Person:Anthony Colby (1)

John Brooks Threlfall, Fifty Great Migration Colonists To New England

• Anthony was born in Horbling to Thomas Colby and Anne Jackson which is next to Semperingham where his Colby ancestors had lived for several generations. He was apparently named for his uncle Anthony Jackson.

• Great Migration identifies this as the likely correct identification because Horbling was also the home of Simon Bradstreet, but the name was not terribly uncommon and more corroboration is desired.

• probate date 9-Mar-1660 in Boston 1630.

• Is on the list for arriving on the Winthrop fleet with Gov. Winthrop. Anthony immigrated to America in 1630 on the ship "Arbella" (the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet), was the first Colby in America, and the Colby from whom most present day Colbys living in America originate.
• He took the Freeman Oath of the Massachusetts Bay Company in MAY 1634 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On the list of Charter members of Boston, Cambridge May 14, 1634.
• Their first home was in the disputed territory between Cambridge and Watertown which was given to Cambridge in 1632, and was on the road to Mount Auburn close by the river.
• Together, the men (Jared Haddon) joined the church in Charlestown and took the freeman's oath in Cambridge on 14 May 1634. Together lay their house lots at East Salisbury and when Jared sold his homestead in 1644 and built in what is now Amesbury, In 1640, he was appointed an appraiser for the government and in 1651 was elected a selectman.
• 1637, he appeared in Ipswich
• 1670: appeared in Salisbury. He was among the first settlers of the latter town.

The ancient home of the Colby family, at least in the United States, can still be found in Amesbury. Amesbury is in the northernmost part of Massachusetts, almost to the border with New Hampshire. To get there, you exit the 495 on Hillside Ave. and proceed to the center of town and navigate an old fashioned ‘‘round-a-bout’’. Escaping from the ‘‘round-a-bout’’, you follow S. Hampton Rd. until you come to a very large cemetery. The house is on the right, several lots from the corner. You really can’t miss it! There is a paved drive going to the cemetery at one side of the house along with a large marker placed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission. The house is dark brown, with a bright coral-colored door. Over the door is a sign - “1654". There is a window on either side of the door on the ground floor and three windows on the upper floor. There is a large bush at each corner.

The original house consisted of just the two front rooms on the ground floor and a loft above. Later, a keeping room was added at the rear and two rooms on a second floor. Much later still, a kitchen was added behind the keeping room. To this day, no running water, electricity, or modern heating has been added. The last Colby moved across the street in 1958. The house belongs to the Bartlett Cemetery Association, as it is on their land. It has been cared for by the local Josiah Bartlett Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Access to it can be had, sometimes, through the Amesbury Public Library.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995).

   BIRTH: Baptized Horbling, Lincolnshire, 8 September 1605 [ GMC50 123]. DEATH: Salisbury 11 February 1660[/1].
   Immigrated 1630, probably as a servant of Simon Bradstreet, first to Boston ( "Anthony Chaulby" admitted to Boston church as member #93, which would be in the winter of 1630/1 [ BChR 14]. ). Cambridge 1632, Ipswich 1637, Salisbury 1640, Amesbury, Salisbury. (On 2 August 1646 "Anthony Colby according to his desire had letters of dismission" from Boston church "unto the Church at Salsbury" [ BChR 47].)
   
   MARRIAGE: By 1633 Susanna (_____) Waterman, widow of _____ WATERMAN of Boston (land "at first was granted to [blank] Waterman who deceased. Anthony Colbye married his widow & they two sold the said land unto James Pennyman..." [ SLR 11:176-77]); she married (3) by 1663 William Whitridge (petitions as Susanna "Whittredge formerly Colbie" to sell real estate 28 March 1682 [ EPR 1:409]); she died 8 July 1689.
   
   COMMENTS: Earlier writers erroneously placed Anthony Colby's origin in Beccles, Suffolkshire, but in 1975 Glade Ian Nelson showed that the Beccles Anthony was still in England long after the immigrant was settled in the Massachusetts Bay [ TAG 51:65-71]. More recently John B. Threlfall made what appears to be the correct identification in Horbling, Lincolnshire [ GMC50 123]. Anthony Colby was not at that time and in that area as rare a name as one might think, so the simple appearance of a baptism at about the right time is in itself not sufficient evidence. But the occurrence of a baptism in Horbling, the home of Simon Bradstreet, who seems to be indirectly connected with Colby, makes this very likely the correct solution to the problem.
   The identity of Susannah _____ is one of the perennial mysteries of the period. Several authors have suggested that Susannah's maiden name was Haddon, given that Colby and Garrett Haddon were neighbors and associates. Others have suggested that she was the daughter of William Sargent, and others that she was a Nutting, all without support. Her identity is currently unknown. Among other defects to be found in the literature regarding Colby and his family, there is no obvious reason why Savage said there were four children earlier than Isaac and no support has been found for Sarah's birthdate given by Waterman.

2.   Massachusetts. Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986
   Suffolk Land Records 11:176-77 .

   link Anthony Colby married by 1633 Susanna ( ) Waterman, widow of ____ Warterman of Boston citing Suffolk Land Records 11:176-77 Land first granted to [blank] Waterman who deceased. Anthony Colbye married his widow & they two sold the said land unto James Perryman.