Person:Nathaniel Masterson (1)

Nathaniel Masterson in Savage

Nathaniel Masterson, York; son of Richard; had lived early at Salem, at Boston 1660, and at several other places, with Rev. Ralph Smith, his father-in-law; was marshal or sheriff in 1665; imprisoned by the royal commissioners for upholding the right of Massachusetts, and restored to his office by Leverett and the other agents of Massachusetts, 1668, when the people returned to allegiance under our Colony. Hubbard, 593.^[2]

Nathaniel Masterson in Noyes/Libby/Davis

Nathaniel Masterson, York; marshal of the Province; ± 43 in February 1671/2. Doctor Banks identified him as son of Richard and Mary (Goodall) Masterson, born in Leiden, 1628, brought to Plymouth as an infant; and later in Manchester and Ipswich with family of his step-father, Rev. Ralph Smith. He married in Ipswich, 31 July 1657, Elizabeth, daughter of John Cogswell; and was there in 1658. York, 1659; and there accepted marshal's office, 3 July 1660. Removed by the Gorges party, he submitted and was acquitted by the Carr court; restored as marshal by Massachusetts in 1668, and continued until 1686+. His fence on Mr. Gorges' Neck mentioned in 1661; in 1671, the town agreed to lay out his home place 'if it were not orderly granted' with 30 acres adjacent; Rishforth and Thomas Moulton abutted. Constable 1666-1667; grand jury, 1666, and either he or Nathaniel Masters in 1686-1687; freeman, 1676; coroner's jury, 1685; selectman 1687-1688. Presumably he and wife Elizabeth perished in the Candlemas Day Massacre, (25 January) 1691/2. Administration on estate of "Jonathan" granted to Sarah Masterson 8 March following, her bondsman Thomas Adams (replacing John Linscott first named) and Arthur Bragdon; inventory, taken five days earlier by Linscott and Philip Babb, included house, barn, 160 acres of land, and other land adjacent. Only daughters appear, reckoning "Jonathan" as error for the father Nathaniel: Elizabeth, married Samuel Young. Sarah (not Lydia), married Captain Arthur Bragdon junior after 8 March 1691/2. Abiel, an Indian captive returned to New England but still in Indian hands at Pennacook, January 1698/9; at York 1702-1704; married (intention, Ipswich, 3 December 1710, Isaac Foster junior.^[3]

NOTE

This is a difficult family. There is very little information on Nathaniel Masterson and even less on (in my opinion probable son) Jonathan. It is unlikely that Elizabeth Cogswell would be having three or four children after being married at the age of 41, so, for convenience, at this point, pending additional information, I would place Jonathan, Elizabeth and Sarah as children of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Cogswell) and Abiel as a child of Jonathan and an unknown wife. - WDC (a.k.a jaques1724), 16 April 2011.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Anderson, Robert Charles. The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2004)
   317.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 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)
   3:171.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Noyes, Sybil; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939)
   467.