Thomas Emerson (1584 – 1666) lived at Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire,
England, where he was recorded in 1636 as a collector for the poor. His children were recorded in the baptismal
records at St. Michael’s church in Bishop’s Stortford. He first appears in the records of Ipswich,
Massachusetts in 1638 when he received a deed for 120 acres. This land was known as “Turkey Shore” and
remained in the Emerson family for generations.
Thomas Emerson was the father of two ministers, Rev.
Joseph Emerson and Rev. John Emerson. There
is a long list of Puritan, Congregational and Unitarian ministers among his descendants,
including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also studied to be a minister. I descend from two of Thomas Emerson’s
children, the Rev. Joseph Emerson (1621 – 1680) and Elizabeth Emerson (1623 –
1700) who married John Fuller.
His will was recorded in Salem, Massachusetts:
The
Will Of Thomas Emerson
Essex
Probate Registry, Salem, Mass.
The
31st of Maye 1653
I Thomas Emerson of Ispswich in the
countye of Essex being att present, I prayse God, of good health and pfect
memory, and well knowing that all men are borue to dye & depart this life,
and that the tyme and place of there departure is to them unknown and uncertayne
and sometymes sudden, I doe therefore declare and make knowne this my lasr will
and Testament in the maner following:
Inprimus/ I bequeath my soule into
the hands of my blessed Creator and Redeemer my body to the earth to be
densently buried In assured hope of a Joyfull resurection at the last day, and
for my outward Estate I doe dispose of as followeth:
I give and bequeath unto my sonne
Joseph the some eighty pound of current paye of New England viz forty pound of
it which I reserued out of my farme Given unto my sonne John to be payd unto
the said Joseph my sonne acording to the couenant and agreement expressed in a
papre of Indentors beareing date the six and twentieth of the ninth month 1648
the other forty pound to be payd unto him by my son Nathaniell (out of my house
and land given unto him) within six months after the decease of me and my wife.
Item/
I give and bequeath unto Nathaniell Emerson my sonne my house wherein I now
dwell with all my upland and meddow and the marsh I bought of my sonne Joseph
wh was sometymes Mr Woodsmansys with all the aptenances and priveledges
thereunto belonging payeing forty pound out of it as above exprest alsoe a
little p'sel of meddoe lyeing within the marsh before mentioned after the
decease of me and my wife
Item/
I give unto my daughter Elisabeth Fullor the best feather bed and boulster with
a paire of blanketts and the best coverlet and bedsted to injoy for hir use
untill hir daughter Susana atayne the age of Twenty yeares or day of hir
mariage if shall happen sooner and then she to injoy them alsoe. I give unto my
sayd daughter the great carved chest and the carved box with a little Trunck
with all y is in it and a small carved chest with what is in it
Item/
I give unto my sonne James Emerson the some of forty pounds out of my stock of
cattell to be payd unto him if he shall come ouer into this country ( or send
by a certayne surtifficate of his being liueing) within two yeares after the
decease of me and my wife. In case my sayd sonne dye before then my will is
that my sonne Joseph his sonne Joseph shall have ten pound of it and my sonne
Nathaiell ten pound and my daughter Fullor hir foure sonnes the other Twenty
pound or if any of them dye the surviuors ton injoye the same
Item/
my will is that Elisabeth Emerson my wife shall Injoye the yearely rent of the
farme with six head of cattell wintering at the sayd farme and if they doe not
winter soe many to make it up as is agreed as alsoe the house wherein I dwell
with the upland and meddow and marsh bought of my sonne Joseph Joseph with all
aptenances belonging thereunto and alsoe all my household goods and all my
cattell I shall leave both oxen and cowes and all other young cattell whasoeuer
to injoy them freely without let or disturbance of any person whatsoeuer
dureing the tyme that she doth continue my widdow provided allways and it is my
will and meaneing that if the sayd Elisabeth my wife doth marry that then she
shall have only the yearley Rent of the aforesayd farme dureing the tyme of hir
naturall life and the wintering of the aforesayd six head of cattell alsoe to
have the little featherbed and one boulster and two payre of sheets and two
cowes The rest of the cattell and household stufe to be disposed of as in this
my will exprsst
And futher my will is that my sonne
Nathaniell incase he doe injoye the house and Land by the marriage of my wife
that then he shall paye the some of six pound by the yeare to his mother
duering the terme of hir naturall life for the rest of my household goods I leave
to my wife to dispose of what shee shall thinke fitt to my sonne Joseph and the
rest to be devided betweene my sonne Nathaniell and my daughter Fuller futher I
make my loveing wife Elisabeth Emerson sole execotrix to this my last will and
Testament and doe desire my much honored and faithful frends Mr Samule Symonds
and Major Gen Daniell Denison to be overseeres to see y this my will be
fullfilled.
In
witness to this my last will I have hereunto sett my hand and seale the day and
yeare first exprest
signed
sealed and c in the psents of us
Robert
Lord
Daniel
Houey
January
the 4th 1660.
Memorandum/
thes ar to testifie unto any home it may consern that I have given unto my
sonne John Emerson his portion Ful in y Consideration of y agreement betwixt us
about my farme he dully performming the Covenant of y sady indenters betwixt us
during the terme of my life and his mothers as alsoe thos engagments their
spesified afterwards acording to our mutuall agreement acording to the sixtenth
line of this will
Signed:
Thomas Emerson
Memorandum/
in consideration of the ten Lins Canseld on the other sie conserning my sonne
James my will is that he shall have the some of five pound payd to him by my
sonne Mathaniell within two years afters the decease of the longest liver of my
wife or myself in case he shall come or send by certain sertifficat y he is then
living
Alsoe
in refrans to ye eighteen line of this my will for six months there exprest is
thus to be understood that my son Nathaniell should paye that forty pound to my
son Joseph the sumee of ten pounds a year till it be fully discharged unles he
y said Nathaniell shall sell my house and land I now dwell in and the it is to
be payd to my sonne Joseph presently
Alsoe
in refrens to the twent fifth line of this my will it is to be understood that
what there mentoned as to my daughter Fullor is my intent that it shall be holy
and fully devided betwen hir two daughters at y age of twenty years or at y day
of mariage Susanna and Elisabeth.
Alsoe
my will is that my loving wife Elisabeth Emerson shall injoy for hir use halfe
the fruit of the orchard during her natural life, the the particules above
mentioned I witnes to be my own act
In
the presents of
George
Giddinge
Daniel
Houey
Pfued
by the oaths of George Giddinge, Daniell Houey and Robert Lord respectiuely
before Mr Symon Bradstreet and Major Gen Denison the clerks being prsent the
10th day of May 1666 to be the last will of Thomas Emerson with the additions
As
attest Robert Lord- clerk
[George Giddings (1609 – 1676) is also my 9th
great grandfather]
Some Emerson sources:
Stone
–Gregg Genealogy: The Ancestors and
Descendants of Galen Luther Stone and his wife Carrie Marston Gregg, by
Alicia Crane Williams, (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1987)
The
Emerson-Benson Saga: The Ancestry of Charles F. Emerson and Bessie Benson and
the Struggle to Settle the United States Including 194 Allied Lines
by Edmund K. Swigart, (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1994).
The
Bulkeley Genealogy: Rev. Peter Bulkeley, by Donald
Lines Jacobus (New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, Co, 1933).
My EMERSON genealogy:
Generation 1: Thomas Emerson, born 26 July 1584 in
Sedgefield Parish, County Durham, England, the son of Robert Emerson and Susan
Crabbe, died 1 May 1666 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married on 1 July 1611 in
Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England to Elizabeth Brewster, who died 10 August
1638 in Ipswich. [She is not a descendant of William Brewster of the Mayflower] They had nine children and I descend from two of them.
Lineage A:
Generation 2: Reverend Joseph Emerson, born between
1620 and 1621 in Bishop’s Stortford, died 3 January 1680 in Concord,
Massachusetts; married first to Elizabeth Woodmansey about 1646 in Boston,
Massachusetts, one child; married second on 7 December 1665 in Concord to
Elizabeth Bulkeley, the daughter of Rev. Edward Bulkeley and Lucyann Coy. She was born in 1638 and died 4 September
1693 in Reading, Massachusetts. Seven
children.
Generation 3:
Peter Emerson, born 1673 in Mendon, Massachusetts, died 19 January 1751
in Reading; married on 11 November 1696 in Reading to Mary Brown, daughter of
John Brown and Anna Fiske. Ten children.
Generation 4:
Deacon Brown Emerson, born 16 April 1704 in Reading, died 16 March 1774
in Reading; married on 17 June 1725 in Reading to Sarah Townsend, daughter of
John Townsend and Sarah Boutwell. She
was born 25 March 1705 in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Ten children.
Generation 5: John Emerson, baptized 5 April 1739 in
South Reading, died 14 November 1809 in Hancock, New Hampshire; married on 20
December 1764 in Reading to Katherine Eaton, daughter of Noah Eaton and Phebe
Lilley. She was born 19 December 1744 in
Reading and died 21 January 1809 in Hancock.
Eleven children.
Generation 6: Romanus Emerson, born 1 September 1782
in Townsend, Massachusetts, died 10 October 1852 in South Boston,
Massachusetts; married on 22 November 1819 in Boston to Jemima Burnham, daughter
of Colonel Joshua Burnham and Jemima Wyman.
Generation 10: George Emerson, born 11 July 1817 in
South Boston, died 11 January 1890 in Dorchester; married on 11 August 1845 in
Boston to Mary Esther Younger, daughter of Levi Younger and Catherine Plummer
Jones. Eight children.
Generation 11: Mary Katharine Emerson, born 25
December 1847 in South Boston, died 23 April 1932 in Roxbury; married on 28
October 1869 in Chichester, New Hampshire to George E. Batchelder, son of
George E. Batchelder and Abigail M. Locke.
Nine children.
Generation 12: Carrie Maude Batchelder, 22 September
1872 in Chichester, New Hampshire, died 21 January 1963 in Rowley, Massachusetts;
married on 1 November 1892 in Essex, Massachusetts to Joseph Elmer Allen, son
of Joseph Gilman Allen and Sarah Burnham Mears.
Generation 13: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude
Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)
Lineage B:
Generation 2: Elizabeth Emerson, born about 1623 in
Bishop’s Stortford, died 1700 in Massachusetts; married to John Fuller, son of
Roger Fuller and Jane Gowan. He was born about 1620 in England and died 4 June
1666 in Ipswich. Nine children.
Generation 3:
James Fuller m. Mary Rindge
Generation 4: Dorothy Fuller m. Josiah Stone
Generation 5: Josiah Stone m. Martha Ashby
Generation 6: Josiah Stone m. Susanna Hix
Generation 7: Eunice Stone m. Peter Hoogerzeil
Generation 8: Peter Hoogerzeil m. Mary Etta Healey
Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur
Treadwell Hitchings
Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley
Elmer Allen (my grandparents)
--------------------
To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ EMERSON of Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 10, 2015, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-emerson-of-ipswich.html: accessed [access date]).
