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| My mother, my little sister, my grandmother Gertrude (Hitchings) Allen, and me all taking a winter walk on West Beach in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1970. The pier you see behind us was destroyed in the Blizzard of 1978. |
WEST
John West was only 11 years old when he arrived in
Massachusetts on board the ship Abigail in 1635. He was probably a servant, listed under the
name of William Fuller, age 25. In the History
of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, Massachusetts by J. B. Felt, John West
is named as one of the first settlers at Ipswich. He sold his house to John Woodman and remove
to nearby Beverly. He was admitted to
the church in Salem in 1648 (there was no church yet in Beverly), and he was
named a representative to the General Court for the town of Beverly in
1677.
In the early records
of Beverly you can read “John WEST Departed this Life 6 Oct 1683, Aged about 68
yrs ." His estate was granted to
Thomas West. The Salem court records
mentioned his wife, former husband, Henry Ley [LEE]. The land was at the end of West Street near
today’s West Beach in Beverly Farms, a section of Beverly near the Manchester
border. In the Essex Institute
Historical Collections, 1920, pages 212 – 213 you can read “The eastern end of
West street was a causeway three hundred and sixty-three feet in length. John
West or his son Capt. Thomas West had contracted to keep it in repair; and,
Jan. 21, 1750, Robert Haskell, Benjamin Woodbury, Mary Woodbury, widow of Capt.
Robert Woodbury, deceased, Mary West alias Martin and Henry Herrick, jr.,
guardian of the heirs of Thomas West [Jr.], all of Beverly, agreed to divide
the causeway into seven parts, which each respectively was to keep in repair.” This is my lineage – John West, the immigrant
to his son, Captain Thomas West, to his grand daughter, Mary (West) Woodbury.
Robert Charles Anderson, in his Great Migration: Immigrants
to New England, Volume VII, page 301, says that there are no further records of
John West after his passage on the Abigail.
Anderson believes that the John West in the Ipwich and Beverly records
is a different John West.
I disagree, and I think there is evidence that Captain
Thomas West of Beverly might be the son of John West. Thomas West was made a freeman in Beverly on
11 May 1670. In the Records and Files of
the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 2, George Francis Dow, page 299 –
300 there is are lengthy notes of a court case of William Cressey v. Mordecai
Larcom and his wife Elizabeth, in 1661, for slander “In saying that he would
have come to bed to said Elizabeth.”
In this book the testimony for the case names a visit to the
home of John West, who lived at Beverly Farms near the Larcom family. There is also the testimony of “Deliverance
Frensh, of Glocester, deposed that, June 27, 1661, being at Goodman Larcum's
house, Thomas West, son of John West, and Elizabeth Jackson, maid servant to
Goodman West, came in and asked to see Goodman Cresse's boy” Later that year, on 12 December 1661 Thomas
West married Elizabeth Jackson. Here he
is named as the son of John West.
My WEST genealogy:
Generation 1: John West, born about 1616 probably in
England, died 6 October 1683 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married to Mary
Unknown. Three children. She died 2 April 1675 in Beverly.
Generation 2: Captain
Thomas West, born about 1641, died 28 March 1723 in Beverly, Massachusetts;
married on 12 December 1661 in Beverly to Elizabeth Jackson, daughter of John Jackson and Katherine Unknown. She was born
about 1642 and died 12 October 1708 in Beverly.
Nine children.
Generation 3: Mary West, born 4 May 1676 in Beverly, died 6
December 1758 in Beverly; married on 11 December 1693 in Chebacco Parish (now
Essex) of Ipswich to Robert Woodbury, son of Isaac Woodbury and Mary Wilkes. He was born 8 June 1672 in Beverly and died
about 1751. Nine children and I descend
from two sons, Robert and Isaac Woodbury.
Lineage A:
Generation 4: Robert Woodbury m. Priscilla Ellingwood
Generation 5: Robert Woodbury m. Hannah Preston
Generation 6: Molly Woodbury m. Westley Burnham
Generation 7: Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland
Generation 8: Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears
Generation 9: Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen
Generation 10: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder
Generation 11: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda
Hitchings (my grandparents)
Lineage B:
Generation 4: Isaac Woodbury m. Abigail Herrick
Generation 5: Lydia Woodbury m. Humphrey Bray
Generation 6:
Humphrey Bray m. Molly Herrick
Generation 7: Polly Bray m. Asa Burnham
Generation 8: Lydia W. Burnham m. Samuel Mears
Generation 9: Samuel
Mears m. Sarah Ann Burnham (see above)
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Very fine Genealogical work,my dear lady.Merci beaucoup,ma chere amie,and God bless you,your dear pets,and kindly keep everyone well & safe,my dear.
ReplyDeleteHeather, I am interested in the West family of Beverly. I find the 12 December 1661 marriage of Thomas West and Elizabeth Jackson in the published Beverly vital records (Volume II, page 332). You say that Elizabeth Jackson was the daughter of John and Katherine (---) Jackson, born 12 January 1642 in Ipswich. However, I do not find this birth in the published Ipswich vital records (see Volume I, page 204 for Jackson births). And Robert Charles Anderson does not name a daughter Elizabeth in his sketch of John Jackson of Ipswich (see Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1635-1635, Volume IV, pages 25-28). What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteDana Murch
Heather, I am interested in the West family of Beverly. I find the 12 December 1661 marriage of Thomas West and Elizabeth Jackson in the published Beverly vital records (Volume II, page 332). You say that Elizabeth Jackson was the daughter of John and Katherine (---) Jackson, born 12 January 1642 in Ipswich. However, I do not find her birth in the published Ipswich vital records (see Volume I, page 204 for Jackson births). And Robert Charles Anderson does not list a daughter Elizabeth in his sketch of John Jackson of Ipswich (see Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Voolume IV, pages 25-28). What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteThe Beverly Vital Records have Elizabeth West's death as "w. Capt. Thomas, d. John and Kathrin Jackson, Oct. 12, 1708, a. 66 y. 9. m." and the Beverly Town Records have her as "daughter of John and Catherine Jackson". Her birth would be about 1642. I have removed the date and place of birth from this sketch because I cannot find my source. Yes, Anderson doesn 't list Elizabeth at all.
DeleteAha. That makes sense. And I find the death records for John West and his wife Mary in the Beverly VRs, so I agree with your line. Whether this John West is the same John West who arrived in 1635 on the Abigail is another question, however. His stated age doesn't work, but I understand that the ages stated on the ship enrollment records were often incorrect. I did find the following information in the 1888 History of Essex County (pages 693-694), in a discussion of the Pioneer families of Beverly: "John West, who came from Ipswich about 1650, bought the large property of Blackleach, extending from the Woodbury (or Paine) estate westerly to Jefferson's Creek, or Manchester line, and beyond; and also a tract of land towards Wenham granted to Gardner. From him the beautiful West's Beach derived its name, as bordering his property. Robert Woodbury...married a daughter of farmer West (Thomas, son of John)."
DeleteIt is Ruth West, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth, that is of interest to me. She married William Haskell and eventually had two descendants who married Isaac and Henry Murch (brothers of my ancestor, Charles Augustus Murch). And along the way William and Ruth (West) Haskell had a descendant who married into the line of Mayflower passengers William and Mary Brewster. If you are interested in this, send me an email (danapmurch@gmail.com), and I will send you some family charts that I have worked up.
You wrote, "I think there is evidence that Captain Thomas West of Beverly might be the son of John West." Proof that Thomas West was the son of John West can be found in The Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts 1667-1772 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1905), pages 11-12 where it says, "10 8mo [1668] John West & his wife Mary were upon letters of Dismission from ye Church of Ipswich received unto Communion of this Church & their son Thomas wth his wife Elizabeth at ye same time."
ReplyDeleteYou wrote, "I think there is evidence that Captain Thomas West of Beverly might be the son of John West." There is proof that Thomas West was the son of John West in Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1667-1772 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1905), pp. 11-12 where it says, "10 8 mo [1668] John West & his wife Mary were upon letters of Dismission from ye Church of Ipswich received unto Communion of this Church & their son Thomas wth his wife Elizabeth at ye same time."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Matthew! That's a great bit of information!
Delete