Peter and Martha Brown (or Browne)

Here's another in my series of ancestors who are documented in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins.  Peter Brown is one of our Mayflower ancestors. He was born around 1600, based on his date of marriage. His wife, Martha, arrived on the Fortune in 1621. Her first husband, William Ford, died on the voyage. Martha arrived with their two children and gave birth to another child almost immediately upon landing. By 1626, she married Peter. She died in 1630 or 1631, after bearing him two daughters, Mary and Priscilla. Peter quickly remarried, to a woman named Mary (last name unknown), but he did not live much longer. He died sometime before October 10, 1633, when his estate was inventoried.

Peter was listed as a freeman by 1633. It's not clear if he was educated. The only book in his estate was a bible. His estate was worth over 100 pounds, but was complicated by the fact that his household included his own children from two different wives and his his wives each had children from a previous marriage. Our ancestor, Peter's daughter Mary, was placed upon her father's death in the household of John Doane, of Plymouth. She would have been around seven years old. John Doane is also one of our ancestors, as Mary's descendants eventually intermarried with his.

Peter had a brother, John, who also came to Massachusetts by 1632 and lived in Duxbury.


Peter Browne -- Martha (unknown) Ford
             - Mary Browne -- Ephraim Trinkham
                 - Helkiah Tinkham -- Ruth Cooke
                     - Jacob Tinkham -- Hannah Cobb
                         - Jacob Tinkham -- Lydia Dunham
                             - Hannah Tinkham -- Lemuel Bartlett
                                  - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                                      - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane  
                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock



References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

William and Mary Brewster

A page from the Brewster family Bible. http://mayflowerhistory.com/brewster-william/

William and Mary Brewster were founding members of the separatist congregation at the heart of the Mayflower voyage. They were in Scrooby until 1608, when they fled with other members of the congregation to Leiden, where William became an elder, teacher, and printer. They were a leading family among those who undertook that first voyage to Plymouth.

William was born around 1566, probably in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. His father's name was also William Brewster. Mary's maiden name is unknown. They were married by 1593.

William was well educated. He entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1580, although he did not graduate. At the time of his death, an inventory of his estate found nearly 400 books, in English and in Latin, worth 42 pounds.

The Massachusetts colony did not have a formal minister, so William took on many of those duties, including preaching. He continued to do so after the family moved to Duxbury, after Mary's death on April 17, 1627. William died in Duxbury, April 10, 1644. They had six children, one of whom died in infancy. The surviving children were: Jonathan (born in 1593, clearly named before his parents converted), Patience, Fear, Love, and Wrestling. We are descended from his daughter Patience.

William Brewster -- Mary (unknown)
  - Patience Brewster -- Thomas Prence
                 - Mercy Prence -- John Freeman
                     - Edmund Freeman -- Sara Mayo
                         - Ruth Freeman -- Israel Doane
                             - Edmund Doane -- Elizabeth Osborn
                              - Israel Doane -- Desire Nickerson
                                    - Israel Doane -- Mehitable Kinney 
                                        - Olive Doane Kinney -- Simeon Kinney
                                            - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                                - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock




References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

William and Elizabeth Bassett

The Reverend James Keith Parsonage, built in Bridgewater, MA in 1662. It would have been a substantial part of the town where William (and possibly Elizabeth) Bassett lived. Photograph by John Phelan, wikicommons.

I'm continuing my series of ancestors who are documented in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins. 

There was more than one William Bassett in the Massachusetts colony during the Great Migration. This particular William Bassett was probably born around 1600, based on his marriage age. He and his first wife, Elizabeth, came to the colony in 1621 on the Fortune. While they originally lived in Plymouth, they moved to Duxbury by 1637 and Bridgewater by 1656. William was a blacksmith and a freeman before 1632/3. He must have been educator for his estate included more than twenty books, mostly about theology. 

William served in a number of committees and offices, including on juries and as a constable for Duxbury. He was listed as one of the men allowed to bear arms in 1643. He had an estate of at least 100 acres, and the final inventory of his estate valued more than 123 pounds without the land. More than 9 pounds of that was books, and a substantial amount more were his blacksmiths tools. 

Like, apparently, all inhabitants of the Massachusetts colony, William had occasional run-ins with the law. In his case, he was fined in 1648 for "not mending of guns in seasonable time" and in 1653 for "neglecting to publish and make known an order directed to him from the council of war, prohibiting provisions for being transported out of the colony."

It is unclear when Elizabeth died. She is not mentioned in any documentation after 1627, but William did not remarry until after 1651. Sometime between 1651 and December 12, 1664, he married Mary Tilden Lapham, daughter of Nathaniel Tilden and widow of Thomas Lapham. They did not have children.

William gave an oral will on April 3, 1667, and presumably died soon after.

We are descendants of William and Elizabeth's second son, Nathaniel, born around 1630. He married Dorcas Joyce, the daughter of John Joyce. 

            - William Bassett -- Elizabeth (unknown)
                 - Nathaniel Bassett -- Dorcas Joyce
                     - Hannah Bassett -- Joseph Covell
                         - Sarah Covell -- William Nickerson
                             - Mercy Nickerson -- Heman Kenney
                                  - Isaac Kenney -- Sarah Godfrey
                                      - Mehitable Kenney -- Israel Doane
                                          - Olive Doane -- Simeon Bartlett Kinney
                                             - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                                 - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock


References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Robert Bartlett and Mary Warren Bartlett

Continuing my series on ancestors who can be found in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins (1995).

Robert Bartlett arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony, in 1623 on the Anne. He was a wine cooper, a freeman by 1632/3, and probably illiterate, since he signed all deeds with a mark. His origins are unknown, but it is estimated he was born in 1604, based on his date of marriage.

Highlights of his career in Plymouth include being summoned before the court on May 1, 1660, and convicted of "speaking contemptuously of singing of psalms". He also served on various committees, particularly those related to laying out or surveying highways and land. He was on the list of men in Plymouth who were permitted to bear arms in 1643. 

Before 1629, he married Mary Warren, the daughter of his neighbors Richard and Elizabeth Warren. Robert, Mrs. Elizabeth Warren (the mother-in-law) and his brother-in-law Thomas Little appear frequently in documentation pertaining to land and crops in and around Plymouth. He seems to have owned quite a bit of land. He received one acre upon arrival (as did all of Anne's passengers), but subsequent documents mention at least 100 acres of land.

Robert and Mary had eight known children: Benjamin, Rebecca, Mary, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Lydia, and Mercy. We are descendants of the second son, Joseph, who was born around 1639 and married Hannah Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope.

Robert gave a spoken will on September 19, 1676. In October, the inventory of his estate totaled 170 pounds, 16s, 6d, including 100 pounds in real estate, 2 houses and a barn.

Robert Bartlett -- Mary Warren
     - Joseph Bartlett -- Hannah Pope
          -Robert Bartlett -- Sarah Cooke
               - Lemuel Bartlett -- Mary Doty
                    - Lemuel Bartlett -- Hannah Tinkham
                         - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                              - Simeon Bartlett Kinney -- Olive Doane
                                   - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Elizabeth Houghton
                                        - Julia Kinney -- Ernest Hancock


References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.