Surname Saturday ~ BROWNING of Topsfield, Massachusetts

[Note:  This blog post corrects an earlier blog post on the BROWNING family.  See this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/surname-saturday-browning-of-topsfield.html ]

Topsfield 1872

Thomas Browning, my 10th great grandfather, appears in the Salem, Massachusetts records in 1636.  He took the Freeman’s oath in Salem on 17 April 1637.  By about 1657 the Browning family had moved to Topsfield, because I found a lawsuit dated 1657 suing Thomas Browning for fencing land that belonged to the town.  He wasn’t dismissed from the Salem church to Topsfield until 8 November 1663.

Thomas and his wife, Mary, only had four daughters, so the name is not carried any further in Topsfield.  He was about 50 years old when his first daughter was baptized.  We know this because in 1660 he gave his age as 73 years old in a deposition. 

Thomas made his will 16 Feb 1670/1:

The last Will and testament of Thomas Browning of Salem being sicke in bodie yett of pfct understanding this 16th day if febewari: 1670 Imprimis I doe apoint my wife to bee my whole Executres and do giue my grandchild Thomas Towne twenty two pounds: which twelue pounds is in the hands of his father & ten pounds is in the hands of his uncle Jacob Towne: to be paid to the sd Thomas Towne aforesaidwhen he come to be twentie & one yeares of Age.

Itam I giue my wifes deseace All my land and housing at Topsfield, to my daughter Towne her husband & my daughter Simons & her husband during their lives. And after their deceace to be disposed by the two daughters abousd to the Children of their own bodies Laufully And there husbands All my land and Howsing at Salem. After my wifes deceace as aboue is Exprest And after their deceace as abouvesaid, And if anie of my daughters die without issew: Then the estate to be deuided among the Children of my daughters siruiuing And if my wife should dy without a will, whatsoever id Left to be deuided betwin my fowr daughters or there Children.        

Thomas (his mark) Browning _____ Witness Joseph Grafton, sr., George Gardner. Proved in Salem court 28: 4m: 1671 by the witnesses.

will found in the book Historical Collections of the Topsfield Historical Society by George Francis Dow, 1920, Volume 25, pages 108 to 109.

For more information:

Genealogy of the Brownings in America: 1621 – 1908, by Edward F. Browning, 1908 (see Archive.org)

Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, by Walter Goodwin Davis, 1995.

My BROWNING genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Browning, born about 1587 probably in England, died February 1699/70 in Topsfield, Massachusetts; married to Mary Unknown before 1635.  Four daughters:

       a.  Elizabeth, born about 1635, married James Symonds

       b.  Mary (see below, my 9th great grandmother)

       c.  Sarah, born about 1640, married Joseph Williams

       d.  Deborah, born 31 January 1647, m. Isaac Meacham and removed to Enfield, Connecticut

Generation 2. Mary Browning, born 7 November 1637 in Salem, Massachusetts, died about 1717 in Topsfield; married on 25 March 1652 in Salem to Edmund Towne, son of William Towne and Joanna Blessing.  He was born about 1628 in Yarmouth, England, and died before 3 May 1678 in Topsfield.  Seven children.

Generation 3:  Samuel Towne m. Elizabeth Knight

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)

----------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ BROWNING of Topsfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted  March 3, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/surname-saturday-browning-of-topsfield.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ TOWNE of Salem and Topsfield, Massachusetts

Topsfield, Massachusetts 1872

TOWNE / TOWN

William Towne, my 10^th great grandfather, was baptized in the Saint Nicholas Church at Great Yarmouth in England on 18 March 1598/9, the son of John and Elizabeth Towne.  He married his wife, Joanna Blessing in Great Yarmouth, and six of his eight children were born there before they came to Salem, Massachusetts.  On 11 October 1640 his first land was in a part of Salem called Northfields “Graunted to William Townde a little neck of land right over against his howse on the other side of the riuer to be sett out by the towne.”

In 1652 William Towne removed his family to "New Meadows", now called Topsfield, where he bought forty acres, and bought more land in 1656.  He gave his youngest son, Joseph, two thirds of his Topsfield land in 1663 when he married Phebe Perkins.  I descend from the third son, Edmund Towne (about 1628 – 1678), who married Mary Browning, my 9^th great grandparents. 

William’s mother-in-law (Joanna’s mother), Joanne (Priest) Blessing, had been accused of being a witch in England.  During the trials, Ann Putnam testified that three of Joanna (Blessing) Towne’s daughters were witches because her mother was a witch.  [Salem Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England, by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, 2016, page 28]   Mary (Towne) Easty was accused on 1 April 1692, and hanged on 22 September 1692.  Rebecca (Towne) Nurse was accused on 2 May 1692 and hanged on 19 June 1692.  Sarah (Towne) Cloyse was accused on 3 April 1692. She spent four months chained in jail, and her case was dismissed in January 1693.   A fourth daughter, Susannah, died in 1678, before the trials began, or she probably would have been accused, too!

In his youth, Edmund Towne was an apprentice to Henry Skerry of Salem.  He was known as “Sergeant Towne” in the Topsfield records.  He was part of the militia, and in 1674 he formed a committee to petition to form a military guard for Topsfield, which was considered the frontier.  Edmund Towne died without a will.  His wife, Mary, was named administrix, and she divided the estate among the daughters. 

In the next generation, I descend from Samuel Towne, my 8^th great grandfather, who married Elizabeth Knight. He also died without a will, and his wife divided the estate between herself and the four children.   Their youngest daughter, Rebecca Towne, is my 7^th great grandmother, who married Stephen Johnson in 1730. Stephen died in 1734, leaving her with two small children, and Rebecca remarried to her second cousin, Joshua Towne, the son of Jacob Towne and Phebe Smith.

Some TOWNE resources:

The TOWNE Family Association: http://townefolk.com  

“TOWNE Cousins” on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/townecousins2014/  

Towne Family, William Towne and Joanna Blessing, Salem, Massachusetts, 1635, Five Generations of Descendants, by Lois Payne Hoover, 2011, from the Towne Family Association.

(An older compiled genealogy) The Descendants of William Towne: Who came to America on or about 1630 and settled in Salem, Mass., by Edwin Eugene Towne, 1901, reprinted by Higginson Book Co., 2006.

Some of the Towne Family and the Salem Witchcraft Delusion, by Joseph L. Wheeler, 1969

Gary Boyd Roberts, “Notable Kin:  The Progeny of “Witches” and “Wizards”: Some Descendants of George Burroughs and William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, Parents of Mary Easy and Rebecca Nurse”, NEHGS, NEXUS Volume 9, pages 108 – 11 which was also printed in his book Notable Kin, Volume Two, pages 79 -86 (descendants of fifteen 1692 Salem witch trial victims).

My TOWNE genealogy:

Generation 1:  William Towne, born about 1598, probably in England, died about 1672 in Topsfield, Massachusetts; married on 25 April 1620, St. Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England to Joanna Blessing, daughter of John Blessing and Joanne Priest.  She was born about 1594 in Great Yarmouth, and died 1682 in Topsfield.  Eight children.

Generation 2:  Edmund Towne, born about 1628 in Yarmouth, England, died before 3 May 1678 in Topsfield, Massachusetts; married on 25 March 1652 in Salem to Mary Browning, daughter of Thomas Browning and Mary Unknown.  She was born 7 November 1637 in Salem, and died about 1717 in Topsfield.  Seven children.

Generation 3:  Samuel Towne, born 11 February 1673 in Topsfield, died 1714; married on 20 October 1696 in Topsfield to Elizabeth Knight, daughter of Phillip Knight and Margaret Wilkins.  She was born 25 January 1677 in Topsfield, and died 17 May 1752 in Topsfield.  Four children.  Elizabeth remarried to Elisha Perkins on 4 April 1715 in Topsfield.

Generation 4:  Rebecca Towne,  born 8 February 1699/1700 in Topsfield; married on 2 December 1730 in Topsfield to Stephen Johnson.  He was born about 1700 and died 29 August 1734 in Topsfield.  Two children.  Rebecca remarried to her cousin, Joshua Towne, on 7 August 1739 in Topsfield, and had one more child.

Generation 5:   Ruth Johnson married Richard Cree

Generation 6:  Stephen Cree married Hannah Smith

Generation 7:  Sara Cree married James Phillips

Generation 8:  Hannah Phillips married Thomas Russell Lewis

Generation 9:  Hannah Eliza Lewis married Abijah Franklin Hitchings

Generation 10:  Arthur Treadwell Hitchings married Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 11:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings married Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

------------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ TOWNE of Salem and Topsfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 24, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/02/surname-saturday-towne-of-salem-and.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ JOHNSON of Topsfield, Massachusetts

Help me smash this brick wall!

Stephen Johnson, my 7^th great grandfather, is another brick wall ancestor.  I don’t know his birthdate, birth place or parents.  On 29 August 1734 he married Rebecca Towne, the niece one generation removed from three Towne sisters who were accused of witchcraft in 1692.  Two of those sisters were hanged: Rebecca (Towne) Nurse and Mary (Towne) Eastey.  Rebecca Towne (b. 1699/1700 in Topsfield) is the granddaughter of their brother, Edmund Towne (1628 – 1675).

This tie to the witch trials of 1692 might be a big clue.  The children and grandchildren of the witch trial victims tended to marry descendants of other victims. I have many examples of this in my family tree, which is why I am descended from so many of those families.  Why did they marry each other?  Were they ostracized from marrying other potential spouses?  Did they find common ground? I have no idea why this happened.

During the 1692 hysteria, there was a young boy, only 14 years old, who was also named Stephen Johnson. He was accused of being a witch, and arrested, along with many members of his extended family.  He was a nephew of Abigail (Dane) Faulkner (1652 – 1730), my 9^th great aunt.  Because I had the Dane and Faulkner families in my family tree, I found Abigail’s sister had married a man named Stephen Johnson (father of the accused 14-year-old Stephen Johnson).  There were many Stephens in this Johnson family that lived in Andover, Massachusetts (one town away from Topsfield).  I have traced out most of them.  Did I miss a connection to the husband of Rebecca Towne?  

Their daughter, Ruth Johnson (1731 – 1800) married Richard Cree in 1756 in Topsfield.  They had a son named Stephen Cree (another STEPHEN!) who is my 5^th great grandfather.  The name Johnson daughters out here. 

Is there a JOHNSON family researcher out there who knows the answer to this mystery?  Am I chasing a red herring trying to tie the two Johnson families together?

My JOHNSON genealogy:

Generation 1:  Stephen Johnson, born about 1700, died 29 August 1734 in Topsfield; married on 2 December 1730 in Topsfield to Rebecca Towne, daughter of Samuel Towne and Elizabeth Knight.  She was born 8 February 1699/1700 in Topsfield.  Two children born in Topsfield.  Rebecca remarried to her second cousin, Joshua Towne, son of Jacob Towne and Phebe Smith. 

Generation 2:  Ruth Johnson, born 30 August 1731 in Topsfield, died 29 June 1800 in Topsfield; married on 5 February 1756 in Topsfield to Richard Cree, son of Nicholas Cree and Keziah Dwinnell.  He was born 13 August 1727 in Topsfield, and died 15 April 1769 in Topsfield.  Five children born in Topsfield.

Generation 3: Stephen Cree m. Hannah Smith

Generation 4: Sarah Cree m. James Phillips

Generation 5: Hannah Phillips m. Capt. Thomas Russell Lewis

Generation 6:  Hannah Eliza Lewis m. Abijah Franklin Hitchings

Generation 7:  Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ JOHNSON of Topsfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 17, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/02/surname-saturday-johnson-of-topsfield.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ DWINNELL of Topsfield, Massachusetts

DUNNELL / DWINNEL /  DWINEL / DONNELL

My 9^th great grandfather, Michael Dwinell or Dunnell, is of unknown origins.  Some think that perhaps the surname is perhaps French Huguenot, and other books say he was possibly Irish, but there is no proof either way.  He was born about 1640 and died in 1717 in Topsfield, Massachusetts.  His wife is only known as “Mary”, although Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary of New England states her name was Mary Read (no proof).   They had nine children in the Topsfield records, and his son Michael, Jr., was the first physician in Topsfield. Michael Dwinnel owned a large amount of land, including 50 acres he bought from Francis Peabody in 1672. 

My 8^th great grandfather, John Dunnell (1674 – 1742), lived in Topsfield as a “husbandman” or farmer.  He married Mary Read of Salem in 1701.  His wife was the executor of his will which was witnessed by Jeremiah Towne, Jacob Dwinnell, and Richard Towne.

His daughter, Keziah Dwinel (b. 1703), my 7^th great grandmother, married Nicholas Cree.  Their son, Richard Cree (1727 – 1769), married Ruth Johnson, whose mother was Rebecca Towne.  Rebecca’s grandfather was Edmund Towne (1628 – 1678), a brother of Rebecca (Towne) Nurse who was hanged as a witch in 1692.  Perhaps Rebecca Towne was named after her poor grandmother, the victim of the Salem hysteria?   The two Towne men mentioned above as witnesses to the will of John Dunnell in 1742 were both grandsons of Edmund Towne, too.

Some DWINNELL resources:

The True Genealogy of the Dunnell and Dwinnell Family, by Henry Gale Dunnell, 1862 (Google Books)

The Dwinnell, Dunnell Genealogy,  by Ira A. Dwinnell, 1974

The History of Topsfield, Massachusetts, by George F. Dow, 1940  (Archive.org)

The Vital Records of Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1903

My DWINNELL genealogy:

Generation 1:  Michael Dunnell, born about 1640, maybe in France, died 1717 in Topsfield, Massachusetts; married Mary Unknown about 1668.  Nine children.

Generation 2:  John Dunnell, born 16 December 1674 in Topsfield, died 28 January 1742 in Topsfield; married Mary Read on 25 February 1701 in Salem, Massachusetts.  She was born about 1682 in Salem. Six children.

Generation 3: Keziah Dwinell, born 14 December 1703 in Topsfield, married Nicholas Cree of Marblehead on 7 October 1723 in Topsfield.  Six children.

Generation 4: Richard Cree m. Ruth Johnson

Generation 5: Stephen Cree m. Hannah Smith

Generation 6:  Sarah Cree m. James Phillips

Generation 7: Hannah Phillips m. Capt. Thomas Russell Lewis

Generation 8:  Hannah Eliza Lewis m. Abijah Franklin Hitchings

Generation 9: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ DWINNELL of Topsfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 3, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/02/surname-saturday-dwinnell-of-topsfield.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ CREE of Topsfield, Massachusetts

CREE / CRAY / CREIGH

My 7^th great grandfather, Nicholas Cree, is a mystery.  I don’t know his birth or death, but only that he married Keziah Dwinell of Topsfield and had six children born there.  His marriage record says he was “Of Marblehead”.   This brickwall ancestor has many researchers searching for his origins, probably in Scotland. 

Not much is known of his son, Richard Cree (1727 – 1769), my 6^th great grandfather.  I have his vital records, and his death record states he was “a middle aged man who was drownded”.    I descend from his eldest son, Stephen Cree (1760  - 1821), who married his bride, Hannah Smith, in the town of Holden, Massachusetts, many miles from Topsfield.  The interesting thing is that I was married in the town of Holden, too, about 200 years after the marriage of Stephen and Hannah Cree.  Hannah’s origins are unknown, but I found her birth record in Worcester in 1763, to her father, Joseph Smith.  Perhaps he is related to the Smith family of Topsfield? Another mystery.

My 4^th great grandmother, Sarah Cree (1792 – 1835) married first at age 16 to John W. Ham in 1808 and had one child.  Then she remarried to James Phillips in Topsfield in 1815.  They had two children and he died young in 1820.  Sarah never remarried and died young herself in 1835.   Her daughter, my 3^rd great grandmother, Hannah Phillips (about 1821 – 1851) also died young after having three children born in Salem.  

The Cree surname is considered to be Scots, a derivation of the same CREIGH or CRAY.  There are several DNA studies ongoing to find the origins of Nicholas Cree, the immigrant ancestor in New England.

Some CREE resources:

The CREE One-Name Study   http://www.cree.name/usa/topsfield.htm

The Historical Collections of the Topsfield Historical Society (some volumes available online at Archive.org, including Volumes nine and ten with the Topsfield marriage records)

The True Genealogy of the Dunnel and Dwinnell Family of New England, by Henry Gale Dunnel, 1862.

My CREE genealogy:

Generation 1:  Nicolas Cree married on 7 October 1723 in Topsfield, Massachusetts to Keziah Dwinel, daughter of John Dwinell and Mary Read.  She was born 14 December 1703 in Topsfield.  Six children born in Topsfield. 

Generation 2:  Richard Cree, born 13 August 1727 in Topsfield, died 15 April 1769 in Topsfield; married on 5 February 1756 in Topsfield to Ruth Johnson, daughter of Stephen Johnson and Rebecca Towne.  She was born 30 August 1731 in Topsfield and died 29 June 1800 in Topsfield.  Five children.

Generation 3:  Stephen Cree, was born 30 October 1760 in Topsfield, died 15 October 1821 in Topsfield; married on 27 February 1787 in Holden, Massachusetts to Hannah Smith, daughter of Joseph Smith of Worcester.  She was born 22 May 1763 in Worcester, and died 19 October 1839 in Topsfield.  Five children.

Generation 4:  Sarah Cree, born 30 September 1792 in Topsfield, died 3 May 1835 in Topsfield; married 6 August 1820 in Topsfield to James Phillips.  He was born about 1792 probably in Rowley, and died 5 April 1820 in Topsfield.  Two children.

Generation 5:  Hannah Phillips m. Thomas Russell Lewis

Generation 6:  Hannah Eliza Lewis m. Abijah Franklin Hitchings

Generation 7:  Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

-------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ CREE of Topsfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 27, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/01/surname-saturday-cree-of-topsfield.html: accessed [access date]).