Person:Matthew Bridge (3)

MATTHEW BRIDGE was born in England about 1615. He married Anna, daughter of Nicholas Danforth. In early life he was accused, probably without sufficient cause, of a heinous crime, for which he was arraigned before the General Court. June 4 1637, " Matthew Bridge, being accused to be guilty of the untimely death of John Abbot, the said Matthew and John Bridge his father were bound in £40. for his appearance at the next Quarter Court, to be held the first Tuesday in the 7th mo. at Boston Sept. 19, 1637, " Matthew Bridge appearing, and no evidence coming in against him, he was quit by proclamation." His innocence is to be presumed, not only from the absence of testimony against him, but from his subsequent character and conduct. He married into one of the most respectable families in Cambridge and appears to have lived to a good old age, respected by his townsmen. He died 28 Ap. 1700, when he must have been more than 80 years old; his wife Anna died 2 Dec 1704.

Tombstone

"In memory of Matthew Bridge Esq. Eldest son of Deacon John Bridge came over with him from England in 1631, he resided with his father in this city, in 1632 A member of the Artillery Company in 1643. Admitted as a freeman in 1645. Removed to Lexington and a large landholder in 1666. He subscribed for the erection of the First Church in 1692 and paid the large parish tax at its organization in 1693. At the ordination of Rev. John Hancock in 1698 as a mark of distinction and respect for his advanced age, he was seated at the table in the meeting-house by order of the parish. He was a prominent citizen served the town in many important public stations with honor and fidelity. A man who feared God and loved his fellow men. He died at Lexington, April 28 1700."

"In 1643, he married Anna, daughter of Nickolas and Elizabeth Danforth, a woman of most exemplary virtue and piety. She died Dec 2, 1704, age eighty-four years."

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 "John Bridge", 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)
   I:393ff.
2. ↑ 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)
   I:248.
3. ↑ Bridge, William Dawson. Genealogy of the John Bridge family in America, 1632-1924. (Cambridge, Mass.: Murray, 1924)
   4ff.
4. ↑ Lexington, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. Record of births, marriages, and deaths to January 1, 1898. (Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing, 1898)
   167.

   Bridge, Matthew, Sr., (died) Apr. 28, 1700.

5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 Baldwin, Thomas W. Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the Year of 1850. (Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co., 1914-15)
   II:484.

   BRIDGE, Matthew, Apr. 28, 1700. (d. in Lexington, grave record, cemetery at Harvard Square).

6. ↑ Then Cambridge Farms, in the town of Cambridge.