Family:John Peabody and Hannah Andrews (1)

Births of Children

John's father Francis lived in Topsfield, while John was a resident of a part of Topsfield that later became Boxford. He was considered a resident of Topsfield in 1674 when he was made a freeman. He was on the 1685 committee to set boundaries between the town of Rowley and the village of Rowley (as Boxford was then known), and he was one of the first selectmen of Boxford (1687). The birth records of John's children are found in both towns.

The Bacon copy of the Boxford records have a fairly complete listing of the children of this family, though names and dates are missing. This was created in 1823 by town clerk John Bacon as he copied the original records. We cannot be wholly certain whether all these records were in the town records, or whether he supplemented what he found with information from other sources, such as the county records, when he found information on families he knew to be from Boxford. At one point, John Peabody was town clerk of Boxford (1686-1710), and it would seem somewhat strange if he did not list all his children in the records. The Peabody Genealogy seems to have a reasonable list of children for John and Hannah based largely on this information.

The first nine children (except Hannah) appear in the Topsfield section of the county records. (It is speculated that Hannah's father was inadvertently listed as Francis when the county copy for 1668 was made: see a fuller discussion here). Topsfield records give two dates for Nathan. Upon further research, this may turn out to be another error in the parents, but for now, it makes sense to simply ignore the one that doesn't match the Boxford date.

The two youngest children, Ruth and Moses are only found in Boxford.

1. ↑ Captain John Peabody, in Peabody, Selim Hobart, and Charles Henry Pope. Peabody (Paybody, Pabody, Pabodie) genealogy. (Boston, Massachusetts: Charles H. Pope, publisher, 1909 (Boston, Mass. : Press of C.H. Simmonds & Co.))
   p 18, 19.

   4. Captain John³ (Francis² John¹), born at Hampton about 1642; married first, Nov. 23, 1665, Hannah, daughter of Robert and Grace Andrews; she died Dec. 25, 1700-1. He married second, Nov, 26, 1703, at Dorchester, Sarah Mosely, who survived him.
   
   Children (11) of John Peabody and Hannah Andrews: John 1666, Hannah 1668, Thomas 1670, Mary 1672, Lydia 1673/4, Francis 1676, David 1678, Elizabeth 1680, Nathan 1682, Ruth 1684, and Moses 1686.

2. ↑ John Pabody, in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Topsfield, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1903, 1916)
   p 168.

   Pabody, John, and Hanah Andrews, Nov. 23, 1665. CT. R.