Person:Samuel Scripture (1)

From http://rjohara.net/gen/scripture/ on 23 Oct 2005. - Robert O'Hara

Samuel Scripture (abt1649–abt1740) of Groton, Massachusetts Genealogical Notes, With Two Generations of His Descendants Samuel Scripture of Groton, Massachusetts, was the progenitor of all families of that name in early New England, and perhaps all in the United States today. This document is a working outline of the descendants of Samuel Scripture through two generations. It builds on the foundation laid by Valerie Giorgi in her paper on the descendants of Samuel Scripture [Georgi 1995], and adds a considerable amount of material on lines she did not follow. The information gathered here comes from many different sources of varying quality, including ephemeral and unreferenced Internet sources. Like all such compilations it should be evaluated critically. I have no additional information on Samuel Scripture and his discendants beyond what is included here. Please direct any queries to the Scripture Family GenForum Board rather than to me personally, so that all interested parties may benefit.

Samuel Scripture’s English origins have not been established, but some possible clues are offered below. One Internet source says that Samuel Scripture’s parents were a John and Mary Scripture and that Samuel was the fifth of their seven children (Elizabeth, Giles, Richard, John, Samuel, Mary, and William), but no documentation for this claim is provided. Jean Holcombe of Los Angeles has long been interested in the Scripture family, and she reported these details to me by email in May 2000:

[Samuel Scripture] made a deposition in 1668 that he was 19 yrs old and an indentured servant of Samuel Davis. He served John Swinerton in Nevis 4 yrs. Have not been able to discover how he got to Mass and finished indenture with Sam’l Davis. He married Elizabeth Knapp whose family lived next door to Davis. On completion of indenture 8/23/1671 he was made freeman and land donated to him by 2 1/2 ac Richard Blood; 2 ac Serg Parker; 1 ac Ellis Barron; 4 1/2 ac by 5 other people. (“Westerwald to America” Burger & Jones 929.343 Salt Lake Library). He served in King Phillip’s war under Capt Jos. Syll. So did his son Samuel. [But that last cannot be correct; see below. —RJO]

I have corresponded with people in Shropshire and they believe he is the son of John=Ann [and this] is probably why his 1st son was named John. [But that does not appear to be correct; see below. —RJO]

I have corresponded with people all over the US and England and any Scripture/Scripters I have found are all descended from above Samuel. William Walter wrote a book which I have copied bits and pieces from. When he died he left his genealogy to our guru, Frank Scripter, 9701 East Round Lake Road, Laingburg, Mich 48848-7404 who has collected data on disk for all male Scripture men up to the middle 1800s.…

I also have corresponded with Ellis B. Scripture (WWII aviator) whose family hired a professional genealogist and he loaned me that material much of which I have copied … very accurate and well done.

When he first came to Groton Samuel Scripture was indeed a servant, to Samuel Davis of Groton and Charlestown, Massachusetts, who was baptised 26 June 1629 at Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, the son of Barnabas Davis and Patience (James) Davis [Anderson 2001: 288]. Samuel Davis was one of the original proprietors of Groton, and his career and family are well known [Davis 1973]. Samuel Scripture appears to have gained his freedom in Groton in 1671, for “At a town meeting held the 23:6m:1671 It was agreed and by vote declared that Samuell Scriptur shal be an inhabitant amongst us and for his Incoridgment these men have given him some small grants of upland as followeth” [Georgi 1995: 3, quoting Green’s Early Records of Groton]. The land Samuel received comprised 10 acres. He appears in the records of the Massachusetts towns of Groton in 1671, Cambridge in 1674, Charlestown in 1676, Concord in 1677, and Groton again in 1680. Barnabas Davis is also recorded as a resident of Charlestown in 1665[/6?] and 1678 [Anderson 2001: 286–287]. Some of Samuel Scripture’s movement was likely associated with the attacks on Groton made during King Philip’s War. He held a variety of minor town offices in Groton over the years.

The origin of Barnabas and Samuel Davis in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, may be an important clue to the origin of Samuel Scripture. The International Genealogical Index lists several persons named Scripture born in Tetbury in the later 1600s; all are probably born too late to be parents or even siblings of Samuel, however. The name Scripture is also common in Somerset and Shropshire at this time. The IGI also shows a John Swinerton baptised at Tetbury on 5 October 1638, son of Antipas Swinerton. See Elizabeth Janson’s Tetbury pages and Graham Thomas’s Gloucestershire names pages for additional clues on Tetbury, Swinerton, Davis, and Scripture, and the GENUKI pages on Gloucestershire and Tetbury for general information about these localities.

Samuel Scripture’s wife was Elizabeth Knapp, daughter of James Knopp/Knapp and Elizabeth (Warren) Knopp, early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. The Knopp/Knapp family emmigrated in 1630 from Bures St. Mary on the Essex/Suffolk border, and has been well studied by genealogists [Anderson 1995: 1143–1146; Rodgers 1999: 338–346]. James Knopp was an outspoken carpenter who had a few brushes with the magistrates, and who moved to the new settlement of Groton soon after it was established. When daughter Elizabeth was a girl of sixteen living in the home of Rev. Samuel Willard of Groton she had the misfortune of being possessed by a demon, something that was apparently not a bar to her marriage to Samuel Scripture three years later when she was 19 and he about 24.

During King William’s War (1689–1698), the first of the European wars to spill over onto the North American continent, British settlements in New England and New York were frequently raided by French forces and their Kanawake and Abenaki allies from Canada. The inhabitants of Groton established eight garrison houses during this time in which several families lived together for protection. Green [1883: 59–61] transcribes a document dated 17 March 1691/2 which reports that Samuel Scripture and his family occupied one of these garrison houses along with the families of Lt. Jonas Prescott, Nathaniel Lawrence, James Knop, Elias Barnes, Ephraim Filbrook, Daniel Peirce, Jno. Barnes, Stephen Holding, Jno. Perrum, Samuel Davis, and widow Sawtle.

First Generation 1. SAMUEL1 SCRIPTURE of Groton, Massachusetts, was born about 1649, perhaps in England or the West Indies, and died between 1720 and 1728, probably at Groton. He married at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 11 September 1674 Elizabeth KNAPP [Torrey 1985: 658], daughter of James Knopp/Knapp and Elizabeth (Warren) Knopp/Knapp of Watertown, Massachusetts. [To be checked: She died probably at Groton between 1720 and 1728. Is this a duplication of his data?] When he was about 27 years old Samuel served in King Philip’s War under Capt. Joseph Sill, and on 24 August 1676 he was credited with wages of 2£ 4s. 6d. for service under Sill and also with wages of 1£ 15s. 6d. from Charlestown, Massachusetts, suggesting that he was a resident of that town at the time [Bodge 1906: 374].

Children of Samuel1 Scripture and Elizabeth (Knapp) Scripture:

2. i. Samuel2 Scripture, b. Cambridge 4 Oct. 1675; d. 1755; m. first, Concord 8 Feb. 1699/1700, Mary (PIERCE) GREEN, d. 25 Sept. 1723; m. second, Elizabeth (LUND) SPAULDING, b. Dunstable 29 Sept. 1684, d. 15 April 1781 [Giorgi 1995: 4–5].

ii. Elizabeth Scripture, b. Concord 15 Aug. 1677 [Giorgi 1995: 4]. A GENDEX source says she married a Jonathan EDWARDS in 1687; this seems unlikely as she would have been 10 years old at the time. She may have married, or she may have died young.

3. iii. Mary Scripture, b. Groton 7 Feb. 1680/1; d. Pepperell 21 or 29 June 1761; m. Eleazer LAWRENCE, d. 9 March 1754 [Giorgi 1995: 4].

iv. Sarah Scripture, b. Groton 8 Feb. 1682 [Giorgi 1995: 4]. Giorgi says that this Sarah Scripture married a James Shattuck, but gives no further details. The early Shattuck generations are fairly well known [Shattuck 1855], and I can find no James who could be a likely husband of this Sarah Scripture. This information may be erroneous.

4. v. Anna (or Hannah) Scripture, b. Groton 10 Jan. 1685; d. 3 Sept. 1758; m. Nathaniel LAWRENCE [Giorgi 1995: 4–5].

5. vi. Abigail Scripture, b. Groton 28 Jan. 1686/7; d. 4 Feb. 1720; m. first, Zachariah LAWRENCE; m. second, Phineas PARKER [Giorgi 1995: 6].

6. vii. John Scripture, b. about 1688 at Groton; d. Coventry, Conn., 24 July 1779; m. first, Abigail UTLEY; m. second, Mary (EATON) SLAFTER/SLATER [Giorgi 1995: 6]. May have had a child out of wedlock by Jane SHAMBERRY before his first marriage.

7. viii. Deborah Scripture, b. about 1690; d. Groton 17 Jan. 1711; m. 4 Sept. 1710 [Groton VR II: 152] as his second or third wife, Jonathan WHITCOMB [Giorgi 1995: 4]. Rebecca Waters, the sister of Samuel Davis’s wife Mary Waters, appears to have married a Josiah Whitcomb, so perhaps there is a Davis-Scripture-Whitcomb connection here [Anderson 2001: 288]. See under Mary2 Scripture (#3) for an additional Whitcomb link.

8. ix. Ruth Scripture, b. Groton 2 Feb. 1696/7; m. John FROST [Giorgi 1995: 4].

x. Lydia Scripture, b. Groton 28 June 1700 [Savage 4: 41; Giorgi (1995: 4) misprints this as July?; check Georgi 1995]. Some GENDEX sources say she married a Seth Phillips. I have not found any documentation for this marriage.

1. ↑ Knapp, Arthur Mason. Knapp Family in America. (Boston, 1909)
   p.8.