Surname Saturday ~ IRONS of Boston, Massachusetts

IRONS / INES / IANS / IYANS / JYANS / IANSE

Matthew Irons’ origins are unknown.  It is difficult to trace him in the records because of the many inventive spellings of his surname.  However, when I pronounce IRONS with my Yankee New England accent, it becomes easy to figure out why his name was spelled so many ways.  Just drop the “R”.  

Matthew arrived as a servant to William Colbron, and  was made a freeman in Boston in 1636 as “IVES”.   He was an innkeeper in Boston, and granted eight acres at Muddy River (what is now the Fenway and Brookline).  He left a will on 30 January 1661/2 that named some of his children, and an inventory was taken on 16 April 1661.  He had eleven children in the Boston vital records and church records (baptisms) with his wife, Anne, who was probably the sister to Watertown settlers Edmund and Abraham Browne.  [Great Migration Begins, volume II, page 1059].

I descend from the eldest daughter, Elizabeth who married Richard Randall.  They settled on Cape Porpoise in what is now Saco, Maine.  One of her daughters, Sarah also married a Saco settler, Joseph Cole. Sarah Cole and her three daughters were captured by Indians on 20 August 1703 and taken to Montreal.  The children remained in Canada and were baptized by the Catholic Church. Sarah returned to Beverly, Massachusetts with her sister, Priscilla and they lived together as widows. 

  

I descend from Priscilla Randall, sister to the captive Sarah Randall Cole, who married William Preston. They had nine children, and I descend from two sons, Nehemiah and Randall Preston.  Both lived in Beverly, Massachusetts, the town where I was born on this date (Yes, today is my birthday!) 

For more information:

Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to the New World 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume II, pages 1057 - 1059.

My Surname Saturday blog post on RANDALL  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/03/surname-saturday-randall-of-saco-maine.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on PRESTON

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-presburypresbyterpresb.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on ALLEN

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/surname-saturday-allen-of-manchester.html

My Irons genealogy:

Generation 1:   Matthew Irons, born about 1613 probably in England, died before 16 April 1661 (the date of the inventory of his estate); married by about 1638 to Anne (probably Anne Browne, sister to Edmund and Abraham Browne, brothers who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts).  Eleven children.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Irons, born 15 April 1641 in Boston, baptized 18 April 1641 in Boston, died 1701 in Saco, Maine;  married to Richard Randall.  He was born about 1633 in England and died after 1713 in Saco.  Three children.

Generation 3: Priscilla Randall m. William Preston

Lineage A:

Generation 4: Nehemiah Preston m. Abigail Allen

Generation 5: Hannah Preston m. Robert Woodbury

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: Randall Preston m. Susanna Stone

Generation 5: William Preston m. Abigail Sargent

Generation 6: Lucy Presson m. James Andrews

Generation 7: Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears (see above)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ IRONS  of Boston, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 24, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/surname-saturday-irons-of-boston.html : accessed [access date]).