Person:John Lovejoy (2)

Since Clarence Earle Lovejoy’s book in 1930, researchers have generally accepted his speculation that John Lovejoy of Andover born about 1622 was the son of Rowland Lovejoy baptized 18 Jun 1622. John’s name (recorded Lougie) was discovered on the 1638 Confidence passenger list in the 1960s as an indentured servant to the Stephens family from Gowsham, Oxfordshire. It seems unlikely the son of goldsmith Rowland Lovejoy would be a servant to an Oxfordshire yeoman. Subsequent research discovered the baptism of John Lovejoy, son of William of Caversham, Oxfordshire. Also found in a neighboring parish was the baptism of Grace Lovejoy, who traveled with John on the Confidence.

There are few records of John between his arrival in 1638 and May 6, 1646, when the town of Andover was settled and John’s name was 17th on the list of 23 settlers. He was also one of the first 12 members of the church, where he was married in 1651. John’s land was one of first grants of land in Andover; his property was beside Andrew Foster's on the road leading from Ipswich through Andover to Billerica, probably Boston Road.

John is referred to as a fence viewer in 1669, constable in 1674 and, with his sons, had an iron works on the Shawshin River, supposedly near the site of the Marland Mills. John took the Freeman's Oath in 1662 and 1669 and was involved in civic affairs and committees. His is on the 6 May 1673 list of freeman at Andover.

John served in King Phillip's War (1675-76) and used the salary thus earned (£1, 10s) to repay Andover for a loan to his family during his absence. He fought the Narragansetts as a member of Captain Joseph Gardiner's first company of Salem Militia (1675-76). The Society of Colonial Wars has his records on file.

John’s six page will left second wife Hannah an abundant provision. It claimed portion had already been given to the eldest son, William; and named sons, Christopher, Nathaniel, Joseph and Ebenezer, and daughters Sarah Johnson, Ann Blancher, Abigail and Deborah. It referred to son Benjamin (died year before) for whom certain lands had been intended, and to grandson John Lovejoy. He desired his brother (in-law) Thomas Osgood and sons William and Joseph, to have charge of his son, Ebenezer, and his granddaughter, Frances.

1. ↑ Lovejoy, Clarence Earle. The Lovejoy Genealogy, with Biographies and History, 1460-1930: especially recording the American descendants and the English ancestry of John Lovejoy (1622-1690) of Andover, Mass., and Joseph Lovejoy (1684-1748) of Prince George County, Md., but also embracing all known data on other persons bearing the Lovejoy name, whether or not identified with the emigrant ancestors. (New York, New York: New York, New York : Lovejoy (c1930), c1930).
2. ↑ Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Andover, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1912).
3. ↑ English Origins of John Lovejoy of Andover, Massachusetts, in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society)
   Vol. 163: 27-32, January 2009.
4.   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)
   3:122.

   LOVEJOY, JOHN, Andover, m. 1 June 1651, Mary, d. of Christopher Osgood, wh. d. 15 July 1675, was freem. 1673, had sec. w. m. 12 Jan. 1677, Hannah Prichard, and d. 7 Nov. 1690. Beside Benjamin, wh. d. in serv. as a soldier, early in 1689, at Pemaquid, he had John; William; Christopher, wh. m. 26 May 1685, Sarah Russ, and d. 1737, in 78th yr.; Joseph; Nathaniel, wh. m. 21 Mar. 1694, Dorothy Hoyt, and d. 1758, aged 84; and Ebenezer, wh. m. 11 July 1693, Mary Foster, and d. 1759, in 86th yr. Mary, wh. m. 4 July 1670, Joseph Wilson; Sarah, wh. m. 23 May 1678, William Johnson; Ann, wh. m. 26 May 1685, Jonathan Blanchard; and Abigail, wh. m. 9 Apr. 1691, Nehemiah Abbot, were, I presume, his ds.