Person:George Partridge (3)

George came to America in 1635, perhaps on the James according to some accounts (although that speculation is not discussed in his Great Migration profile). He appears in Duxbury in 1636, when he is granted 5 acres of land at Powder Point, with permission from the court to settle thereon.^[1] He was elected constable there in 1646.

Winsor styles him "one of the most respectable yeomanry of the colony." In 1643 his name appears in a list of those able tobear arms. In 1646 he was constable. Of this office Winsor says: "This was an office of high trust and responsibility and none were elected to it but men of good standing."^[5]

Later he was a "Surveyor of Highways" and a grand-jury man.

He was either a private or a non-commissioned officer in Capt. Miles Standish's Company.

He was one of the original purchasers of Middleborough.^[1]

His will is recorded in Plymouth County Probate Records (Vol.1, p. 225) and was dated June 26, 1682. An inventory of his estate was taken October 10, 1695. So his death occurred between those two dates. His will was witnessed by two sons of Miles Standish, Alexander and Josiah.

Not the son nor the brother of Rev. Ralph Partridge, first minister of Duxbury. There are extensive histories of Ralph with no mention of George, and none of the leading authorities on New England genealogy make the connection.

Will

On ye 26th day of June in ye year of our Lord 1682. I George Partridge yeoman living in Duxborough being in sound mind and good and perfect remembrance praysed be ye Lord for it make & ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and form following first I commend my soul unto Almighty God my maker and Redeemer and my body I will that it be decently buryed and funerall charges paid together with all my just and lawful debts out of my estate.

"I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Sarah Partridge all my houses & lands in Duxburough to say uplands and meadows and all my cattell and all my household stuff for her own proper use and behoofe during her natural life on the condition that my wife do as much for my daughter Mercy as we have done for ye rest of our daughters already married and that she give my grand-daughter Bethyah Allen as much as she in prudence shall think fit and if any part of my moveables remain at my wife's decease my will isthat it be disposed of by her amongst my children as she thinks meet and fit. I give to my eldest son John Partridge at my decease half my uplands and half my meadow lands lying and being at Middleborough with ye priviledges and appurtenances thereunto belonging to him & his heirs forever.

"Item--I give six pounds sterling to my son John Partridge at his mother's decease to be paid in current pay.

"I give to my son James Partridge the other and remayning half both of my uplands and meadow lands lying and being at Middleboroughwith ye priviledges and appurtenances thereunto belonging to himafter my decease & to his heirs forever.

"Item--I give to my son James all my houses and all my lands both uplands and meadow lands in Duxborough and also ye Island at ye Glade with all ye priviledges and appurtenances belonging to ye aforesd lands at his mother's decease to him and his heirs forever if my son James will live in the house with his mother quietly during her life. I do hereby constitute and make my beloved wife Sarah Partridge sole executrix & administratrix of this my last will & testament as witness my hand and seal this 29th of June one thousand six hundred and eighty two.

GEORGE PARTRIDGE [Seal]
"In ye presence of us witnesses
ALEXANDER STANDISH
JOSIAH STANDISH

In case that any estate belonging unto me beyond sea should be brought over hither before my wife's decease my will is that she should dispose thereof amongst my children according to her discretion these lines were added before sealing

ALEXANDER STANDISH
JOSIAH STANDISH"

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Partridge, George Henry, and Carrie E. (Carrie Eastman Secombe) Chatfield. Partridge Genealogy: Descendants of George Partridge of Duxbury, Massachusetts. (Norwood, Massachusetts: Plimpton Press, 1915)
   1-5.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Charles Edward Banks, and Elijah Ellsworth Brownell. Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England, 1620-1650. (Philadelphia, PA: The Bertram Press for E E Brownell, 1937)
   152.
3.   Tracy, Sherman Weld. The Tracy Genealogy: Being Some of the Descendants of Stephen Tracy of Plymouth Colony, 1623; also Ancestral Sketches and Chart. (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc., 1936)
   24.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9} George Partridge, 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)
   V:372-381.

   ORIGIN: Unknown.
   MIGRATION: 1635 (based on 2 March 1635/6 service on a coroner's jury [PCR 1:39]).
   OCCUPATION: Tailor [PCLR 2:1:204; PCR 12:46, 178, 183]. Yeoman [PPR 1:225]. Planter [PCLR 5:403; PLR 1:7]. Husbandman [PCLR 3:188, 6:57].
   FREEMAN: Oath of fidelity at Duxbury, 1639 [PCR 8:182]. Propounded for Plymouth freemanship, 3 March 1645/6 [PCR 2:956]. Admitted to Plymouth freemanship, 2 June 1646, and added to end of 1639 list [PCR 1:101, 8:175]. In 1658, 29 May 1670 and early 1684 Plymouth Colony lists of freemen [PCR 5:275, 8:198, 203].
   DEATH: Between 16 February 1691[/2?] (acknowledgement of deed [PLR 1:364] and 10 October 1695 (inventory of estate [PPR 1:225].

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Winsor, Justin. History of the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, with genealogical registers. (Boston: Crosby & Nichols, 1849)
   67, 287.
6. ↑ The source cited does not say that he came, in 1636, to Plymouth. It simply avers that George Partridge came from Creeting St. Mary, Suffolk, to Bridgewater and cites only the Banks manuscript as a source. Since the underlying source is not known, this entry should probably be treated as no more than a clue rather than as an established fact.
7. ↑ Cannot determine the source of this date of death. It is not mentioned by Banks.