Person:James Trowbridge (27)

"1000. Dea. James Trowbridge (Thomas¹), born ____, 1636, in Dorchester, Mass.?; baptized there in 1637 or 1638; died May 22, 1717, in Newton, Mass.; married, first, December 30, 1659, in Dorchester, Margaret Atherton, daughter of Major-gen. Humphrey and Mary (Wales) Atherton, born April 30, 1638, in Dorchester; died August 17, 1672, in Newton. He married, second, January 30, 1674, in Newton, Margaret Jackson, daughter of Dea. John and Margaret (_____) Jackson, born June 20, 1649, in Newton; died September 16, 1727, in Newton.

James Trowbridge came in early childhood with his father to the plantation of New Haven in the colony of that name. About two years later his father returned to England, and he and his two older brothers were left in charge of their fathers steward, who proved so unfaithful in his duties towards the three little boys that the town authorities intervened and placed them under the care of their father's friend Sergeant Thomas Jeffrey and his wife. It was in their home in New Haven that James Trowbridge passed his childhood and youth, receiving his early education in the local school which was in charge of the well-known schoolmaster Mr. Ezekiel Cheever.

James Trowbridge inherited his father's lands in the town of Dorchester, Mass., and on coming of age he went there to occupy and manage them, settling there after his marriage. In 1664 he removed with his family to Cambridge village, now Newton, Mass. He was made a freeman of Massachusetts May 3. 1665. In 1675 he purchased of Deputy-governor Danforth 'the now mansion place of the said Trowbridge, with house, barn, outhouses, and 85 acres of land; bounded with the narrow lane north; Samuel Hyde and a highway west: a highway; and land of the said Danforth east; the dividing line being straight through the swamp.' He resided there the remainder of his life, occupied with the care of his farm and his public duties. Ho was one of the early members of the Newton Congregational church, to which his first wife was dismissed from the church in Dorchester on September 11, 1664. She had been admitted a member of the latter March 9, 1661-2. After the death of his father-in-law. Deacon John Jackson, in 1675, he was chosen to succeed him as deacon of the church in Newton and he discharged the duties of that office until his death, a period of over forty years.

James Trowbridge was a soldier in King Philip's War. At a special Court called by the governor and held at Boston on February 21. 1675-6, he was appointed lieutenant of the Cambridge village company of foot. He served during the war in the Middlesex county regiment under Major Daniel Gookin. His resignation was accepted October 10, 1677. In that year he was one of a committee of four to settle by reference the line dividing Cambridge and Cambridge village, two referees to be chosen by Cambridge and two by the village, they to choose a fifth. His name is in the list of inhabitants of the village who petitioned on May 8, 1678, for separation, as a distinct town. The general court granted the petition and at the first town meeting of the town of Newton, held July 27, 1679, he was elected a member of the first board of selectmen, and held this office for nine consecutive years. He was on the grand jury of Massachusetts Bay in 1683. He was elected clerk of the writs in 1692 and 1693. He was elected to the general court in 1700, 1701 and 1703.

Deacon Trowbridge disposed of much of his property during his lifetime by gifts among his children, and the inventory of his estate amounted to a little over £240, and included 'his purse and apparel, £16; books, £3; lands, £29; bills and bonds to be paid after the widow's death, £156; livery, 35s; furniture, £16; pewter, £2; brass, £5; ironware, £2; minor household articles and a musket, £2' The debts and funeral expenses amounted to £36."^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Trowbridge, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   8:1855.

   James Trowbridge, b c. 1636, d 22 May 1717 (Newton, Mass); Dea.; … had 15 children.

2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} 1000. Dea. James Trowbridge, in Trowbridge, Francis Bacon. The Trowbridge Genealogy: History of the Trowbridge Family in America. (New Haven, Conn.: The Compiler, 1908)
   503-06.
3. ↑ II. Dea. James Trowbridge, in Jackson, Francis. A history of the early settlement of Newton, county of Middlesex, Massachusetts, from 1639 to 1800: with a genealogical register of its inhabitants, prior to 1800. (Boston, Massachusetts: Stacy and Richardson, 1854)
   419-20.
4. ↑ Trowbridge, James, in 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)
   4:332.

   Trowbridge, James, Dorchester, s. prob. youngest, of Thomas, perhaps brot. by his f. from Eng. where he may have been b. 1636, but bapt. 1638 at D. and soon carr. to New Haven, there left with brs. Thomas and William, when his f. went home to Taunton, Co. Somerset. From New Haven he rem. to D. and m. 30 Dec. 1659, Margaret, d. of Humphrey Atherton, had Eliz. b. 12 Oct. 1660; Mindwell, 20 June 1662; John, 22 May 1664; rem. to Cambridge, and had Margaret, 30 Apr. 1666; Thankful, 6 Mar. 1668; Mary, 11 June 1670; and Hannah, 15 June 1672. His w. d. two days aft. and he m. 30 Jan. 1674; Margaret, d. of deac. John Jackson, had Experience, 1 Nov. 1675; Thomas, 9 Dec. 1677; Deliverance 31 Dec. 1679; James, 20 Sept. 1682; William, 19 Nov. 1684, Abigail, 11 Apr. 1687; and Caleb, 7 Nov. 1692, H. C. 1710; was freem. 1665; selectman, clk. of the writs, lieut. deac. and rep. 1700 and 3. He liv. in that part of C. wh. bec. Newton, d. 22 May 1717, and his wid. d. 16 Sept. 1727. Eliz. m. 1682, John Mirick; Mindwell m. 1684, Jonathan Fuller; Margaret m. 18 Mar. 1686, Ebenezer Stone; Thankful m. 15 Dec. 1690, Richard Ward; Mary m. a Stedman; Hannah m. John Greenwood; Deliverance m. Eleazer Ward; and Experience m. Samuel Wilson.

5. ↑ James Trowbridge, in Find A Grave.
6. ↑ Tombstone Inscriptions of Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts
   FHL Film #844471.

   Age 81 at death