What I learned from another blog that helped me write this Surname Saturday post ~ TOMPKINS of Salem, Massachusetts

Recently I read on the NEHGS blog “Vita Brevis” that the Early New England Families Study Project database on the americanancestors.org website had been updated with seven new family sketches.  I’m always excited by these updates, and carefully scan the listed names for matches to my own family tree.  This time I hit the jackpot when I saw the name of John Tompkins of Salem, Massachusetts.

I had a lot of information on John Tompkins gleaned from vital records, the Great Migration series, some local histories and compiled genealogies.  Of course, this new sketch mentioned lots of other interesting tidbits.  In fact, there were five pages in his sketch, so if you are truly interested in John Tompkins as an ancestor or as a historical figure, you might want to head over to the Early New England Study Project database and check it out for yourself!

Robert Charles Anderson’s work on the Great Migration series includes families up to 1635, and there are plans to include the families up through 1640.  The Early New England Families Study Project, according to the NEHGS website “will focus on individuals who emigrated in 1641 or later, but our sketches will be grouped by year of marriage rather than immigration.”  There will be some overlap as this project will treat all marriages, including the children and descendants of some Great Migration passengers, up through 1700.   This  includes the marriages listed in Clarence Almon Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700, as well as non-white and non-Puritan marriages, and new families identified since Torrey’s book was published. 

Ralph Tompkins(about 1585 – 1666), my 10^th great grandfather, arrived in Massachusetts as a passenger on the Truelove on 19 September 1635 with is wife and three children.  He has an extensive sketch in the Great Migration Volume VII.   I descend from his eldest son, John Tompkins (1609 – 1681), my 9^th great grandfather, who was not on that passenger list, was briefly mentioned in the Great Migration book, and followed with the longer sketch at the Early New England Study Project.    Ralph first lived in Dorchester, and then in Salem.  His son John was received as an inhabitant of Salem in 1637 and granted land for a household of two at the town meeting on 25 December 1637 (so he must have been married).  On 29 January 1637/8 he was granted 5 acres. 

I descend from two daughters of John Tompkins: Sarah, who married John Waters; and Mary, who married John Felton.   Sarah’s grand daughter married a descendant of the 1692 witch trial victim, George Jacobs (1612 – 1692), and Mary’s grand daughter married a descendant of the witch trial victim, John Proctor (1631 – 1692).  Both of my lineages from Ralph Tompkins stayed in Salem for  ten generations until my grandfather, Donald Munroe Wilkinson,  was born in Salem in 1895.  My Salem ancestors touched all kinds of early Salem history, from early settlement, through the witch trials, to the great age of the China Trade, abolitionists, industrialists, factory workers and ministers.  

My Tompkins genealogy:

Generation 1: Ralph Tompkins, born about 1585, died before 15 November 1666 in Massachusetts; married first on 6 November 1608 in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, England to Katherine Foster, daughter of Peter Foster, mother of the Tompkins children.  She died after 3 April 1642 and he married second to a sister of Samuel Aburne.  Six children.

Generation 2: John Tompkins, born about 1609 in England and died 23 June 1681 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Margaret Unknown, mother of his children; married second in September 1673 in Salem to Mary Unknown, widow of Thomas Read.  Ten children.

Lineage A:

Generation 3:  Sarah Tompkins, baptized on 1 January 1643 in Salem, died after 1707 in Salem; married on 1 August 1663 in Salem to John Waters, son of Richard Waters and Rejoice Plaise.  He was baptized on 27 November 1640 in Salem and died between 14 February 1706/7 and 1 March 1707/8 in Salem. Ten children.

Generation 4: John Waters and Mary Unknown

Generation 5: Lydia Waters and John Proctor

Generation 6: Lydia Proctor and Jonathan Flint

Generation 7: John Flint and Phebe Flint (first cousins)

Generation 8: Olive Flint and Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 9: Phebe Cross Munroe and Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 10: Albert Munroe Wilkinson and Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson and Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 3:  Mary Tompkins, baptized on 29 April 1649 in Salem, died 12 December 1688 in Salem; married on 29 September 1670 in Salem to John Felton, son of Nathaniel Felton and Mary Skelton.  He was born 3 September 1648 in Salem and died 19 February 1717/18 in Salem.  Seven children.

Generation 4: Nathaniel Felton and Elizabeth Foot

Generation 5: Malachi Felton and Abigail Jacobs

Generation 6: Sarah Felton and Robert Wilson

Generation 7: Robert Wilson Wilkinson and Phebe Cross Munroe (see above)

For the truly curious:

"Vita Brevis"  the blog by the New England Historic Genealogical Society  http://vita-brevis.org/ 

The Early New England Study Project database at the New England Historic Genealogy Society website (membership needed for access)

 http://www.americanancestors.org/search/advanced-search?database=Early%20Families%20of%20New%20England&

The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 – 1635, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume VII, pages 68 – 72 “Ralph Tomkins”

“The Family of Jonas Humfrey of Dorchester, Massachusetts with notes on the origins of Ralph and Katherine (Foster) Tompkins of Dorchester and Thomas Foster of Weymouth, Massachusetts,” The American Genealogist, Volume 68, pages 14 – 22.

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-i-learned-from-another-blog-that.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Buckley of Salem, Massachusetts

BUCKLEY

In prosecution of this warant 

I have apprehended and brought the bodyes of 

Sarah Buckley and Marye Withredg and Rebekah 

Jacobs all of Salem velage according to the tener of 

the within written warrant: and have Likewise made 

delegant sarch at the house of Daniell Andrew and 

at the house of Georg Jacobs for them Likewise but cannot find them

p me *Jonathan Putnam Constable in Salem

( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 1 Page 114 )
Dated 14 May 1692

William Buckley was a shoemaker.  He lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts between 1657 and 1674, and in Salem Village from 1681 to 1702.  They were prosperous at first, but their property was seized when they lost a lawsuit brought against them by the governor, Simon Bradstreet.  One of his sons was involved in another suit, and as payment William Buckley lost his table, chest and possibly his cobbler’s tools in the seizure.

In 1681 the Buckley family sold their plot of land and became homeless.  They wandered and begged in the streets.  In 1692 Sarah and her widowed daughter, Mary Withridge, were arrested for witchcraft.  William Buckley convinced two pastors to speak in favor of his wife when she was arrested for witchcraft in 1692.   The Rev. William Hubbard stated "I have known the wife of William Buckley of Salem Village... ever since she was brought out of England, which is above fifty years ago... She was bred by Christian parents.... admitted as a member into the Church at Ipswich (of which he was the pastor) above forty years since.  I never heard from others, or observed by myself, anything of her which was inconsistent with her profession, or unsuitable to Christianity."  Sarah Buckley was still sent to prison.

After the trials were ended, those who had been arrested were released from jail as long as they could pay the room and boarding fees.  The very poor languished in prison, even though they had been declared innocent.  William Buckley spent his last shilling paying £10 to release his wife and daughter from jail after the Salem witch trials.  They had spent eight months in jail.

He survived another ten years after the witch trials, in obvious poverty.  His pastor, Rev. Joseph Green made the following entry in his diary: "January 2, 1702. Old William Buckley dyed this evening. He was at meeting the last Sabbath, and dyed with the cold, I fear for want of comforts and good tending. Lord forgive! He was about eighty years old.  I visited him and prayed with him on Monday and also ye evening before he dyed. He was very poor but I hope had not his portion in this life."

Mary Buckley, William’s daughter, was my 7x great grandmother.  In 1694, two years after the witch trials, she married Benjamin Proctor.  Interestingly, he was the son of John Proctor, and the stepson of Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor, who were both arrested for witch craft and sentenced to be hung when found guilty. John Proctor was hanged, and Elizabeth escaped execution because she was pregnant.  It seems that these families of the Salem accused and executed all had a close bond after the witch trials ended, and this bond seemed to last for a generation or two with many intermarriages.

William Buckley and his wife, Sarah Smith, were my 8th great grandparents.  John Proctor, who was also hanged as a witch in 1692, is also my 8th great grandfather.  

My BUCKLEY lineage:

Generation 1:  William Buckley, probably born in England, died 2 January 1702 in Salem Village, Massachusetts; married Sarah Unknown.  Eight children.

Generation 2: Mary Buckley, born about 1664, died on 5 November 1748 in Danvers; married on 10 December 1694 in Lynn to Benjamin Proctor, son of John Proctor, executed as an accused witch, and Martha Unknown.  He was born on 10 June 1659 in Ipswich, and died in 1717.  Four children.

Generation 3: John Proctor married Lydia Waters

Generation 4: Lydia Proctor married Jonathan Flint

Generation 5: John Flint married Phebe Flint

Generation 6: Olive Flint married Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 7: Phebe Cross Munroe married Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 8: Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information on the Buckleys:

The Salem Witch Trials Transcription Project at http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html  or use this link to search for specific names http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/texts/salemSearch.htm  The image above was from this website. 

“Sarah Buckley wife of Richard Ingersoll and Joseph Proctor of Essex Co, MA 1650 – 1705”, The American Genealogist, Volume 79, Issue 4, pages 274-7

My blog post on the PROCTOR family:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/surname-saturday-proctor-of-salem.html 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Buckley of Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 19, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/surname-saturday-buckley-of-salem.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ Waters of Salem, Massachusetts

WATERS

Richard Waters was granted lot 87 on this map
of the Northfield section of Salem, Massachusetts

Richard Waters was found in records in England, such as his baptism in 1604 in London, and the record admitting him into the Ironmongers Company on 26 April 1626.  There are additional records of him making payments to the Ironmongers Company, and of money he owed them. 
 

The next records of Richard Waters are in Salem, Massachusetts such as on 21 August 1637 "It's ordered that Mr. Connant's house, ground and half acre of corne standing on same next unto Mr. Jon Fisk shalbe bought by the Towne fro ould mr. William Plase and his wife that now is, to them , for the time of their life and what costs the saide Wm. Plase shalbe att his use and behouefe the Towne at the end of ther life shalbe will to allow his eyers executors or asigns the value that the same shalbe worth, voted."  There are additional records in Salem showing Richard Waters in divisions of land and grants of land.   He was a member of the First Church in Salem in 1637, too.

Richard Waters was a gunsmith.  He also owned a tavern in Salem.  His son, John, my 8 x great grandfather, was a farmer, who lived with his parents in Salem, and later in the Northfield section of Salem.  John Waters was called as a witness during the Salem witch trials to testify against George Jacobs.  His summons is unclear whether he was for or against Jacobs.  His daughter, Abigail, married John Jacobs, son of the accused George Jacobs.  

Summons for Witnesses v. George Jacobs, Sr. 

W'm and Mary by the Grace of God of England &c King and Queen &c. 

To the Sheriff of Essex or deputy or Constables of Salem Greeting. 

Wee comand you to Warn and give notice unto Joseph Flintt John Waters sen'r John Doritch Corpo'll John foster Capt Puttnam and [his] Rebecca his wife that they and Every of them be and appear forthwith att the Court of Oyer and Terminer holden at Salem there to Testifie the truth to the best of your knowledge on certain Indictments Exhibited against George Jacobs Sen'r hereof make return faile not. 

Dated in Salem Aug't 4th 1692, and in the fourth yeare of our Reigne 

( Essex County Archives, Witchcraft, Volume 1, page 85)

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I have two WATERS lineages:

A.

Generation 1: Richard Waters, son of James Waters and Phebe Manning, was baptized on 3 March 1604 at St. Botolph, Aldersgate, London, England, and died 16 July 1677 at Salem, Massachusetts.  He married about 1630 in England to Rejoice Plaise, his stepsister, daughter of William Plaise and Margery Smith.   William Plaise married Phebe (Manning) Waters about 1592 in England.  Richard Waters and Rejoice Plaise  had sixteen children.

Generation 2: John Waters, born 29 November 1640 in Salem, died 14 February 1706; married on 1 August 1663 in Salem to Sarah Tompkins, daughter of John Tompkins and Margaret Goodman.   She was born 1 January 1643 in Salem, and died about 1707 in Salem.  Ten children.

Generation 3: John Waters, born 4 July 1665 In Salem, died 1741; married Mary Unknown.  Six children.

Generation 4. Lydia Waters, born 1704, died 4 August 1769 in Danvers, Massachusetts; married on 14 December 1727 in Salem to John Proctor as his first wife.  Ten children.

Generation 5. Lydia Proctor m. Jonathan Flint

Generation 6.  John Flint m. Phebe Flint

Generation 7.  Olive Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 8. Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9.  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

B.

Generation 3. Abigail Waters, born 6 May 1683, died before 1721 in Salem; married on 6 April 1704 in Salem Village (now Danvers) to John Jacobs, son of George Jacobs (hung as a witch in 1692) and Rebecca Andrews.  He was born on 18 September 1679 in Salem and died in 1764 in Salem.  Seven children.

Generation 4. Abigail Jacobs, born about 1706, married on 5 February 1736 in Salem to Malachi Felton, son of Nathaniel Felton and Elizabeth Foot, born 14 May 1705.  Four children.

Generation 5. Sarah Felton married Robert Wilson

Generation 6. Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick

Generation 7. Mercy F. Wilson married Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 8. Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9.  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information on Richard Waters' family see the Salem, Massachusetts Vital Records, and Sidney Perley's History of Salem, 1924.  See also Ancestors and Descendants of Thomas Rice Lyon and his Wife Harriet Wade Rice with Related Families, by Patty Barthell Myers, 2003, pages 616 - 619.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Jacobs of Salem, Massachusetts

"The Trail of George Jacobs" (my ancestor)
painting by T. H. Matteson,
this artwork depicts teenager Margaret Jacobs 
accusing her grandfather, to save her own life

JACOBS

George Jacobs arrived in Salem and bought the house and ten acre lot belonging to Richard Waters on 25 November 1658.  He lived as a farmer for more than thirty years when he was arrested, along with his granddaughter, Margaret Jacobs, and accused of “sundry acts of witchcraft.”  Later his son, and his wife Rebecca were also arrested.  Their four little children were left behind and cared for by neighbors.  Rebecca was aquitted on 3 January 1693.  Margaret could not pay her jail fees, and so languished in prison for several months after her acquittal.

One of the “afflicted girls” was teenaged Sarah Churchill, his servant.  This group of teens accused her of witchcraft, too, when she expressed sorrow at wrongly accusing George Jacobs.   Granddaughter Margaret Jacobs was tortured until she accused her grandfather, which she later recanted.  She was only sixteen years old.   

Evidence at the trial showed that George Jacobs was quite elderly.  He was hunchbacked and walked with two canes.  He must have been over eighty years old during the trial. George was found guilty and hung on 19 August 1692 along with the Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor (also my ancestor), John Willard and Martha Carrier.  In 1703 the General Court repaid the heirs of the condemned, and the Jacobs family received 79 pounds.

All the victims hung at Salem had their bodies thrown into a crevice on Gallows Hill because they were not allowed a decent burial.  It is well known that the bodies of George Jacobs and Rebecca Nurse (and perhaps others) were secretly reburied by family.  In 1854 his bones were found on the Jacobs homestead.   In 1992, the 300^th anniversary of the hangings, and also the same year the Jacobs homestead was demolished, his bones were reburied at the Rebecca Nurse homestead at 149 Pine Street in Danvers.   Forensic evidence showed the bones belonged to a tall arthritic man with no teeth. 

A quote from George’s testimony at his trial: “Well, burn me or hang me I will stand in the truth of Christ. I know nothing of it.”

The day after her grandfather was hung, Margaret Jacobs wrote this letter:

Honored father--After my humble duty remembered to you, hoping in the Lord of your good health, as blessed be God I enjoy, though in abundance of affliction being close confined here in a loathsome dungeon, the Lord look down in mercy upon me, not knowing how soon I shall be put to death, by means of the afflicted persons. My grandfather having suffered already and all his estate seized for the king. The reason of my confinement is this, I having, through the magistrates threatenings, and my own vile and wretched heart, confessed several things contrary to my own conscience and knowledge, though to the wounding of my own soul, the Lord pardon me for it. But O, the terrors of a wounded conscience, who can bear ? But blessed be the Lord, he would not let me go on in my sins, but in mercy, I hope, to my soul, would not suffer me to keep it in any longer, but t was forced to confess the truth of all before the magistrates who would not believe me, but 'tis their pleasure to put me here, and God knows how soon I shall be put to death. Dear father, let me beg your prayers to the Lord on my behalf, and send me a joyful and happy meeting in Heaven. My mother, poor woman, is very crazy, and remembers her kind love to you and to uncle, viz. d--A--, so leaving you to the protection of the Lord, I rest your dutiful daughter.

MARGARET JACOBS

From the dungeon

in Salem prison,

Aug. 20, 1692

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 There is much information on the Jacobs family and the witch hysteria in Sidney Perley’s three volume set The History of Salem.  The English origins of George Jacobs were written up in The American Genealogist, Volume 79, pages 3-12, 209 – 217, 253- 259.  

There are many good books about the witch hysteria, but my favorites are:

In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Norton, New York: Knopf, 2002.

Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Boston: Harvard University Press, 1974.

Salem Village Witchcraft by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993.

There is a webpage devoted to the story of George Jacobs and the genealogy of his descendants at this link: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/georgejacobs/georgejacobs.html

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My lineage from George Jacobs:

Generation 1:  George Jacobs was born about 1612 in England, died on 19 August 1692 when he was hung as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts; married to Mary Unknown.  She remarried to John Wildes,  whose first wife, Sarah Averill, was hung as a witch on 19 July 1692, in Salem.  Two children.

Generation 2: George Jacobs, Jr., who died before 1718; married on 9 February 1675 to Rebecca Andrews, widow of John Frost.  She was born 16 April 1646 in Watertown or Cambridge, Massachusetts daughter of Thomas Andrews and Rebecca Craddock.   Six children.

Generation 3.  John Jacobs, born 18 September 1679 in Salem, died 1764 in Salem; married first on 6 April 1704 in Salem Village (now Danvers) to Abigail Waters, daughter of John Waters and Sarah Tompkins.  She was born on 6 May 1683 and died before 1721 in Salem.  He married second on 21 May 1721 in Salem Village to Lydia Cooke. 

Generation 4: Abigail Jacobs married Malachi Felton

Generation 5. Sarah Felton married Robert Wilson

Generation 6. Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick

Generation 7. Mercy F. Wilson married Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 8.  Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10.  Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Jacobs of Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 28, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/surname-saturday-jacobs-of-salem.html: accessed [access date]).