Saturday, November 29, 2014

Surname Saturday ~ PRESBURY/PRESBYTER/PRESBITERY/PRESTON/PRESSON of Sandwich, Martha's Vineyard, Beverly, Massachusetts and of Saco, Maine


PRESBURY   PRESBYTER   PRESBITERY   PRESTON  PRESSON

John Presbury’s (about 1610 - 1648) first appearance in a New England record is on the Sandwich, Massachusetts 1643 list of men “able to bear arms”.  His widow, Catherine,  remarried to Richard Chadwell on 22 July 1648 in Sandwich.

John Presbury, Jr. (about 1640 - before 1679) married Dorcas Besse in 1664 went to Martha’s Vineyard, Salisbury, and to Saco, Maine in 1670.  He was a shoemaker.  In the third generation, William Preston (about 1664 - about 1718) married Priscilla Randall of Saco,  and lived there until about 1690.  King William's War with the Indians and French created many hostilities in the Maine settlements, which drove many settlers back to Massachusetts.  William and Priscilla removed to Beverly, Massachusetts. 

Randall Preston (1702 – 1744) was in the fourth generation in New England.  He was a tailor in Beverly.  He married Susannah Stone, a descendant of Nathaniel Stone (1632 - 1718) from whom I also descend in another Stone lineage.  In some records he was known as Randal Presson.  He was baptized as an adult in 1727, which was unusual in Puritan Massachusetts.

William Presson (1737 – 1814) settled at Gloucester, Massachusetts and married Abigail Sargent.  He was also a tailor.  His death was recorded in the Salem Gazette on 27 December 1814 with the words “Died – At Gloucester, Mr. William Preston, aged 78 – an honest man.”   My Preston line daughters out with William’s daughter, Lucy (1763 – 1852), who married James Andrews of Essex, the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, in 1788. 

For more information on the Presbury/Preston family:

The History of Martha’s Vineyard  by Dr. Charles Banks, Volume III Family Genealogies, pages 410 – 411.

“Memoirs of Alfred Presson (1838 – 1913) of Gloucester, Massachusetts”, New England Historic Genealogical Register, 18:3

This family is not recorded in the Great Migration series nor in Martin Hollick’s book New Englanders in the 1600s.  My sources were town records, church records, vital records and town histories. 

My Presbury/Preston genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Presbury, born about 1610 in England, died in 1648 in Sandwich, Massachusetts; married about 1637 to Catherine Unknown.  Two children.

Generation 2:  John Presbury, born about 1640 in Sandwich,  died before April 1679 in Saco, Maine; married about 1664 to Dorcas Besse, daughter of Anthony Besse and Jane Unknown,  in Sandwich.  Three children.

Generation 3:  William Preston, born about 1664 in Saco, died about 1718 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married in Maine to Priscilla Randall, daughter of Richard Randall and Elizabeth Irons.  She was born about 1661 in Saco and died 23 April 1752 in Beverly. Nine children.  William married second to Sarah Crocker.

Generation 4:  Randall Preston, born 3 April 1702 in Beverly, died 27 March 1744 in Beverly; married on 2 July 1723 in Beverly to Susanna Stone, daughter of John Stone and Sarah Gale.  She was born 20 August 1702 in Beverly, and died 17 May 1751 in Beverly.  Twelve children.

Generation 5:  William Presson was baptized on 24 April 1737 in Beverly, and died 20 December 1814 in Gloucester, Massachusetts; he married Abigail Sargent, the daughter of John Sargent and Mary Unknown, on 6 August 1761 in Gloucester.  Nine children.

Generation 6:  Lucy Presson, born May 1763 in Gloucester, died 5 September in 1852 in Essex, Massachusetts; married on 15 July 1788 in Ipswich to James Andrews, son of John Andrews and Martha Cogswell.  Ten children.

Generation 7:   Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen
Generation 8:  Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears
Generation 9: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder
Generation 10: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is
 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-presburypresbyterpresb.html
Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo


3 comments:

  1. Bank's History of Martha's Vineyard needs to be used with caution, as he had a "name's the same" addiction regarding people who disappeared from the island's records. He has my John Tilton marrying his cousin Bethia Tilton and moving, along with his brother Ebeneezer, to Cambridge, Washington County, New York in 1788. This identification raised numerous, shall we say, shaking red flags, not the least of which was why were he, his brother, and their wives selling their interest in a property in Cambridge, then in Albany County, to a woman in Canada in 1790? (Actually, I'm rubbing my hands with glee. I love this kind of stuff.)

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  2. I descend from your Gen 1, 2, and 3 through Randall's next younger brother, William, who married Mary Raymond. Neat that we share these ancestors. This post just came to my attention... Thanks for posting! ;-)

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