Bray Wilkins (about 1610 – 1702), my 10th great
grandfather, is of unknown origins, although family tradition says he was from
Wales. He was at Dorchester,
Massachusetts as early as 1633, and he joined the church there in 1640 and is
recorded as “Brave Wilkins”. The baptisms of his first six children are
recorded at Dorchester. In 1654 he
removed to the church in Salem. Later,
in 1689, Bray Wilkins and his wife were dismissed from Salem so they “might be
a church of themselves” at Salem Village, which later became the town of Danvers. He lived at “Wills Hill” which became part of
the town of Middleton, adjoining Danvers.
One of Bray Wilkins granddaughters had a husband who was
hanged as a witch in 1692. His son
Thomas had a daughter named Margaret who married John Willard. The Wilkins family had not approved of
Willard’s marriage. They testified
against him during the witch hysteria, which led to his arrest and he was eventually
found guilty. Willard was blamed for the
death of young Daniel Wilkins “bewitched to death”. He was also blamed for killing a Lydia
Wilkins and one of Philip Knight’s children (Philip married Bray’s daughter Margaret,
my 9th great grandparents).
Bray Wilkins testified in early August 1692 about his kidney stones and
blamed Willard for the death of his grandson Daniel Wilkins. On 19 August 1692 John Willard was hanged
along with John Proctor (also my 10th great grandfather), Reverend
George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, and George Jacobs (also my 11th
great grandfather).
I descend from Bray’s daughter, Margaret (1648/9 – after 1710),
my 9th great grandmother, who married Philip Knight around
1668. She had nine children born in
Topsfield, Massachusetts, all baptized on the same day, 24 May 1691. Her husband was a “husbandman” or farmer. Her daughter, Elizabeth, my 8th great grandmother, married Samuel Towne (from the same Topsfield TOWNE family with three accused witches - Rebecca (Towne) Nurse, Mary (Towne) Eastey, and Sarah (Towne) Cloyse.)
Some WILKINS resources:
The Family of Bray Wilkins “Patriarch of Wills Hill”, by
William Carroll Hill, 1943.
The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, 1995, Volume III, pages 1991 – 1994.
The American Genealogist,
Volume 60, pages 1 – 18 and pages 101 – 113.
My WILKINS genealogy:
Generation 1: Bray
Wilkins, born about 1610 maybe in Wales, died 1 January 1702 in Middleton,
Massachusetts; married about 1636 to Hannah Way, daughter of Henry Way and
Elizabeth Bachelor. Eight children.
Generation 2: Margaret
Wilkins, baptized on 10 February 1648/9 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, died
after 1710; married about 1668 in Topsfield to Philip Knight, son of Philip
Knight and Margery Williams. He was born
about 1646 and died after 1724. Nine
children.
Generation 3:
Elizabeth Knight m. Samuel Towne
Generation 4: Rebecca
Towne m. Stephen Johnson
Generation 5: Ruth
Johnson m. Richard Cree
Generation 6: Stephen
Cree m. Hannah Smith
Generation 7: Sarah
Cree m. James Phillips
Generation 8: Hannah
Phillips m. Thomas Russell Lewis
Generation 9: Hannah
Eliza Lewis m. Abijah Franklin Hitchings
Generation 10: Arthur
Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil
Generation 11:
Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ WILKINS of
Dorchester and Middleton, Massachusetts”, Nutfield
Genealogy, posted March 17, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/surname-saturday-wilkins-of-dorchester.html: accessed [access date]).
Nice to meet you! I'm descended through Bray's second son, John. Have you found any evidence as to WHY the Wilkins clan did not like John Willard? The best I can find is that this is the first time anyone in the family married outside the local neighborhood, and Willard actually took Margaret home to Groton for a few years. (There is also testimony in the trials that he beat her; I'm taking that with a grain of salt).
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