Person:John Wheeler (63)

Not the Mary & John Immigrant of 1634/35

"On the passenger list of the Mary and John, dated March 24, 1633/4, sailing from Southampton, appears the name John Wheeler, and as most of the emigrants on this ship settled in Newbury, it has been taken for granted that this John Wheeler was the Salisbury barber who settled in Hampton, not far from Newbury. An examination of the parish register of St. Edmund's, however, makes this conclusion very dubious, for the baptism of Henry, son of John and Anne Wheeler, was entered there on February 8, 1634/5. Presumably little Henry was baptized the Sunday after his birth, in the usual course of events, and under these circumstances the John Wheeler who sailed for New England in March 1633/4, could not have been his father. Henry, who was his father's executor, gave his age as forty-three in 1678, which again places his birth in 1635. The Mary and John John Wheeler must have been another man of this not uncommon name."^[1]

Estate of John Wheeler of Newbury

'Bee it knowne unto all men by theise psents th[at I: copy] John Wheeler of Newb[erie in: copy] the county of Essex in Newengland Massachusets co[nsider: copy]ing my old age & [my owne: copy] weaknes, being in health of body and of pfect me[mory] through gods mercy hereby make my last will and testament, comend[ing] my soule [in]to [t]he han[ds] of my blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ and my body to he buryed in the burying place of Newbury (whensoeuer it shall please god to take me hence by death) in hopes of a blessed Resurrection. And for my worldly goods I dispose [as] followeth first I giue and bequeath vnto my Son Dauid wheeler ten pounds of that debt that hee owes mee, 2dly I giue to my Sonne Edward wheeler of the Citty of Salisbury in the Realme of England ten pounds ║of which he is║ to pay three pounds and ten shillings to the chamber of the Citty abousaid, Also I gi[ue] & bequeath to my Son Adam [Wheelar of: copy] the said Citty forty shillings A[lso I giue: copy] to my son [Thomas Wheelar forty: copy] shillings And also I giue to my son [Will]iam wheeler forty sh[illings] in case he shall come ouer into this country. Also I giue to my daught[er] Mercy forty shillings, And to my daughter Elizabeth Button I giue four pounds, Also I giue to my daughter Anne Chase four pounds, and to my Daughter in law Susanna wheller four pound, twenty shillings apiece to all theise my children, of this estate was giuen them by thei[r] mother which is included in the seuerall summs aboue exprest I giue and bequeath to my Son Georgs children Ephraim wheeler & s[am^ll.: copy] Wheeler four pounds apeice that is eight pounds between them [when: copy] they shalbe of the age of one and twenty to be paid by my Execu[to^r. also: copy]. I giue to my son Roger wheelers Daughter Mary Wheeler [three: copy] pounds to be paid to her when she shall be of the age of [eighteen years: copy] And to her Brother Joseph wheeler I giue forty shillings [when hee shallbe: copy] of the age of one & twenty years, And to my daughter Elizabeths chil: copy]dren forty shillings apeice. To Thomas forty shillings to be [payd to: copy] him when he shalbe of the age of one & twenty & to mary [forty shill: copy]ings & to Elizabeth forty shillings when they shalbe Eight[een years: copy] of age. All theise Legacyes are to be paid in New england in [such: copy] pay as my Estate I leaue wilbee due to my executor [in, which: copy] he shall receiue it, And the Legacyes abouementioned which is to my children shalbe paid within one whole yeare after my decease but those to my Grandchildren to be the vse of my Executor vntill they shalbee of the ages abouementioned. Also I giue the Land to my daughter in law Susanna my son Georgs wife which I gaue her husband which he built [vpon: copy) as it is inclos[ed: copy]. Also I appoint my Son Henry wheeler to be the sole Executor of this my Last will & testament And to haue all the rest of my goods & chattels vndisposed of my debts & funerall being discharged march 28th 1668.'

John Wheeler

Witness: Anthony Somerby, Augustinn Stedman, Roger Steedman, Beniamine Lowle, Jonathan Woodman.

Proved in Hampton court Oct. 11, 1670 by Benj. Loel and Jonathan Woodman. Essex County Probate Files, Docket 29,448."^[6]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Wheeler, of Newbury, in Davis, Walter Goodwin, Compiler, and Introduction by Gary Boyd Roberts. Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Haley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants). (Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996)
   3:604-606.

   John Wheeler (Dominick) was baptized November 4, 1591, at St. Edmund's, Salisbury. On December 1, 1611, he married Agnes Yeomans at St. Edmund's. … Wheeler was a barber by trade. … When the Wheelers did emigrate, they were first at Hampton, but in 1641 John was one of the original proprietors of Salisbury, Before 1650 they had moved to Newbury, but he was still taxed in Salisbury in 1652. … Anne Wheeler, his wife, died in Newbury on August 15, 1662.

2. ↑ John Wheeler, 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)
   4:497.

   John (Wheeler), Newbury, came, I think, in the Mary and John, 1634, tho. the name, print. in the copy of the copy of the copy, Geneal. Reg. IX. 267, is Whelyer, from Southampton, the nearest port of embarcat. from his native city, Salisbury, leav. four s. at home, but perhaps brot. Roger, and George, with ds. Ann, wh. m. Aquila Chase, and Eliz. perhaps w. of Matthias Button, besides Mercy, wh. may have been b. on our side of the water, was one of the orig. proprs. of Salisbury. His w. Ann, d. 15 Aug. 1662, and he d. 1670, hav. made his will, 28 Mar. 1668, from wh.; some of the detail is learn. It names childr. and gr.childr. here, and s. Adam, Edward, and William, in Salisbury, Eng.

3.   3 John Wheeler, in Noyes, Sybil; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939)
   743.

   Wheeler, fourd chiefly in Gloucestershire and bordering counties. Became 23d commonest name in N. E. … 3 John (Wheeler), from Salisbury, co. Wilts, where he m. Ann Yeoman 1 Dec. 1611, was early at Hampton, soon at Salisb. and ± 1650 at Newbury where Ann d. 15 Aug. 1662. His will, of Newb., 28 Mar. 1668 -11 Oct. 1670. See Hoyt's Salisbury, i: 353, for eleven ch., incl: David. Anne, m. 1st Aquila Chase(1), m. 2d Daniel Silloway. Elizabeth, m. 1st Thomas Dustin of Dover and Kit.; m. 2d Matthias Button. Roger. See also 'Desc. of Aquila and Thomas Chase' (1928), p. 521, for English data, incl. his fa.'s will.

4.   1 John¹ Wheeler, in Hoyt, David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts. (Providence, RI, 1897-1919)
   1353-54.

   1 John¹ Wheeler, "barber," from Salisbury, Eng., was of Hampton soon after the settlement of the town; recd. land in Salisbury, Mass., in 1641; rem. to Newbury bef. 1650, but taxed in S. 1652. He m. Anne (_____), who d. Aug. 15, 1662[Nb]. He d. 1670; will March 28, 1668; Oct. 11, 1670; then of Nb.

5.   5400. John Wheeler, in Wheeler, Albert Gallatin. The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler family in America. (American College of Genealogy , 1914)
   416.

   5400. John Wheeler. He is said to have been born at Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, and to have sailed for America on March 24, 1633-34 in the ship "Mary and John," [Davis argues convincingly that this John Wheeler was not the "Mary and John" immigrant] bringing his wife Ann and six children and leaving four sons in England. He spent the first year of his residence at Aggawam (now Ipswich), Mass. [There is no credible evidence that he ever lived in Ipswich.]. The following year he removed to the settlement on the north bank of the Merrimac River that was called Salisbury after 1640, and as one of its original proprietors, in 1641 he received land there which he still held and paid tax on as late as 1652, notwithstanding he had removed to Newbury, Mass., before 1650. He died at Newbury, Aug. 29, 1670, aged 52, and his wife Ann died there Aug. 15, 1662.

6. ↑ Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
   2:201.