Person:William Sargent (4)

Land Transactions

"On 1 November 1666, William Sargent of Salisbury, seaman, gave for 'natural affection' to his son Thomas Sargent thirty acres of upland in Salisbury abutting the Merrimack River [NLR 2:157]. On 22 October 1669, William Sargent of Amesbury gave for 'natural affection and other considerations' to his 'beloved son Thomas Sargent' six acres of marsh granted to him by Salisbury, and a sweepage lot of salt marsh in Salisbury at a place called 'ye beache' being lot number 8 containing three acres and four rods, being half the lot of marsh between two islands called 'Barnss Iland' and 'Ware Iland' [NLR 2:153]. On 9 October 1669 William Sargent of Amesbury, planter, gave for 'natural affection and other considerations' to his 'beloved son William Sargent' a great lot of upland containing two hundred acres in Amesbury, a lot of upland in ox common containing eight acres, a lot of upland west of the great pond containing forty acres, a lot of upland in 'burchin meadow hill' containing forty-five acres 'which I bought of Edward Goe'; the last division of three acres in the pond meadow (all the foregoing in Amesbury); and half his first division of the higledee pigledee lots of salt marsh in Salisbury [NLR 2:153].

On 4 March 1670/1 William Sargent of Amesbury, seaman, sold for £2 10s. t o William Sargent Jr. of Amesbury, planter, two acres of upland at the Indian ground in Amesbury; wife Johana Sargent made her mark to this deed [NLR 2:201]. On 23 April 1672 William Sargent of Amesbury, yeoman, sold to Isaac Green of Hampton 2 acres of salt marsh called Hall's farm [NLR 3:25]. On 1 July 1673 William Sargent Sr. of Amesbury, with the consent of his wife, 'Janna,' sold to Thomas Wells of Amesbury ninety-five rods of land in Amesbury, part of his houselot [NLR 3:5]. On 1 October 1673 'William Sergent … of Almsberry in Norfolke senior and mariner' mortgaged to Nathaniel Williams of Suffolk County eight acres of upland in Amesbury that Sergeant had by exchange with Richard Currier [ILR 3:284]. On 24 February 1673[/4] William Sargent Sr. of Amesbury, seaman, sold to Caleb Moody of Newbury, maltster, for £5 1s. 'my second division higledee pigledee' lot of salt marsh containing three acres in Salisbury [NLR 2:312].

Among parcels sold by William Sargent Jr. on 18 October 1696 to Henry Deering, was a great lot of upland given by his grandfather [unnamed] to his father William Sergeant, 'containing by estimation 200 acres in Amesbury amongst the great lots' [ELR 10:58].

Estate of William Sargent, Sr. of Amesbury

"In the name of God Amen the 24 day of Marche: 1671/72 I William Sargent of ye town of Emsbery in ye County of Norfolk Massachusetts in Newengland: Seaman being in pritty good health of body & of sound, & pfect memorie (praise bee giuen to god for ye same) & knowing ye vncertainty of this life on earth, & being desierous to settle things in order doe make this my last will & Testamt in manner, & form following: That is to say. First & principally I comend my soule to Allmighty God my Creator assuerdly belieuing yt I shall receiue full pardon & free remission of all my sinns & bee saved by ye prcious death & meritts of my blessed Savior & Redeemer Christ Jesus, & my body to ye earth from whence it was taken to bee buried in such decent & Christian manner as to my Executors, hereafter named shalbe thought meete & convenient: And as touching such worldly estate as ye lord in mercy hath lent mee my will & meaning is ye same shalbee imployed & bestowed as hereafter by this my will is expressed, And first I doe revoke, renounce frustrate and make voyd all wills by mee formerly made & declare & appoint this my last will & Testamt Item I giue & bequeath: to my grand child William Challis fiue pound: & to my grand children: Elizabeth, Lidia: Mary: & Phillip watson Challis to eache of them twenty shillings: Item I giue & bequeath unto my Grand childeren Dorethie, & Elizabeth Colby: to each of them twenty shillings: Item I giue unto my grand-child William Sargent thirty shilling Itt I giue & bequeath vnto my Daughter Elizabeth ye wife of Samll Colby fiue pounds: Item I giue all ye remaynder of my estate (these my legasies & my funerall charges being first payd) unto my daughter Sarah both howsing & lands: chattells & other mouables wtsoever; always pvided that if she die, wthout children: that then ye howsing & lands to bee equally divided: unto my fower Chiledren hereafter named i. e.: my sons Thomas & William: & my daughters Mary & Elizabeth: Item I do constitute ordaine & appointe my sone Thomas Sargent, & my daughter Sarah Sargent, Executors vnto this my will & Testamt: & doe make my loueing brother in law mr Tho: Bradbury: & my Esteemed friend Major Robert Pike, my overseers, to take care that this my will may bee pformed according to ye true intent & meaning thereof: And to this my last Will & Testamt: I doe herevnto sett my hand & seale ye day & yeare above named.

William Sargent. (SEAL)
Witness: Tho. Bradbury, Mary (her MB mark) Bradbury, John Bradbury.

Proved in Salisbury court Apr. 13, 1675 by Tho. Bradbury and Jno. Bradbury to be the last will of Wm. Sargent, Sen."^[4]

"The inventory of the estate of "Willi. Sargent, Senr.," taken 8 April 1675 by Thomas Sergeant and John Weed, totalled £196, of which the real estate totalled £137 10s., including 'housing & lands about the house & orchard on both sides [of] the country way," £85; 'half the lot in the tide meadows', £16; 'a Higledee Pigledee lot in the salt marsh' £25; 'a lot lying in … Lyons Mouth,' £5 10s.; 'a lot in the great swamp,' £2; ;a lot in … Bugmore,' £4 [ EPR 2:440]. Unmarried daughter Sarah chose to have her 'loving brother' Thomas act in her behalf as executor, 14 April 1675 [ NLR 3:11]."^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} William Sargent, in Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995)
   III:1630-1633.

   ORIGIN: Unknown.
   MIGRATION: 1632.
   OCCUPATION: Seaman.
   CHURCH MEMBERSHIP: Admission to a Massachusetts Bay church prior to 22 May 1639 implied by freemanship.
   FREEMAN: 22 May 1639 (as "Mr. Willi[am] Sergent") [MBCR 1:375].
   ESTATE: "It is ordered that no person whatsoever shall go to plant or inhabit at Aggawam, without leave from the court, except those that are already gone, viz. … "Willm Srjeant" [MBCR 1:103]. In a grant at Ipswich in 1634, William Sargent received twelve acres of land [ITR ].
   "Willi[am] Sergant" was in the list of petitioners, mostly Newbury men, headed by Stephen Bachiler, who on 6 September 1638 were granted "liberty to begin a plantation at Winnacunnet [Hampton]" [MBCR 1:236]. "Will[iam] Sargent" was in the section of married men in the list of first comers to Hampton [GDMNH 55].
   BIRTH: By about 1611 based on estimated date of marriage.
   DEATH: Amesbury after 24 February 1673[/4] [NLR 2:312] and before 8 April 1675 (inventory).
   ASSOCIATIONS: The William Sargent of this sketch is not to be confused with the William Sargent of Gloucester who was "cousin german" of Thomas Wathing [EQC I:264]. The convoluted affinity proposed by Hoyt among William of Amesbury, Richard of London, and a ghostly William of Charlestown strains all credulity [Hoyt 310-11].
   In his will of 20 June 1663 Theophilus Shatswell of Haverhill named "my brother Wilyam Sargent & my kinsman Lieutenant Philip Challis" his overseers [EPR 1:425]; Philip Watson-Challis had married Mary, the eldest child of William Sargent. Recent research has shown that no sibling of Theophilus Shatswell married William Sargent [ NEHGR 150:181-90], and the two wives of of William Sargent have been identified. The most likely remaining solution is that Theophilus Shatswell married a sister of William Sargent.

2.   "Old Norfolk County Records", in Perley, Sidney, ed. Essex Antiquarian. (Salem, Mass.: Essex Antiquarian)
   Vol 13 p. 107.

   "Sarah Sargent (her SS mark) of Eamsbery, maiden, was, by her father, William Sargent of Eamsbery, lately deceased, appointed executrix of his will with her brother Tho: Sargent, which will was proved in court at Salisbury April 13, 1675, and she now appoints her said brother to act for her as said executrix, April 14, 1675. Wit: Tho: Bradbury and John Bradbury. Ack. May 10, 1675, before Robert Pike, commissioner."

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Holman, Mary Lovering. Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury. (Concord, New Hampshire: Privately Printed at The Rumford Press, 1938)
   I:119-122.
4. ↑ Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920)
   II:438-441.