 September 1747) in Dudley to Mehetabel (sic) Trusdale, b. Pomfret, CT 7 February ____. She was the daughter of Ebenezer and Rachel (Davis) Truesdell (sic). They had six children, all born in Dudley, and then he died, probably in Dudley, before 22 April 1762. His widow remarried in Dudley on 22 April 1762 to Joshua Vinton by whom she had another five children. She died in Dudley before 28 November 1778. The children of Benjamin and Mehetabel Edmunds were:
The basic genealogical information presented here for Degory Priest and the subsequent five generations all comes from the 1994 publication Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Volume 8. Family of Degory Priest (1). The "Five Generations" Series are among the most carefully researched and documented genealogical material available for early New England and the information therein is very reliable. Unless otherwise indicated, all my information on this page comes from this source (which see for detailed primary source information and for many other details I have not included).
Caleb Johnson's Mayflower Web Page is a good source of further material, both genealogical and historical, on the Mayflower. I have drawn directly from this source for various texts (and he in turn provides his references for most material and links to a great many other Mayflower web sites). There is also a highly organized Society of Mayflower Descendents which I have not joined.
I have put together my notes on the historical context of the Mayflower (and a few genealogical data not otherwise included in (1)) from a variety of sources: Johnson's web site, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Willison's 1965 book Saints and Strangers , and the very well done 1974 book by Kate Caffrey called The Mayflower (in my library).
(1) Townsend, Mrs. Charles, Robert Wakefield, and Margaret Harris Stover.
1994. Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Volume 8. Family of
Degory Priest. General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
(2) Willison, G. F. 1965. Saints and Strangers. New York, Ballantine
Books.
(3) Wakefield, Robert S. 1996. Isaac Allerton of the Mayflower and his
Descendants for Four Generations. General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
(4) Caffrey, Kate. 1974. The Mayflower. New York, Stein and Day.
(5) Caleb Johnson's Mayflower
Web Page.
(6) Hill, William G. 1887. Family Record of Deacons Jame W. Converse
and Elisha S. Converse. Compiled and edited by William G. Hill, Malden,
Mass. Privately printed. This book covering in part the Edmunds family consulted
by Douglas Graham in the Boston library of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society (NEHGS) in July 1999.
(7) Miller, Thomas. 1873. Historical and Genealogical Record of the First
Settlers of Colchester County. Halifax, N.S. Halifax, A. & W. MacKinlay
(facsimile edition by Mika Studio,Belleville, Ontario, 1972).
(8) Holman, Mary Lovering. The Scott Genealogy. Compiled by the author
for Harriet Grove Scott, Boston, 1919. Consulted by Douglas Graham in July
1999 at the Boston library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society
(partial photocopy in my files). Mary Holman was a professional genealogist
and her book is carefully researched and meticulously documented.
(9) Israel Longworth's History of Colchester County, Nova Scotia
(circa 1886). Edited by Sandra Creighton and privately printed in Truro,
1989. Consulted by me in Boston in July 1999; I have a photocopy of the
Onslow chapter.
(10) Additional information on early Folgers and descendents of Bethia Pratt
prepared by Ross B. Kenzie of Derby NY and provided at his web
site. He does not indicate his sources.
(11) Additional information (without any indication of sources) is posted
on the early Pratts and Allertons by Arlan Maguire of Yukon, OK at his web site.
(12) Web
site of Harry Hadaway of Bow, NH: "My Family Tree: Plymouth and
Cape Cod MA Genealogy". This is a well referenced extensive Gendex
site with 16,000 (August 1999) individuals, mostly from Massachusetts.
(13) "Phineas Pratt and Some of His Descendants", Pratt, 1897,
source cited in (12).
(14) "Bruce Charles Miller, 5833 Concord Ave, Edina, MN 55424-1712",
source cited in (12).
(15) "Records of William Spooner of Plymouth, MA & his descendants
Thomas Spooner, 1883", source cited in (12).
(16) "Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families by William T. Davis
1895", source cited in (12).
(17) "Michael W Kruse, 911 W 32nd St, Kansas City, MO 64111-3601",
source cited in (12).
(18) ""The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633",
Robert Charles Anderson, 1995, 3 vols.", source cited in (12).
(19) "Michael Mais, 18 Dibling St., Union Beach, New Jersey 07735-3005",
source cited in (12).
(20) "Plymouth Colony Its History & People 1620-1691 by Eugene
Aubrey Stratton", source cited in (12).
Created by Douglas J. Graham. Comments or enquiries would be very welcome at: douglasjgraham@earthlink.net. The web address of the Family Reunion site is "http://home.earthlink.net/~douglasjgraham/DG_FM.htm".