Person:William Briggs (7)

Watchers
William Briggs
b.Abt 1620 England
  • HWilliam BriggsAbt 1620 - Bef 1687
  • WMary UnknownAbt 1622 - Aft 1695
m. Abt 1640
  1. Hannah Briggs1642 - 1687/88
  2. John BriggsAbt 1643 - 1700
  3. Peter Briggs1646 -
  4. William Biggs1652 - Bef 1681
Facts and Events
Name[1][2] William Briggs
Gender Male
Birth? Abt 1620 England
Marriage Abt 1640 Englandto Mary Unknown
Residence? Bef 1642 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Residence? 1642 Hingham, Massachusetts
Residence? Bef 1657 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Residence? 1657 Lyme, New London, Connecticut
Residence? From 1680 to 1681 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts
Death? Bef 6 Jun 1687 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

from Walt Brockway


... William and Mary ___ Briggs .... came to the Colonies from England. They lived in the Boston area and in the Lyme CT area and then returned to Boston.

... Hannah was a very young widow when she married Wolston Brockway. Wolston later married a Sarah Briggs who probably was Hannah's sister-in-law.

From the New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Vol. 151 (January 1997)


William and Mary Briggs of Boston and the Connecticut Valley With Notes on their Sons-in-Law John Harris and Wolston Brockway [Footnotes omitted] by Gale Ion Harris


William and Mary Briggs are first mentioned in a curious double entry of their daughter Hannah's birth in Boston. The first entry informs us that "Hannah of Wm Briggs [was] born and buried 28 day (6th) month [August]" 1642, but on the next page we find, as an apparent correction, that "Hannah of William and Mary Briggs [was] born 6th month," 1642. Some years later, in 1648, her father bought from Henry Pease, Sr. a house and lot located at the junction of lanes that eventually became Hanover and Portland streets.

William Briggs of Boston, tailor, and his wife Mary sold that property on 23 June 1665 to a Boston mariner, Joseph Soper. At that time, it was in the "tenure and possession of said Briggs" and adjoined property of Thomas Matson and the Lane (Portland Street). By mark, Mary relinquished dower next day. The deed went unrecorded for twenty years until the grantee's son, John Soper, of Hull sold the property. In January 1685/6, Moses Bradford and Thomas Matson, Jr. deposed that they had been present when William and Mary Briggs delivered seizin and possession to Soper's father. The present article focuses on the history of this couple after they sold their Boston property in 1665. Mary's maiden name is not found, but at least two more children and their early descendants are identified.

From Savage's Genealogical Dictionary


WILLIAM, Boston by w[ife]. Mary had Hannah, b[orn]. 28 Aug. 1642, wh[o]. m[arried]. 10 Sept. 1657, John Harris. Perhaps he rem[oved]. to Lyme betw[een]. 1670 and 1680; at least one of this name was inhab[itant]. there at that period.

... This name seems common thro[ugh]. manu Co[untie]s. in Eng[land]. but chief[ly]. Norfolk. Five had been gr[aduated]. at Harv[ard]. and fourteen at other N[ew]. E[ngland]. coll[eges]. in 1834.

References
  1. James Savage, Former President of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Editor of Winthrop's History of New England. 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. (1860-62 and Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, MD, 1965; Corrected electronic version copyright Robert Kraft, July 1994)
    Vol. 1, p. 252.
  2. Researcher Walt Brockway (Brockway).