Person:Joseph Emerson (9)

"Rev. Joseph Emerson, of Mendon, was admitted a freeman of Ipswich, Dec., 1648. He married Elizabeth Woodmansy, a daughter of Mr. Robt. and Margaret Woodmansy, of Boston and Ipswich. Mr. Woodmansy was a schoolmaster at Boston and held land at Ipswich. It is probable he was one of the ninety University men who emigrated to Massachusetts Colony between 1620 and 1640. The Rev. Joseph had two children by this marriage, Joseph, Junr., and James. In 1662 Elizabeth, his wife, had inherited Land from her father, Mr. Robt. Woodmansy, and the Rev. Joseph (who is known to have been a minister as early as 1648) sold the land to his father, Mr. Thomas Emerson, the deed being dated Sept. 14th, 1652. In 1653 he was called as a minister to Wells, Maine, and took the freeman's oath there in July. 1653. It is not known exactly when he left Ipswich for Wells, Maine, where his income was £65 per annum in cash, together with a subscription from York, Maine, and the parishioners were to give sundry help. But dissension arose in the Church between the Massachusetts and Maine party and the Rev. Joseph left, being a strong adherent of the Massachusetts party. So bitter was the fight that the Massachusetts government soon afterwards disbanded the Church, The Rev. Joseph's two sons, Joseph (mentioned in his grandfather's will dated 1653) and James, -were probably born at Wells, Maine, but not certainly as Professor B. K. Emerson says, and since the early Ipswich records are lost, the Wells records have no record of such births and the York records were burnt, the matter will probably never be cleared up. It is possible the Rev. Joseph still held some property in Maine after he left, for his grandson Joseph held some land at Falmouth, Maine—Falmouth having been formerly Wells. Professor B. K. Emerson says that after leaving Wells (1664) he went as first minister to Milton, Massachusetts, and was dismissed for asking for an increase of salary in view of his approaching second marriage, which would lead us to conclude his first wife died in Maine. Professor B. K. Emerson says he had a daughter born at Milton called Lucy Ann, b. on 2nd Oct., 1667, by his first wife, Elizabeth Woodmansy, but he offers no proof whatever of his statement, and since he says he was dismissed for asking for an increase of salary in view of his second marriage and since we know that he married his second wife, Elizabeth Bulkeley, daughter of Rev. Edw. Bulkeley, of Concord, and granddaughter of Rev. Peter Bulkeley, first minister of Concord, on Dec. 7th, 1665, at Concord, Professor B. K. Emerson is obviously at sea. The fact is Lucy Ann, is his daughter and born at Milton, Massachusetts, was the first child of his second marriage with Elizabeth Bulkeley, and that he was not dismissed at all for asking for an increase of salary in view of his approaching marriage. On Dec. 1st, 1669, he "settled, through the interest of the Bulkeleys," as minister of Mendon, at a salary of £45 (bettering Dr. Primrose by £5) and various contributions. Dr. Canfield sent me the agreement which is printed in Professor B. K. Emerson's book. The Rev. Joseph Emerson remained minister at Mendon until the town was partially destroyed by Indians, when he retired to Concord, where he died the 3rd of Nov., 1679, and not the 3rd of Jan., 1680, as stated by Professor B. K. Emerson. He was buried at Concord, but no gravestone remains. He died intestate and the inventory of his goods is dated Oct., 1680. The inventory includes several parcels of land in Mendon, books to the value of £18, plate £10, etc., and making a total, after paying debts, of £129 78. — £646 15s. of our money, not bad for a parson passing rich on £45 per annum. His widow married Captain John Browne."^[4]

1. ↑ Concord, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1635-1850. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1891)
   23.

   Mr Joseph Emerson dyed 3. 11. 79.
   [In 1679, the 11th month was January of what would now be 1680, but was then part of 1679.]

2. ↑ Cutter, William Richard. New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of the Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. (New York, New York, United States: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913-14)
   2:1052.

   Rev. Joseph Emerson, s/o Thomas Emerson, bp. Bishops Stortford 25 Jun 1620, d. Concord, Mass 3 Jan 1680, m. (1) 1646 Elizabeth Woodmansey, m. (2) 7 Dec 1665 Elizabeth Bulkeley.

3. ↑ Emerson, Benjamin Kendall, and George Augustus Gordon. The Ipswich Emersons, A.D. 1636-1900: A Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Emerson of Ipswich, Massachusetts, with Some Account of his English Ancestry. (Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son, 1900)
   20.
4. ↑ Emerson, P. H. (Peter Henry). The English Emersons: A Genealogical Historical Sketch of the Family from the Earliest Times to the End of the Seventeenth Century, Including Various Modern Pedigrees, with an Appendix of Authorities. (London: David Nutt, 1898)
   24.