Person:John Smith (341)

John Smith
b.Abt 1618 England
m. 4 Jan 1648/49
  1. Deborah Smith1642 -
  2. Hassadiah Smith1649 - 1723
  3. John Smith1651 -
  4. Eleazer Smith1654 - Bef 1733
  5. Hezekiah Smith1655 - 1726/27
Facts and Events
Name John Smith
Gender Male
Birth? Abt 1618 England
Marriage 4 Jan 1648/49 Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United Statesto Deborah Howland
Marriage to Ruhama Kirby
Residence? Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Death? 15 Mar 1689/90 Dartmouth, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States

NEEDS MORE RESEARCH- SPECULATION...

At court 7 October 1651 "Josiah Cook of Eastham" sued John Smith, Sr., of Plymouth for slander and Smith confessed that he had "much wronged the plaintiff by his unbridled tongue in these base and false charges he had charged him withall, by a letter, and otherwise" [PCR 7:55].

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)


  Still he prospered, for he had an apprentice in 1633, although an unhappy one. On 2 January 1633/4 the Court settled a dispute between Edward Doty and his apprentice John Smith, reducing the time of the apprenticeship from ten years to five [PCR 1:23].

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)

  On 8 November 1638 "Edward Banges, of [Plymouth], yeoman," posted bond of £20 as surety for John Smith of Plymouth, laborer [PCR 1:103]. On 5 March 1643/4 he was surety for John Smith of Eel River [PCR 2:69].

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)

In his will, dated 15 December 1661 and proved 23 January 1661[/2], Isaac Morrill bequeathed to "my dear & loving wife" the use of my entire estate during her life; after her decease £40 to "my four grandchildren to wit John Smith, Isaac Smith, Francis Smith and Abraham Smith" equally; to "my grandchild Mary Smith ... my farm lying between Reading and Andover being more than two hundred acres"; residue to "my two sons (to wit) John Smith & Daniell Brewer & to my grandchild Sarah Davis" (with some additional household goods for Sarah Davis); what I have given to "John Smith, & his wife Katherine if she outlive him" to be enjoyed by them during their lifetimes and then equally to their now children and any future children John Smith will have "by my daughter Katherine" to be carefully used so that the children are not "embesselled" or disappointed; if "my loving wife" as a result of sickness or poverty requires the sale of any property for her comfortable supply, it may be sold; "loving sons Tobias Davis & Daniel Brewer" executors; and "loving friends Thomas Weld & Edward Denison" overseers; witnesses Samuel Danforth and Elisha Cooke.

  At probate three nuncupative codicils were added, all representing desires of the deceased made on 19 December 1661: (1) £3 to Roxbury church (evidence of Samuel Danforth, Edward Denison and John Smith); (2) anvils and all smith's tools and instruments to cousin Isaac Morrill (evidence of Tobias Davis and Sarah Morrell); (3) wearing apparel to brother Abraham Morrell, grandchild Sarah Davis, and sons John Smith and Daniel Brewer (evidence of Sarah Morrell) [SPR 1:379-80].
  In May of 1663 Tobias Davis and Daniel Brewer, executors of the estate of Isaac Morrill, petition for the right to lay out in a specific place the two hundred and four acres that had been granted to him in his lifetime; the court noted that the land in this location had already been taken, but the petitioners could take up land in any place "not prejudicing former grants" [SJC #519].

BIRTH: About 1588 based on age at death. DEATH: Roxbury 18 December 1662 [sic] aged 74 years; buried "21 December 1661 Isaac Morell, an aged brother" [RChR 177]. MARRIAGE: By about 1625 in England, Sarah _____; she died at Roxbury 9 January 1672/3, "Sarah, widow of Isaac Morrel, aged 72" [RChR 180]. CHILDREN:

  i   SARAH, b. say 1625; m. by 1646 Tobias Davis (daughter Sarah b. Roxbury 10 February 1646[/7?]). On 23 February 1648/9 "Sarah Davis bro. Morel's daughter died, by occasion of unheedful taking cold upon an abortion [i.e., miscarriage]" [RChR 174].


  ii   CATHERINE, b. say 1627; m. Roxbury 1 August 1647 John Smith.


  iii   ISAAC, b. Roxbury 27 or 28 November 1632; d. Roxbury January 1632/3.


  iv   ISAAC, b. Roxbury 5 February 1633/4; bur. Roxbury 31 January 1639.


  v   HANNAH, b. Roxbury 6 or 12 September 1636; m. Roxbury 5 November 1652 Daniel Brewer, son of DANIEL BREWER.


  vi   ELIZABETH, b. Roxbury May 1638; bur. Roxbury [blank] May 1638.


  vii   ABRAHAM, b. Roxbury 6 June 1640; d. Roxbury 13 November 1661, "being a hopeful young man about 21 years old" [RChR 177].

ASSOCIATIONS: Brother Abraham Morrill who arrived in Cambridge by 1635, and later resided in Salisbury, was named in Isaac's will, and the "cousin Isaac Morrill" who received the blacksmith tools was Abraham's son. Abraham Morrill appears on a 1632 Cambridge list of those required to maintain fencing, and on this basis it has been assumed that Abraham was also on the Lyon. But this list is chronologically defective, and the first verifiable record of Abraham in Cambridge is in August of 1635. Since Abraham did not marry until 1645, he was apparently much younger than Isaac.

COMMENTS: Banks gives the origin of Isaac and Abraham Morrill as Hatfield Broadoak, Essex, without evidence [Topo Dict 47]. The presence of Isaac Morrill on the Lyon, and his settlement in Roxbury along with others of the Nazeing community, makes this a likely neighborhood, however.

  Pope confused the date of Isaac Morrill's will for the date of his death; he may have been abetted by the published Roxbury vital records, which place Isaac's death one year too late.
  In September 1639 Lechford drew up

The humble petition of Isaacke Morrell & Thomas Carter, blacksmiths in the behalf of themselves & the rest of the blacksmiths within this colony: Showing and informing this court that whereas heretofore coals have been in this country sold them for 30s. a cauldron now of late they are raised to £4 lacking but 2s. cauldron, and moreover that they are forced speedily to buy them at that great price or else they can not be gotten for money but are brought up & sent away into other parts of this continent, - and your petitioners conceive that unless some speedy remedy be found out to help & prevent these mischiefs their trade will be much hurt and the commonwealth deeply prejudiced [Lechford 183-84]. This is probably the petition of "goodman Morrel's" that was still in committee 27 September 1642 [MBCR 2:31].Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Probate Records

The Great Migration Begins Sketches S SMITH, JOHN [1633, Plymouth]


JOHN SMITH


25 July 1633: "John Smith hath covenanted to serve John Jenny the full term of seven years, after the manner of an apprentice, begining the 24 of June, this present year; at the expiration whereof, the said John Jenny to give him twelve bushels of Indian corn, & twenty-five acres of land" [PCR 1:16].

2 January 1633/4: "... whereas John Smith, being in a great extremity formerly, to be freed of the same bound himself as an apprentice to Edward Dowty [Doty] for the term of ten years, upon the petition of the said John the Court took the matter into hearing, & finding the said Edw: had disbursed but little for him, freed the said John from his covenant of ten years, & bound him to make up the time he had already served the said Edward the full term of five years; and at the end thereof, the said Edward to give him double apparel, & so be free of each other" [PCR 1:23].

COMMENTS: By the terms of their service, these two Plymouth records seem to be for two distinct John Smiths. No evidence allows identification with any later John Smith of New England.

  The next man of this name to appear in Plymouth Colony was John Smith, laborer, who married Bennett Morecock on 7 December 1638 [PCR 1:103, 107, 127]; he might be one of the two servants recorded above, but he might also be a third John Smith.

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)

SMITH, JOHN [1631, Massachusetts]


JOHN SMITH


  The Company of Husbandmen, writing from London 8 March 1631/2, addressed their letter to "Mr. Crispe, John Cermen, John Smith and the rest of our Society"; among the many items reported in this letter were that the Company had sent to New England in the Whale "John Smith son of Francis Smith, miller, upon a new adventure," and also "Ann Smith our brother John Smith's wife and her daughter" [WP 3:67-71].
  The company complained to John Winthrop 1 December 1632 that Mr. Dummer had taken all that "our loving Brethren Bryan Binkes, Peter Johnson, and John Smith" had, and also retained what the company had sent [WP 3:101]. And further "we desire you to call John Smith to account, by his own letter he hath £20 worth of the company's estate, which although we desire not that it should be presently taken from him, because we pity his poor estate, yet we leave it unto your wise consideration to order or to dispose toward the payment of Master Batchellor if you see fit" [WP 3:102].
  On 3 July 1632 "John Smithe is bound as an apprentice with Mr. John Wilson for five years.... It is likewise ordered, that those goods which were sent over with the said John Smythe shall remain in the hands of Mr. Wilson, for which he is to be accountable to those that sent them over" [MBCR 1:98]. On 3 June 1633 Rev. Stephen Bachiler wrote to Winthrop regarding four hogsheads of peas, assigned "to my brother Wilson, in the right of the youth that is with him"; Bachiler's wife learned "(from Mrs. Smyth of Watertowne) that the boy's father and an uncle of his or some such friend did adventure £10 into [the] Company with the boy" [WP 3:122].
  "John Smyth" was admitted to freemanship on 4 March 1632/3 [MBCR 1:367].

COMMENTS: There are certainly two distinct John Smiths represented in all these records: John Smith with wife Ann and a daughter, who is one of the addressees of the letter of 8 March 1631/2, and John Smith, son of Francis Smith, miller, who became servant of Rev. John Wilson.

  John Smith with wife Ann and a daughter is not seen later in New England, unless he is the freeman of 4 March 1632/3. If he is not the freeman of that date, then the above records pertain to three John Smiths, as the young John Smith who was assigned as an apprentice to John Wilson could not have been made free at this date. This latter John Smith could be one of the many John Smiths who appeared in New England later in the 1630s, but there is no evidence pointing to any particular identification.

Winthrop Papers, 1498-1654, 6 volumes, various editors (Boston 1925-1992) Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854)

References
  1.   A. Donovan Faust (Foust). A Family History: The Ancestors of Thomas Wilson Faust. (1997).
  2.   Ancestors of Robert Winn & Linda Wilcox, 11/2000.
  3.   The Gary B. Salstrom Family Tree, 11/2000..
  4.   From the Family Files of Earl Crandall & Douglas Gregg, 4/2001..
  5.   Rounds, H. L. Peter. Abstracts of Bristol County, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1687-1745. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1987)
    1:161-2.

    WILL:
    Dated June 8, 1691; proved Nov 12, 1692; Names wife Ruhamah; sons: Judah, Gershom, Eliazer, Hezekiah, Deliverance & one more unnamed; daughters: Hassadiah wife of Jonathan Russell, Mehitabel wife of John Russell, Hannah Smith, Sarah Smith & Deborah Smith; grandchildren: James son of my son Eliazer Smith, James Russell son of Jonathan Russell & Mical son of my son Hezekiah Smith; Execs: Seth Pope & my brother-in-law Recompense Carby. Witnesses: Benjamin Howland & Valentine Hudelston. [Bristol Co. Probate 1:55]
    -Acct. of Deliverence Smith, Exec. of Estate of John Smith of Dartmouth dated Dec. 1, 1696. Mentions wife Ruhamah; son Deliverance Smith; daughters: Hassadiah wife of Jonathan Russell, Mehitable wife of John Russell, Hannah Smith, Sarah Smith & Deborah Smith under age. [Bristol Co. Probate 1:161-2]
    -Receipts for legacies from Estate of John Smith dated Jan. 10, 1693/4 by daughter Hassadiah Russell & husband Jonathan Russell; by daughter Mehitabel & husband John Russell; by daughters Hannah Smith & Sarah Smith. [Bristol Co. Probate 1:161-2]

  6.   MISC:
    -Freeman of Dartmouth March 24, 1686.
    -Called John Smith Jr. in Plymouth Colony marriage record.
    -Called Lt. John Smith in Dartmouth V.R. (from grave stone record).
    -Called son-in-law by Richard Kirby in 1684; also, Deborah Howland Smith was still living Oct. 16, 1665. [NEHGR 35:369-75]