Person:John Plimpton (3)

Historic Homes: Sgt. John Plympton was born in England about 1620. He is believed to be a branch of the family in Yorkshire, where the Plumptons go back to 1086. John came to America in his youth as an apprentice of Dr. George Alcocke. Two other Plympton immigrants around this time -- Elizabeth m. John Rutter of Sudbury, and Thomas of Sudbury, may be siblings, as the names of the children repeat.

He married, at Dedham, on March 13, 1644 Jane Damon or Dammin, who came over with her mother and stepfather John Eaton on the Elizabeth and Ann.

John was admitted to the church at Dedham on 20 Jan 1642/3, and admitted a freeman there on 10 May 1653. He moved to the Medfield, the next town over, in 1652. He was elected a member of the Artillery Company of Boston in 1643. He contributed to the fund to support Harvard College, was named highway surveyor in 1661, and constable in 1667.

In 1673, he moved to Deerfield, Massachusetts. He left during King Phillip's War, but returned in 1677. He was captured by Indians with three other men and a boy on 19 Sep 1677, and taken to Canada and tortured. "Plympton finally succumbed to hardships of his captivity." The inventory of his estate was filed at Suffield 24 Sep 1678 by his wife Jane.

1.   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)
   3:447-448.

   JOHN, Dedham 1642, perhaps br. of the preced. [Henry, d. 1653] came prob. some yrs. be f. for Dr. George Alcock of Roxbury, in his will of 22 Dec. 1640, calls him his serv. meaning apprentice. May be the freem. of 10 May 1643, printed Plunton; by wife Jane (probably daughter of Richard Dummer, brot. from Eng. m. 13 Mar. 1644) had Hannah , b. 1, bapt. 16 Mar. 1645; John, 21 Mar. bapt. 5 Apr. 1646, d. soon; Mary, 9, bapt. 16 Apr. 1648; John, again, 16, bapt. 23 June 1650; Peter, bapt. Mar. 1652 ; and the foll. at Medfield of wh. only dates of birth appear; Joseph, 7 Oct. 1653 ; Mehitable, 15 Sept. 1655; Jonathan, 23 Nov. 1657; Eleazer, 20 Feb. 1660, d. s oon; Eleazer, again, 3 or 7 May 1661; Rhoda, 2 Feb. 1663, d. soon; Jane, 2 or 3 June 1664, d. soon; and Henry, 9 Jan. 1666, wh. d. 4 Jan. 1668; but they were not doubt bapt. like the earlier. He rem. aft. the gr. war began, I suppose , to Deerfield, where he was serj.; his son Jonathan was killed by the Indians 18 Sept. 1675, at Bloody Brook, and the f. was tak. two yrs. and one day aft. d. of Jonathan, by the Ind. carr. towards Canada, and k. one report says, by burn. at the stake. The Hampsh. Prob. rec. take notice 1678 of his wid. Jane , and that the ch. were to have the lds. all rem. in few yrs. to the old setle m. near Boston. His wid. m. 16 Mar. 1679, Nicholas Hide; Hannah m. 31 Jan. 16 65, Nathaniel Sutliffe; Mary m. 14 Nov. 1671, Nathaniel Johnson; Mehitable m . 28 Sept. 1676, Ephraim Hinsdale.

2. ↑ Crane, Ellery B. Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity. (New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1907)
   p. 386.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 John Plympton, in Sheldon, George. Biographical Sketchs of the Settlers at Pocumtuck Before Philip's War. History and Proceedings of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. (Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, 1890-1921)
   1:71, 1890.

   Plvmpton, John—Sergt. of Dedham, 1642; came here from Medfield before Nov. 7, 1673; was taken captive here in the Ashpelon raid, Sept. 19, 1677, and burnt at the stake in Canada. He m., Mch. 3, 1644, Jane Dummer, b. in England, 1628, dau. of Richard, the immigrant; they had 13 chil., but none of the name remained hereabouts; their son Jonathan was killed at Bloody Brook, with Lothrop.

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Plympton, in Sheldon, George. A History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the Times when and the People by whom it was Settled, Unsettled, and Resettled, with a Special Study of the Indian Wars in the Connecticut Valley; with Genealogies. (Greenfield, Mass.: Press of E. A. Hall & Co., 1895-1896)
   2:262.

   PLYMPTON, John, b. abt. 1620; of Roxbury 1640; of Dedham 1642; member of Ancient and Honorable Artillery co. 1643; rem. to Medfield 1652, and to Pocumtuck 1673; his autograph, written that year, is in Memorial hall; was sergt. in Philip's war; he was serving under Capt. Moseley Dec. 10, 1675; retired to Hat. on the breaking up of the sett., but ret. in 1677 and built a house on lot No. 34; Sept. 19, 1677, he was cap. by a party of Indians fr. Can. led by Ashpelon; on the arrival of the party in Can. he was burned at the stake.