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| Harvard University's Weld Boathouse, donated by George Walker Weld (1840 - 1905) |
WELD
The first Weld in New England was Captain Joseph
Weld. He was a protestant, and his
family in England was Roman Catholic. He came in June 1632 on board the William & Francis with his wife Elizabeth; daughter Elizabeth,
age 10; Mary, age 8, Hannah, age 6, and Thomas his brother. He left his son John, who came to
Massachusetts later. He was a freeman in
1636 and settled in Roxbury, where he became a property owner, proprietor, and
captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (Winthrop was Colonel
and Thomas Dudley was the Lieutenant Colonel).
Joseph Weld was supposed to be the richest man in
Massachusetts and one of the first donors to Harvard College. He owned an estate in West Roxbury that is
now owned by Harvard. Today at Harvard University there are many buildings donated
by and named after the Weld family, including the famous Victorian era Weld
boathouse on the Charles River that is the subject of many picturesque
postcards of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
There are many sources for information on the Weld
family. One is the book History of the Weld Family from 1632 to 1878,
by Charlotte Fowler Weld, and Descendants
of Edmund Weld of Sudbury, England by William Addsion Weld, 1992. A look at the New England Historic
Genealogical Society online catalog will give you two pages of WELD compiled
genealogies, and manuscripts such as The Family of Weld Who Came to the Town of
Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay, New England in the Year 1632 for Conscience Sake,
by William Weld Gordon.
There is a lengthy sketch of Joseph Weld, b. 1599,
in The
Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 - 1635, Volume VII,
pages 280 – 288, and a sketch of his brother Thomas Weld b. 1595, in Volume
III, pages 1961-1963. The Roxbury records are a good source for information on
the early generations of Welds.
There is an article in the NEHGS Register, Volume
47, pages 543- 459 about the Bowen family.
In the second generation in Massachusetts, John Weld married Margaret
Bowen, daughter of Griffith Bowen of Wales.
They are my 10th great grandparents.
My Weld genealogy:
Generation 1:
Thomas Weld and Alice Unknown
Generation 2:
Thomas Weld, born about 1532 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, died 8 April
1597 in Sudsbury; married Margaret Unknown.
She died 13 July 1593 in Sudbury.
Generation 3: Edmund Weld, born about 1559 in Sudbury,
died 1608 in Sudbury; married on 12 April 1585 at St. Peter’s Church in Sudbury
to Amy Brewster.
Generation 4: Joseph Weld, baptized 7 April 1599 in Terling,
Essex, England, died 7 October 1646 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts;
married first on 11 October 1620 in
Sudbury to Elizabeth Wise. She died in October 1638 in Roxbury. Eight children. He married second to Barbara Clapp, widow of
Anthony Stoddard on 20 April 1639 and had four more children.
Generation 5. John Weld, son of Joseph Weld and Elizabeth
Wise, baptized on 28 October 1623 in Terling, died 20 September 1691 in
Roxbury; married on 24 December 1647 in Roxbury to Margaret Bowen, daughter of
Griffith Bowen and Margaret Fleming. She
was born 2 April 1629 in Gower, Glamorgan Wales, and died 1 September 1692 in
Roxbury. Nine children.
Generation 6:
Elizabeth Weld, born 14 November 1655 in Roxbury, and died in 1725;
married on 28 August 1672 in Roxbury to Samuel Gore, son of John Gore and Rhoda
Unknown. He was born about 1647 in
Roxbury, died 27 May 1756 in Norwich, Connecticut.
Generation
7: Samuel Gore m. Hannah Draper
Generation
8: Moses Gore m. Desire Burris
Generation
9: Desire Gore m. Thomas Ratchford
Generation 10: Elizabeth Ratchford m. David LyonsGeneration 11: Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner
Generation 12: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill
Generation 13: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman
Generation 14: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson
Generation 15: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)
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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Excellent! Thanks!
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