Person:John Betts (29)

"John Beetes," 40, appears on the passenger list for the Francis, which sailed from Ipswich to New England on 30 April 1634.

Betts was evidently well off, as he had two servants at one time, but was before the authorities numerous times for various offenses beginning in 1638. In 1652, he beat one of his servants to death, and he was charged and tried for murder. The depositions of the case "gave a very clear picture of the character of John Betts. He was not the sort of man the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony wanted in their settlements."^[1] He was found not guilty of murder, but was sentenced to spend a day standing on the gallows, to be whipped, and to pay all the witnesses 2s. per day for their service, and 15£ to the county treasury for his trial expenses.

Betts has no known children.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 John Betts, in Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (Boston, Massachusetts: NEHGS, 1999-2011).