Person talk:Elisha Jones (1)

Birth place [20 November 2015]

The birth place on this page currently says "Watertown West Precinct, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England".

The last several edits show the place changing from Watertown West Precinct to Watertown Farmers Precinct [and?or?] West Precinct to Watertown Farmers Precinct to Watertown West Precinct.

All this editing seems to be entirely based on Bond and confusion over Bond's history of place names, primarily p. 991. As I read Bond, Weston was known as Watertown Farms. So it became known as the Farmers Precinct, though originally the third Military Precinct, AKA the precinct of Lieut. Jones' Company, and the West Precinct. Waltham, another part of Watertown, was the Middle Precinct, but after the west part incorporated as Weston in 1713, Waltham became the West Precinct until it also split off and incorporated in 1738. So both Farmer's Precinct and West Precinct in 1710 would be names for the same thing. Of course, forced to choose, West Precinct was what it is called in Elisha's birth record... Though the church records, which start 1709, call it "the West part of Watert'n, comonly call'd Watert'n Farms".

A peripheral side issue, I was trying to establish the location of the 92 acre parcel the father Josiah bought in 1699. Until he received land from his father in 1707, it was possible he may have lived there, and his children born from 1699 to 1707 born there. Depending on what part of Watertown this lay in, it was possible for those years he was not living in Weston, especially since his son Josiah is baptized in the East Precinct in 1701. But when he conveys it to his son in 1723/24 (v. 36, p. 138), it is described as lying in Weston. So all of Elisha's siblings were probably born in Weston, though Elisha's is the only record that is explicit. --Jrich 00:26, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

Not just Bond. After accessing 3 different sources for descriptions of each precinct, one of which is more confusing than the other two, I discovered the following. The boundaries of the "precincts" varied considerably until 1696/7 (due mostly to debate over the establishment of a new or 2nd meeting house) when lines for Farmer's District were officially established, being as large as the other two combined. Lewis Jones' purchase in 1656 ? gives a geographical description of the location that places it well within Farmers District. This is the only land purchase I'm able to access, other than the original & 2nd division of land in Watertown. I'm almost sorry I started this "precinct" search, considering that the 1st source I used turned out to be flawed. I think other land purchases or gifts are probably the only way to determine who was where, and when. --SkippyG 01:39, 21 November 2015 (UTC)