Puritan Courtship and Marriage in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

It's been a long time since I got married, but I still remember the excitement and nerves that went along with that special day.  We had a lovely catholic wedding, which if you don't know, goes on for at least an hour. And why not, you spend so much on your dress and flowers and stuff, it should last a good long time. Altogether, with the rehearsal dinner, reception, and the ceremony itself it was quite the event.  So what was it like when our puritan ancestors married? Here is what I know about Puritan weddings.

age of marriage

The age at which men and women are marrying, for the first time, is rising.  In 2012 the average male married at 29 and his wife was 27.  There are multiple reasons for this trend, including simple economics.  In order to get married, support a family and live a decent life, one needs a certain amount of income. This is becoming harder to achieve and takes a bit of time to reach a level of economic security on which many couples feel it is safe to marry. 

This was the case in England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600 and 1700s.  In England the conditions were worse than New England and as many as 30% of adults never married. In Massachusetts almost all adults of marriageable age married. Most widows and widowers promptly remarried after the death of their spouse.  Many adults married two even three times in their lifetime. But, the age at which they first married was much like today.  Men needed some measure of economic freedom from their fathers to support their wife and their inevitable children.

Most of the men in the early days of the colony made their living by farming and raising livestock. They needed land to do this.  Fathers seemed reluctant to part with their land but would often allow sons to farm portions of their land, often virgin land, that had yet to see a plow.  Less often fathers would outright deed land to their sons. If there were a lot of sons in the family, some would be apprenticed to learn a trade in order to earn a living wage.  Men got married on average at about 27 years of age.

Women worked at home with their mothers or step-mothers from a very early age learning to run a household.  They would have to learn to make meals from scratch, make soap and candles, and how to sew their own clothes.  They might also work as a servant in another home.  Women got married on average at about 24 years of age.

The Puritans believed in the family as a unit.  Everyone must belong to and live with a family.  There were no bachelor pads, or boarding houses.  In 1668 the Court of Middlesex County conducted a search for single people and forced them to choose a family to live with. The only way to move out of a family home was to start your own, but first you had to find your mate.

Although the Puritan lifestyle was highly restrictive, boys will be boys and girls will be girls and they will find a way to meet.  Once a week, on the Sabbath, everyone in town came together at the meeting house for Sunday service. This would ensure that all eligible men would meet all eligible women. Many people married locally to men or women they grew up with.  Families became complicated with intermarriage and in a small town many families would be related by marriage to each other.

what's love got to do with it

Surprisingly, Puritans believed that couples should marry for love, this goes against my image of the dour strict and loveless people of my imagination.  Parents and children must give their free consent to marry. Men generally asked permission of the woman's father to court her. I was somewhat surprised to find that the bundle board was not a myth but actually used. The prospective couple were allowed to spend the night, together, in the same bed, separated by the bundle board.

If at the end of the courtship the couple decide to marry they would enter into a 'contraction'. The couple would post their banns at the meeting house three times.  The prospective bride would be allowed to choose the text for the minister to preach, this was her day in church.  If there were no objections, the marriage could proceed.

No doubt there were some negotiations going on.  The couple had to live somewhere, either in a new household of their own or with one of their parents.  The couple would need furniture and other household items to start their new life together.

the wedding ceremony...or not

Today many couples choose to marry in the month of June, Puritans preferred November. There was no need for a wedding planner, wedding gown or even a church.  The couple married at the bride's family home.  The local magistrate or, if the marriage occurred after 1686, the local minister arrived, asked the couple if they wanted to marry and if they both said yes...they were married. That's it.  The marriage was recorded in the town records and the families might have a little party with small cakes and a beverage, but no party, no dancing or feasting.

alternate routes

If a couple were determined to marry, and the parents disapproved, they could 'self marry'.  I'm not sure exactly what they had to do to achieve this, but I could probably make a few guesses.  If they did 'self marry' they could petition the court to recognize their marriage.

A surprising number of my ancestors were obviously pregnant at the time of their marriage. A 'premie baby' that looked 'full term' was a dead giveaway. The couple would be reported to the local magistrate and hauled into court charge with fornication. The court would typically sentence them to be whipped or pay a fine.

A single woman who became pregnant by a reluctant father would also find herself in court. Witnesses would be called to testify on behalf of both parties.  If the man denied being the father the court would wait for the birth to occur.  At the height of the woman's labor pains the midwife would ask her to name the father. It was believed that the woman, in total agony could not lie. If the court believed the mother, the father would be given the choice of marriage or financial support for the child.  The woman was then promptly returned to her family.

William Sargent and Mary Colby of Salisbury, Massachusetts

William Sargent Jr. was born 2 Jan 1645/6 in Salisbury, MA the son of William and Elizabeth Perkins Sargent.  His father was fairly well to do and his mother's sister was married to Thomas Bradbury, a prominent citizen of Salisbury and the Colony. Not to long after his birth, William's father moved the family across the Powwow River to the newly established town of Amesbury.  This is where William Jr. made his home, married and raised his family. Unlike his father, who was a Seaman, William remained firmly on land.

first comes love then comes marriage then comes a baby in baby carriage...or was it the other way around
William married Mary Colby, daughter of Anthony Colby, also of Amesbury on 23 September 1668. William was 22 and Mary was 21. They were younger than the average newly wed couples.  In April of 1699 William and Mary were presented in court for fornication, their first born child must have come a wee bit early and looked a bit too much like a full term baby and was therefore judged to have been conceived before their marriage. Mary and William paid a fine to avoid a whipping.

Although it seems out of the ordinary for a Puritan couple to have had "premarital relations" it was not uncommon.  A reading of the records of the Quarterly Court of Essex can give you a good idea of the moral standard and the reality of living up to it. Many brides, it seems, were pregnant on their wedding day.

land
William was on of those rare and lucky sons whose father gave him land during the father's lifetime, in other words, William did not have to wait for his father to die to inherit his land.  On Oct 9, 1669 William Sr. gave his "beloved son" William a lot of 200 acres of upland in Amesbury, a lot of  8 acres of upland in the ox common, a 40 acre lot west of the great pond, a 45 acre lot of upland in Urchin Meadow Hill, and half his first division of the higledee pigledee lot of salt marsh in Salisbury. This was a tremendous gift of land from Father to son. Maybe the fact that the land, at least the 200 acre parcel,  was given to William Sr. from his father in law made it easier to part with.

Not much is known about William, he was a farmer by occupation.  He took the oath of Allegiance in 1677. And that's about it.

children 
1. William Sargent b. 19 April 1669 Amesbury, m. 6 April 1689 Mary Beedle, living in 1720
2. Philip b. 12 Aug 1672 Amesbury, m. 7 Dec 1693 Mary Tewksbury, living in 1720
3. Charles b. 31 Jan 1674/5 Amesbury, m. Hannah Foote, d. before 1720
4. Elizabeth abt. 1676 Amesbury, m. 2 Jan 1695 Abraham Morrill
5. Jacob b. 13 Mar 1686 Amesbury, m. Judith Harvey, d. 6 April 1749 Chester, NH

There were other children whose births and deaths went unrecorded.  Jacob was described as the 5th son of William and Mary so there was at least one other son born before him.

rip
The deaths of William and Mary went unrecorded by any source available today.  We know he was dead by 1720 when his surviving children; William, Jacob, Philip and Elizabeth quitclaim a deed to Mr. Henry Deering for some land that their father had mortgaged to him in 1693. Since Mary's name does not appear on the 1720 deed, she was probably not alive at that time.

A William Sargent died in Amesbury on 31 March 1712, he was styled William Jr.  Some people seem to think that this was our William but I disagree.  Firstly, the designation of Jr. was not only used to show a father son relationship.  Often times when two men  with the same name, be they father/son, uncle/nephew, two cousins, or two unrelated men, lived in the same town, the older would be senior and the younger would be called junior. So, just because a William Jr. died, it did not necessarily mean it was a son of William.

The administrator of William's estate was his brother Thomas.  Thomas Sargent older brother of our William had two sons named Thomas and William.  I believe that the William who died in 1712 was William son of Thomas.  When he died this William had a meager estate comprised of one book and some money.  Our William had grown sons, more than capable of administering their father's estate and their would be no reason to appoint a brother.

If I was to make a guess, I would say that William died closer to 1720 when the quitclaim was written by his children.

my Sargent Ancestry followed by my descent through tree Sarent lines:

William Sargent and Elizabeth Perkins
William Sargent and Mary Colby
Jacob Sargent and Judith Harvey
Tabitha Sargent and John Foss
David Foss and Anne Richardson
Anne Foss and Reuben Moore
Mary Moore and Samuel Duncan Rowell
Enoch Rowell and Viola Rowell
Jennie Clover Rowelll and John Clark Thornton
My Grandparents
My Parents
Me!

                                   William Sargent and Elizabeth Perkins__________________

Thomas Sargent-Rachel Barnes      William Sargent-Mary Colby      Elizabeth Sargent-Samuel Colby

Rachel Sargent-William Currier     Jacob Sargent-Judith Harvey     Elizabeth Colby-John Rowell

Hannah Currier-Ezekiel Worthen   Tabitha Sargent-John Foss        Enoch Rowell-Merriam Converse

Jacob Worthen-Mary Brown           David Foss-Ann Richardson       Enoch Rowell-Rachel Worthen

Rachel Worthen-Enoch Rowell        Ann Foss-Reuben Moore 

                                                     Mary Moore-Samuel Moore

                                         

Enoch Rowell - Rachel Worthen

William Rowell-Sally Leavitt                    Samuel D. Rowell-Mary Moore

                           Viola Rowell                                      Enoch C. Rowell

Jennie Clover Rowell-John Clark Thornton

my grandparents 

my parents

me

One Lovely blog Award

I was recently surprised, pleasantly I might add, to see my blog listed by Heather Wilkinson Rojo for a Lovely Blog Award.  I am still amazed that people actually read what I write, never mind other fantastic bloggers.  So there are rules for this award, as follows.

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to that blog

2. Share seven things about yourself

3. Nominated 15 bloggers you admire (or as many as you can think of)

4. Contact your bloggers to let them know that you've tagged them

Thank you Heather at Nutfield Genealogy for my Lovely Blog Award!


Seven things about me:

1. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, well Chelsea really, but Boston is where my parents lived.

2. I was an Air Force Brat and lived in Holland, Spain, Texas and New York

3. I was an Air Force Nurse, and am mother to one Air Force Brat who was born in England

4. I live in Texas, so far away from my New England ancestors!

5. I love books!

6. I love to cook!

7. If I could stay home all day and write my blog I would, jobs are so annoying.



15 Blogs

Well here is where I run into trouble.  I am so busy that I don't have time to really follow a lot of blogs, but here are the ones I do read.

Journal of the American Revolution  great articles by various writers on the revolution and key characters on both sides

Vitas Brevis another blog of various writers, including Robert Charles Anderson, this blog is owned by the New England Historic Genealogic Society

Heirlooms Reunited by Pam Beveridge, trying to reunite old photos and and other memorabilia to family members

Stories From Ipswich by Gordon Harris about what else, Ipswich, MA

Nutfield Genealogy  I'm sure it's against the rules to nominate your nominator but oh well, I really admire Heather's blog

medievalists.net Peter Konieczny and Sandra Alverez, I am crazy about medieval history, oh I should have had that as one of my seven things, this is a great blog full of just that.

William Barnes of England and Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachsuetts

When I started this blog, almost two years ago, I wrote about a lot of my Salisbury/ Amesbury ancestors. Somehow I left out William Barnes and his wife Rachel. As I was writing my bio on the Copp family I realized that I was descended from William through not one but two of his daughters, Rachel and Sarah. His daughter Sarah married, for her second husband, John Harvey son of Martha Copp Harvey. Sarah's first husband was Thomas Rowell, the son of Valentine and Joanna Pinder Rowell, I am a descendant of Thomas' brother Philip.

William has been very well researched and I have little to add other than putting my on spin on things, so here is what I know about William Barnes and his wife Rachel.

english origins
The English origins of William Barnes and his wife are unknown.  Their year of birth is estimated based on ages given during deposition in court.  Rachel's maiden name is unknown.  It is also unknown when they arrived in Massachusetts, either separately and unmarried or as an already married couple.  William is believed to have been born around 1610 and Rachel in 1620.

salisbury
Today, Salisbury is a popular summer beach town.  The puritan clergyman would probably have heart failure if he caught a glimpse of bikini clad gal on the beach. The Salisbury of 1638, the year it was founded, was an unrecognizable wilderness, requiring constant labor to produce food and shelter.  There would be little time for building sand castles even if one was so inclined. William Barnes arrived by 1640, he and Rachel began the arduous task of clearing land and building a home for their children.

Although the town was formed in 1638 no land division occurred until 1640.  On a list of the first 70 odd settlers William was number 29. William was allocated land in both the 1640 and 1643 divisions. William was a house carpenter by trade and since there were no houses at the time he should have had plenty of business. The first houses would have been built of logs as the first sawmill would not be established for some years.

community service

Macy-Colby House

In the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony the towns were small, communities might start with fewer than 100 families. Men not only worked to farm and provide for their families but also had to work for their town. Most towns had quarterly meetings and the local court meet quarterly as well.  Men were required to serve as selectmen, jurist, constable, Justice of the Peace, lot layers, line layers between towns, and a dozen other jobs.  Men could be elected to a job over their objections. William was elected constable after the first two men chosen refused to do the job, they were fined, of course.

a little to do about baptism
In 1642 the good people of Massachusetts took time out of their busy lives to argue about the baptism of babies. William having been made a Freeman of the Colony the previous year was obviously an upstanding member of his church but he found himself on the wrong side of approved doctrine when he and his wife were presented in court for saying that child baptism was not ordained by God. William and Rachel were not alone in this belief and many of their neighbors were also in court and were admonished for their personal religious beliefs. The Puritans may have come crossed an ocean for religious freedom, but you were free to practice only the proscribed theology of the ruling clergy.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this argument against infant baptism is a tenant of the Baptist religion. Were William and Rachel leaning towards Baptism beliefs?

amesbury
Not terribly long after the settlement of Salisbury, men began farming and eventually moving inland from the coast and across the Powwow River. The inhabitants of this 'new town' signed articles of agreement with members of the 'old town' and set themselves apart as an independent town which they called Amesbury. William, by now aged around 45 was one of the Salisbury men who made the move. He played a prominent role in local government, serving on juries and filling other town positions.

a prominent pew
It may seem funny today, but a man knew where he stood in his community by the bench he sat on on Sunday at the meeting house. Meeting House seating was assigned by a committee, of men of course, and the closer you were placed to the front the higher your social standing.  Men sat on one side, women on the other. In 1667 William and Rachel were assigned very prominent seats reflecting their high social standing.

the sawmill
In 1652 William became partner and co-owner of a sawmill. The other owners were Philip Challis, William Osgood, Anthony Colby and Samuel Worcester.  Building a sawmill was an expensive business which was usually shared by multiple partners. The sawmill was profitable for all the men involved but also was a source of contention.  William Barnes and his partners were in court several time in lawsuits concerning the mill.

children of william and rachel
William and Rachel had eight children, two boys and six girls.  Neither boy lived to adulthood but all six girls married and raised families.  Because their brothers died young, the girls and their children inherited their father's estate. I can't help but think that the lack of boys was a great disappointment to William or any man in such a male dominated society.

1. Mary b. abt. 1639 probably in Salisbury, m. 1659 John Hoyt Jr., d. aft. 1704
2. William b. abt. 1642, d. 11 June 1648
3. Hannah b. 25 Jan 1643/44, m. John Prowse, d. 27 May 1688
4. Deborah b. 1 April 1646, m. 1666 Samuel Davis, d. 14 Jan 1718/19 Haverhill
5. Jonathan b. 1 April 1648 d. young unrecorded
6. Rachel b. 30 April 1649 Salisbury, m. Thomas Sargent, d. 1717 
7. Sarah b. abt 1651 prob. Amesbury, m. 1. Thomas Rowell, 2. John Harvey, d. 17 April 1720
8. Rebecca b. abt. 1653 Amesbury, m. Moses Merrill,  d. aft. 1696

rip
William must have had a hearty constitution.  He died on 14 March 1697/8.  Rachel had died on 9 Feb 1685/6.  They were most likely buried in the Golgatha burial ground, they first cemetery in Amesbury. His estate was valued at 516 pounds. Not to shabby.

My Barnes ancestry:

                                          William Barnes and Rachel Unknown

Rachel Barnes and Thomas Sargent                    Sarah Barnes and John Harvey

Rachel Sargent and William Currier                    Judith Harvey and Jacob Sargent

Tabitha Sargent and John Foss                            Hannah Currier and Ezekiel Worthen

David Foss and Ann Richardson                          Jacob Worthen and Mary Brown

Anna Foss and Rueben Moore                            Rachel Worthen and Enoch Rowell

                         Mary (Polly) Moore        Samuel Duncan Rowell

                                         Enoch Rowell and Viola Rowell

                                         Jennie Clover Rowell and John Clark Thornton

                                         my grandparents

                                         my parents

                                         me

Sources:

Hoyt, David Webster. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts: With Some Related Families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton, and of York County, Maine. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub., 1982. Print.

Threlfall, John Brooks. Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins. Bowie, MD.: Heritage, 1992. Print. 

John Harvey and Sarah Barnes

beginning

John Harvey was born in Boston, MA on 5 Feb 1654.  He was the third child, and son, of William and Martha Copp Harvey, both of whom were born in England and immigrated to Massachusetts.  Sadly, William died when John was four years old. He and his three siblings would be raised by their mother and step-father, Henry Tewksbury, along side the children of Henry and Martha, of which there were eight.  

When John was eight years old the family left Boston to start a new life in Newbury, MA. Newbury was founded in 1635 and was about 38 miles to the north of Boston.  The family stayed in Newbury for about 7 or 8 years before moving once again, this time a much shorter distance, to Amesbury, MA. 

1675

In 1675 John was 21 years old and living in Newbury.  What he was doing there we don't know.  He may have been an apprentice to someone there; later in life he would work as a carpenter, so it is not impossible that he may have done such an apprenticeship.  Anyway, in 1675 the Colonists fought a bloody war against the Indians which almost wiped them, the colonists, from the face of map. 

The militia leaders quickly realized that they did not have enough soldiers to fight the war.  Although some men did volunteer, many were forced to fight when colonial leaders, desperate for soldiers, turned to impressment. Each town was given a quota and the selectmen were tasked with choosing who went.  The constable would knock at your door and hand you a written order to report. Men were required to supply their own weapons and kit. According to  Kyle F. Zelner, author of the book "Rabble in Arms", the most likely candidates for impressment were young, single men whose families were not particularly wealthy or influential. It seems that John Harvey fit the bill perfectly. I would recommend Zelner's book to anyone interested in Colonial warfare and King Philip's War. 

John Harvey served under Maj. Samuel Appleton who was in charge of the Essex Militia.  On 19 Dec 1675 they found themselves in the midst of the Great Swamp Fight aka The Great Swamp Massacre. John was injured, but recovered. The colonist decided to attacked a large Indian fort located in a swamp which was frozen by the December cold, allowing them to ride into the swamp.  The Indians inside the fort were Narragansett, a tribe that had remained mostly neutral in the war. Surrounding the fort, the colonist attacked and killed over three hundred Indians, by some accounts 600, mostly women and children and the elderly. The Narragansett were no longer neutral. 

amesbury

The war ended in 1676 and life slowly began to return to normal.  In 1677 John Harvey took the oath of allegiance in Amesbury.   His name is on an 1680 roster of the Amesbury Train Band, the local militia unit. He may have returned to the family home to live with Martha and Henry, single men were not allowed to live alone, so he had to live with someone.   Depending on how badly injured he was, he may have needed to be nursed back to health.

John Harvey did not marry until 1685 when he was 31 years old.  This was not all that unusual at a time when a man needed to be able to support a wife and children prior to marriage.  Although he was a carpenter and weaver, he still needed some land to farm to supply food for his family. When he did marry he chose a 34 year old widow with four small children as his wife.  Her name was Sarah Barnes Rowell, she was the daughter of William and Rachel Barnes and the widow of Thomas Rowell, son of Valentine and Joanna Pinder Rowell. It's interesting to note that we are related to both William Barnes and Valentine Rowell through siblings of Sarah and Thomas.

It struck me that John's step-father, Henry Tewksbury,  had also married a widow with small children, and that what both Martha Harvey and Sarah Rowell had in common was land from their husbands and very young children.  If Henry and John were not able to afford land on their own, was this their entree into land ownership.  The land would eventually pass to the father's children, but in the mean time, it came with a house and land to farm, and money earned could be used to purchase additional land for the future.  This is just my opinion.

Sarah
Sarah Barnes was born in Amesbury on 7 April 1651 to William and Rachel Barnes.  When she was married in 1670, at the age of 19, to 26 year old Thomas Rowell.  They had four children between 1671 and 1682, two girls and two boys, the last one born in 1682.  Thomas died in September of 1684 at the relatively young age of 40. Thomas had quite a few parcels of land and his estate was valued at 275 pounds.
He wrote his will in May, but did not die until September, he must have suffered from some lingering illness. Two of his outstanding debts were to doctors who treated him, unsuccessfully I might add.

sarah's children
1. Mary Rowell b. 5 Feb 1670/01 Amesbury, m. Thomas Colby, d. 1735 Amesbury age 65
2. Valentine Rowell b. 5 Aug 1674 Amesbury, m. Hannah, d. 1 Feb 1726 age 52
3. Joanna Rowell b. abt. 1678, m. Titus Wells, d. 1717 Amesbury abt age 39
4. Philip Rowell b. abt. 1682, m. Sarah Davis
5. Dorothy Harvey b. abt 1686, m. Orlando Bagley, d. 2 Jan 1757 age 71
6. Judith Harvey b. 9 June 1688 Amesbury, m. Jacob Sargent, d. 1749 Chester, NH age 61
7. John Harvey b. 3 Dec 1690, m. Anne Davis, d 1740 Amesbury age 50
8. Joseph Harvey b. 1 Apr 1693, d. 1757 age 64

inventory
Sometimes we only find out tidbits about our ancestors by reading what they left behind when they died. The inventory of John Harvey's estate included books, carpenters tools, implements for husbandry and other household stuffs. His land holdings included a house, orchard, meadows in Amesbury, and salt meadow in Salisbury.  He also owned a lot of land at Bugsmore, which was somewhere in Amesbury.  His total estate was only worth 122 pounds. Sarah had inherited a 40 acre lot of land from her father but it was to go to her children.

rip
At age 55, Sarah found herself a widow once again.  She would live a further 14 years, dying on 17 April 1720. Sarah was lucky, she only had to bury one child, a rare thing in her day, but all her children lived to adulthood, married and had families.

my ancestry
William Copp and Anne Rogers
Martha Copp and William Harvey
John Harvey and Sarah Barnes
Judith Harvey and Jacob Sargent
Tabitha Sargent and John Foss
David Foss and Anne Richardson
Anna Foss and Rueben Moore
Mary Moore and Samuel Duncan Rowell
Enoch Rowell and Viola Rowell
Jennie Clover Rowell and John Clark Thornton
my grandparents
my parents
me!

William Harvey and Martha Copp of Boston, MA

This will be a very short bio as William Harvey left little evidence of his life for us to find. He was born no later than 1628, most likely in England.  His origins are unknown, neither his parents or place of birth have been identified.  He married Martha Copp in 1650, a marriage which lasted 8 years and ended in 1658 with his death. When he died he left Martha a widow with four small children and a very meager estate valued at 38 pounds. The inventory included a house, garden and some pigs. Martha was granted power of administration of the estate. Their children were; William, Thomas, John and Mary.

Martha was the daughter of William Copp and Anne Rogers of Warwickshire, England.  William and his second wife Goodith had immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1640, Martha was about 10 years old at the time. The Copps lived in Boston on what would become known as Copp's Hill.

wedding 
William died on 15 August 1658, his estate was probated the following January.  By November of 1659 Martha had remarried.  The marriage service was performed by then Governor John Endicott. Puritans viewed marriage as a contract and not a covenant and so it was not a religious event. In fact the 'ceremony' was most often performed at home by the local magistrate.  The couple were asked to respond to a simple question and if they both answered yes they were married.  There were no vows or wedding rings exchanged and no wedding dress, the whole affair was over in a blink of any eye. The marriage was usually followed by a nice dinner with family and friends. The next day was business as usual.

henry tewksbury
Martha's second husband was Henry Tewksbury.   Henry is another mystery man, his ancestry is, like William's, unknown. He must have been living in Boston at the time of their marriage, and their first child was born on 22 August 1660 in Boston.  When Martha's father William Copp wrote his will in 1662, Martha and her family appear to have been living in one of his houses. The will, dated 31 Oct says Daughter Tewskbury to live in the house where son David lives.  David Copp was her brother. However, the Tewksbury's second child, Hannah, seems to have been born in Newbury.  Maybe Martha's father was making sure she had a home just in case.

newbury to amesbury
Henry's name is not often found in the old Newbury records.  In May of 1669 he took the oath of fidelity in Newbury but then sold his land there and moved to Amesbury, MA. Henry and Martha would remain in Amesbury for the rest of their lives.  The date of death is not certain for either one. At least five of Martha's children seem to have died before her.


Martha's Children:
  1. William Harvey b. 27 Aug 1651 Boston, named in Grandfather's 1662 will, nothing more.
  2. Thomas Harvey, weaver,  b. 16 Aug 1652 Boston, m. Sarah Rowell, d/o ancestor Valentine Rowell, d.      by Jan 1716 when estate was probated in Amesbury.
  3. John Harvey, weaver and carpenter, b. 1655 Boston, m. Sarah Barnes Rowell, wid/o Thomas    Rowell,  d/o ancestor William Barnes, sister/o ancestor Rachel Barnes Sargent, d. 8 March 1705/6 Amesbury.
  4. Mary Harvey b. 2 June 1657 Boston, named in Grandfather's 1662 will, nothing more.
  5. Elizabeth Tewksbury b. 22 Aug 1660 Boston, nothing further
  6. Hanna Tewksbury b. 1 Sept. 1662 Newbury, m. James Sanders
  7. Henry Tewksbury b. 15 Dec 1664 Newbury, m. Hannah Unknown
  8. Naomi Tewksbury b. 18 Jan 1666/7, m. John Eliot
  9. Ruth Tewksbury b. 10 March 1668/9
10. Mary Tewksbury 23 Jan 1670/1, bp in Boston, m. Phillip Sargent
11. Martha Tewksbury b. 3 March 1662/3, d. 9 March 1663/4
12. John Tewksbury b. 27 July 1674 Amesbury, m. Hannah Colby

my ancestors:
William Copp and Anne Rogers
Martha Copp and William Harvey
John Harvey and Sarah Barnes
Judith Harvey and Jacob Sargent
Tabitha Sargent and John Foss
David Foss and Anne Richardson
Anna Foss and Rueben Moore
Mary Moore and Samuel Duncan Rowell
Enoch Rowell and Viola Rowell
Jennie Clover Rowell and John Clark Thornton
my grandparents
my parents
me!

William Copp of Warwickshire, England and Boston, Massachusetts

After vacationing and touring historic Boston last year, I was excited to see that I am related to William Copp, of Copp's Hill, one of our stops on the Freedom Trail. I just wish that I had known that when I was there, I would have paid a bit more attention. But, anyway, I took a lot of photos so I have a good idea of what it looks like today.  Of course it looked nothing like today's Boston landscape back when William first landed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and made his home on the Shawmet peninsula. At that time there were multiple hills in Boston; Beacon Hill, the three hills known collectively as Trimount, and what would become known as Copp's Hill.

Like many of my early American ancestors, there is quite a bit of confusing information floating about the internet pertaining to William. A search of ancestry.com and findagrave.com will give you some, what I believe to be, false information. So, after a bit of digging, here is what I think I know about William Copp.

english origins
In January of 1653, Anthony Coppe of Honiley, Warwickshire, England wrote his will. In this document he made a bequest to his brother, William Coppe, who was in New England. Honiley is a very small village in Warwickshire not too far from the town of Warwick and Kenilworth Castle. There was no church in Honiley until after the mid seventeen hundreds, so there are no Honiley Parish records that pertain to William and his family.  To find any records of the Copp family, you have to look in the nearby village of Hatton and its parish church of Holy Trinity.

Holy Trinity, Hatton by David Howard Creative Commons 

The Hatton Parish register of marriages began in 1538.  Access to the marriage records is easily available online. The first marriage of interest was on 28 Feb 1575, it was the marriage of Thomas Coppe and Isabel Gunn. Thomas and Isabel are believed to have been the parents of William and Anthony Copp. Thomas was a yeoman in the hamlet of Beausale, which is in the parish of Hatton. His father may have been the John Coppe who leased a messuage and a close called "Round Table" in Beausale in 1545. (a messuage is land that a house is built on, and a close is a tract of land) In 1624 Thomas Coppe  paid a yearly rent of two fat pigs and a goose for "Round Table" close. The lease on the land being passed down through the family.

Thomas Coppe wrote his will in 1624 and died in 1628..  According to other researchers, he called himself Thomas Coppe the elder of  Bewsall, yeoman in the countie of Warwick.  In his will he named his wife Isabel, sons: Walter, Anthony, Matthew, John, Thomas and William, and daughter Ursula. Anthony Coppe named in his will his brothers William and Walter. This confirms relationship between Thomas and William as father and son.

parish records
There are so many old records now readily available to use today on the internet that sometimes we believe that they are all a mouse click away.  This is not true as I have found in my search for information on William and his family.  The early baptismal and burial records from the Hatton parish are not online, and are available only from the records office which holds the originals.  The baptismal records seem to be the source of the date frequently given for William's baptismal date of 9 November 1589. Getting a look at these original records is expensive and time consuming, so I am putting my trust in other researchers such as Samuel Copp Worthen, who have provided the information and references. Although William was baptized at Holy Trinity in Hatton, his parents lived in Beausale, so I see no reason to say that he was born any place other than Beausale. If you have seen the originals, please let me know.

The first  internet available entry related to William Coop is his marriage to Ann Rogers on 24 November 1615. Two children, whose father was William's Coppe, were baptized at Holy Trinity, Hatton. The first was John Coppe, bp. on 26 May 1622 and the second Johan bp. 15 October 1625. What's interesting about this is that there was an 8 year gap between the marriage of William and Anne and the first baptism of a child. Were there other children who were baptized elsewhere or went unrecorded at Hatton, or are there pages missing, or did it take eight years to concieve their first child?

goodith
We know that William was married to an Ann, but when he arrived in Boston he was married to a woman named Goodith. So, what happened to Ann and who was Goodith?  According to the internet, Anne died in 1633, and William married  Goodith Icthener on 24 July 1634, but did he? According to the parish records Goodith Itchener married at Holy Trinity, on that July day, not William Copp but William Cox. That right, not Coppe but Cox.  So what are we to make of this, is it a medieval typo or is it correct.

children of william copp
  1. John bp. 26 May 1622 Hatton, Warwickshire, no other info
  2. Joanna bp. 15 Oct. 1625 Hatton, m. 1647 Samuel Nordon, Boston, d. 29 June 1654, age 29
  3. Martha b. abt. 1630, m. William Harvey, Henry Tewksbury
  4. Ann b. abt. 1632, m. 1646 Herman Attwood, m. 1651 Thomas Saxton, d. before 1662
  5. David b. abt 1635, m. Obediance Toppliff, d. 20 Nov 1713 age 78
  6. Naomi b. abt 1638, bp. Boston 5 July 1640, d. 8 Oct. 1653 age abt 15
  7. Jonathan b. 23 Aug 1640, m. Margaret
  8. Rebecca b. 6 May 1641, d. before her father's will was written in 1662
  9. Ruth b. 24 May 1643
10. Lydia b. 6 July 1646, bp 9 July 1646

highlighted children died before their parents

the blessing
A lot of people believe that William Copp sailed for Massachusetts on the Blessing in 1635 with his brother Richard.  The men were recorded as William Cope age 26 and Richard Cope age 24.  There are several reasons why I do not think this is correct. First, William was 46 years old in 1635.  Also, there is no indication that he had a brother named Richard. But, I think the most compelling reason to believe that it was not him is that he was granted a lease of land in Hatton in 1636, the year after the Blessing sailed for Massachusetts. As Robert Charles Anderson points out in his Great Migration bio of William Cope, William Copp did not make an appearance in the Boston records until July 1640.

boston and copp's hill
By 1640 William and his family had arrived in Boston.  William lived on what became known as Copp's Hill in the North End of Boston.  He owned a house and one half an acre near the mill pond. The hill was previously known as Windmill Hill and Snow Hill, it was not called Copp's Hill until about the time of the American Revolution. Beginning in 1659 part of the hill was used as a burial ground.

William and Goodith became members of the First Church of Boston, he in 1640 and Goodith in 1642. Their children, newborn and older children were baptized in the church. William's family would have listened to the preaching of the famous Rev. John Cotton a highly respected Puritan clergyman.

William became a Freeman in 1641. He was a cordwainer, shoe maker, by occupation and he was chosen to serve as one of the first four "sealers of leather" in Boston. The sealers would monitor leather for its quality, etc.

jailbreak
In an interesting case that came before the General Court in 1641, William was found guilty of concealing a prison break.  The prisoner was Thomas Owen who apparently had an adulterous affair with a woman named Sara Hales.  Thomas was given a strange punishment which involved having a hanging rope placed around his neck.  He was to sit for one hour on a ladder at the gallows with the end of the rope hung over the gallows. Sara was given the same punishment but she was also to be banished from the colony.  Thomas and Sara broke out of prison and their whereabouts were hidden by a group of men and women in Boston. The pair must have been found as both faced new fines and if unable to pay they were to be whipped. William Copp was fined the pair.  This seems to be his only infraction.

last will
William wrote his will in 1662. He named his wife Goodith, leaving her their house in Boston. He says that his daughter Martha Tewskbury can live in the house in which his son David lives and at her death her four children; William, Thomas and John Harvey and their sister Mary were to have 10 pounds apiece. William's son Jonathan would inherit the parental home on his mother's death and then pay his sisters; Ruth and Lidia, 10 pounds each and nieces and nephews John and Sara Atwood,

Sarah Norden and Mary Harvey, five pounds each.  William also owned 100 acres of land near Braintree, Massachusetts.  He divided the land between his children and grandchildren. An inventory of the estate was done on 15 March 1669/70.

William buried at least five of his children, Goodith outlived William, but not by long.  She died 25 March 1670. Goodith is buried on Copp's Hill and her headstone survived to this day. William was, I'm sure also buried in the hilltop graveyard along with some of their children.

my ancestors
William Copp and Anne Rogers
Martha Copp and William Harvey
John Harvey and Sarah Barnes
Judith Harvey and Jacob Sargent
Tabitha Sargent and John Foss
David Foss and Anne Richardson
Anna Foss and Rueben Moore
Mary Moore and Samuel Duncan Rowell
Enoch Rowell and Viola Rowell
Jennie Clover Rowell and John Clark Thornton
my grandparents
my parents
me!

sources:
Records of the Court of Assistants of the Colony, 1641-1644
Hatton Parish Records
Records of the First Church of Boston
Suffolk County Wills, Abstracts of the Earliest Wills Upon Record
Hessayon, Ariel, "The Making of Abiezer Coppe", Journal of Ecclesiastical History Vol 61, N. 1, University of London, Jan 2011