Person:Robert Lord (2)

EDUCATION: He was town clerk and clerk of the writs for many years. He signed his deeds and his will. His inventory included “books” valued at 15s. [EPR 304:18].

OFFICES: Deputy for Ipswich to Massachusetts Bay General Court, 12 March 1637/8 [MBCR 1:220]. Ipswich representative to colony committee to levy a rate, 12 March 1637/8 [MBCR 1:225]. Committee to settle “bounds between Cape Ann [Gloucester] and Ipswich,” 3 May 1642 [MBCR 2:4]. Committee to lay out land, 15 May 1654 [MBCR 3:350, 4:1:192]. Customs inspector, 22 August 1654 [MBCR 3:354, 4:1:198]. Committee to settle bounds between Hampton and Salisbury, 14 October 1656 [MBCR 3:420, 4:1:282].

Ipswich marshal, 1645 to 1653 [EQC 1:78, 95, 109, 241, 261, 262, 266, 296, 301, 302, 305, 327, 8:33]. Clerk of the writs and town clerk, 1640s to 1683 [EQC passim]. (On 21 August 1683, Mr. John Appleton Jr. was appointed as “clerk of the courts in place of Mr. Rob[er]t Lord Sr., deceased, who had been clerk of the Ipswich court and clerk of the writs” [EQC 9:34].) Sealer of weights and measures, 27 March 1649 [EQC 1:161]. Tithingman, 30 April 1678 [EQC 6:441].

His inventory included “two muskets & sword” valued at £1 2s. [EPR 304:19].

Ipswich granted him a half acre in Jan 1637/8, an acre for a houselot in February, and a parcel of marsh in March. He had six parcels by June 1639.

Will

In his will, dated 28 June 1683 and proved 25 September 1683, “Robert Lord Senior of Ipswich” bequeathed to “my dearly beloved wife Mary Lord with whom by God’s good providence we have lived comfortably together in a married condition almost fifty-three years … all my estate both real & personal for her life and comfort while she liveth & continueth my widow but if it please God she shall change her estate & marry then my will is that she shall have eight pounds a year paid her out of my estate during her natural life & after decease or marriage my will is and I thus dispose of my estate to our children”; to “Robert Lord my eldest son by deed that marsh I have formerly given to him near Green’s Point so called … [and] my marsh and upland called the Island behind the Town Hill by Mr. Baker’s marsh and half my pasture where our cows do go after mine and my wife’s decease or her marriage, provided he pay or cause to be paid to my daughter Sarah Wilson and her heirs in current corn & cattle, within one year or two after the said estate comes into his hands” [the amount of the legacy to Sarah Wilson was not stated]; to “my son Nath[anie]ll Lord my youngest son my dwelling house & barn and land about it with the privileges & appurtenances thereunto belonging, with the close I purchased of [illegible] which lyeth on the other side of the street, also … all my planting land by my [illegible] and half the pasture, and also my marsh called Ready and two necks of marsh at my marsh called the Hundreds … all which provided he pay unto his two brothers my sons Thomas & Samuel living at Charlstown to each & either of them forty-five pounds apiece … & thirty pounds to Mary Chaundler & five pounds apiece to her three brothers, William, Joseph, & Samuel, the children of my daughter Chaundler deceased, when they come of age after the said house & lands come into his possession”; to “my daughter Abigail Foster and her children all my land at Egypt River so called both upland and meadow by estimation thirteen acres … and also a parcel of saltmarsh at the hundreds on that side the creek next Capt. Appleton’s marsh (except those two necks before given to my son Nathaniel Lord) to her and her children provided they pay unto their sister Susannah Osgood & her children twenty-five pounds”; to “my daughter Hannah Grow and her children the house & land I bought of the widow Wooddam wherein they now dwell & also my parcel of marsh at the hundreds on that side of the creek next to Deacon Jewett his marsh provided they pay unto their sister Susannah Osgood & her children twenty pounds”; residue to be “equally divided among my children before named and the four children of my daughter Chaundler to have her share to them”; “whereas I am out forty pounds … for the house I bought of Abraham Perkins, my will is that my grandchild Robert Lord tertius paying of that forty pounds … unto me or my heirs or assigns he shall have the said house … in which the said Robert now dwells …, the other five pounds in money I give unto him the said Robert Lord tertius, and my will further is that that forty pounds in money to be among & part of the estate to be divided as aforesaid, only ten pounds of it I give unto my beloved wife to be at her dispose, and my desire is that my son Nath[anie]ll Lord remain with my wife & be helpful to her as she shall stand in need to carry on business for her”; “my beloved wife Mary Lord & my son Nathaniel Lord [to be] executrix and executor”; to “my grandchild Sam[ue]ll Lord who liveth with me the sum of ten pounds” [EPR 304:16-18].

The inventory of the estate of “Robert Lord Senior of Ipswich,” taken 13 September 1683, was untotalled; there was £554 8s. of real estate: “dwelling house, barn & homestead,” £100; “Papoose Land seven acres,” £85; “four acres of planting land,” £24; “six acres of marsh at Ready Marsh,” £30; “saltmarsh at the hundreds sixteen acres,” £64; “saltmarsh by Green Creeks,” £30; “saltmarsh near Knight’s Pond,” £30; “thirteen acres & land by Egypt River,” £39; “a parcel of land by John Brown’s house,” £14; “the house that Robert Lord Junior dwells in,” £68 8s.; and “the house that John Grow lives in,” £70 [EPR 304:18-20].

ASSOCIATIONS: On 5 February 1637/8, the town of Ipswich “[g]ranted to the widow Lord six acres” [ITR]. On 28 February 1641/2, “Katherine Lord” appeared in the list of Ipswich commoners [ITR].

In his will of 1 March 1640, John Lord of Sudbury, Suffolk, bequeathed to his wife land “in the parish of St. Gregory in Sudbury which I late purchased of Robert Lord my kinsman and Katherine his mother” and to “my cousin Robert Lord, if he comes again from beyond the seas to demand it, ten pounds” [Waters 1102-3, citing PCC 70 Aylett]. The agreement between the terms of this will and the records in Ipswich permit the conclusion that Katherine Lord of Ipswich was the mother of Robert Lord of the same town, and that the mother and son had resided in Sudbury, Suffolk, or nearby before migrating to New England.

Mary (Waite) Lord, wife of Robert Lord, was sister of John Waite of Malden [EQC 6:397-98; NEHGR 31:160-62, 32:188-89]. (As noted in these brief articles, other New England connections are possible.)

In the late 1640s and early 1650s, Robert Lord was both clerk of the writs and marshal for Ipswich court. This may eventually have led to concerns about conflict of interest, since he would have both signed warrants for arrest and served those warrants. On 26 September 1654, “Edward Browne [was] chosen and sworn marshal of this court” [EQC 1:362] and he served in that position until his death on 9 February 1659[/60] [EQC 2:18, 126, 149, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189]. During these years, writs would be “signed by Robert Lord, for the court, and served by Edward Browne, marshal” [EQC 2:184]. On 24 November 1659, “Robert Lord, Jr., and Thomas Lord [were] made free” [EQC 2:180] and, on 27 March 1660, “Robert Lord, Jr., was appointed marshal” [EQC 2:195]. Robert Lord Sr. remained as clerk of the writs until his death, so, for more than twenty years, writs were “signed by Robert Lord, for the court and town of Ipswich, and served by Robert Lord, marshal of Ipswich” [EQC 9:37].

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Robert Lord, 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)
   IV:325-330.

   ORIGIN: Finchingfield, Essex.
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to Ipswich church prior to 3 March 1635/6 implied by freemanship.
   FREEMAN: 3 March 1635/6 [MBCR 1:371]
   BIRTH: About 1603 (deposed 30 July 1660 “aged fifty-seven years” [EQC 2:230]; deposed 24 June 1662 “aged about fifty [sic] years” [EQC 2:396]; deposed 30 September 1662 “aged fifty-nine years” [EQC 2:434]; deposed 27 March 1666 “aged about sixty-three years” [EQC 3:303]; deposed 9 May 1666 “aged about sixty-three years” [EQC 3:325]; deposed 25 June 1667 “aged about sixty-four years” [EQC 3:425]; deposed 28 June 1670 “aged about sixty-seven years” [EQC 4:253]; deposed 31 March 1674 “aged about seventy years” [EQC 5:286]; deposed 23 June 1676 “aged about seventy-five years” [EQC 6:162]; deposed 25 November 1678 “aged seventy-five years” [EQC 7:117]; deposed 26 May 1679 “aged about seventy-six years” [EQC 7:220]; deposed 25 November 1682 “aged seventy-nine years” [EQC 8:410]).
   DEATH: Ipswich 21 August 1683, aged 80. (This death record, printed in the published Ipswich vital records, was taken from “Copy of family record, now [1910] in possession of Mrs. Daniel Fuller Appleton.” We are not told when this family record was created, but the date of death and the age at death are consistent with other records for Robert Lord.)

2. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
   3:116.

   LORD, ROBERT, Ipswich, freem. 3 Mar. 1636, rep. 1638, was clk. of the courts, marshal, town clk. and reg. of deeds, Coffin thot.; m. Mary Waite, had Thomas, b. 1633; Robert, a. 1634; Samuel, 1640; Joseph, d. young; Nathaniel, d. 1658; and ds. Abigail, wh. m. 26 Feb. 1666, Jacob Foster; Hannah; and ano. wh. m. a Chandler; and he d. perhaps 12 May 1650. A wid. Catharine L. wh. had gr. of ld. at I. 1641, may have been his mo. and it was prob. his s. wh. d. 11 Nov. 1696.