"Old Planters Reunion", Beverly, Massachusetts

This forefathers plaque can be found at the Cabot House, Beverly Historical Society, in Beverly, Massachusetts

THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO CAME OVER IN THE FIRST EMIGRATION

AND WERE BY THE BLESSING OF GOD THE PLANTERS OF BEVERLY, FROM THE FIRST GRANT 1638

TO THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN 1668 OR THEREABOUTS, OCCUPIERS OF FREEHOLDS

AND CONTINUING TO ABIDE THEREON, THEIR CHILDREN INHERITING THE LAND, AND THE NAME

OF THEIR WIVES AND THE NUMBER OF THEIR CHILDREN.

JOHN BALCH                   MARGARY             3

HENRY BALEE                 DOROTHY             4

JACOB BARNEY              ELIZABETH           3

JOHN BATCHELDER       ELIZABETH           7

EDWARD BISHOP            MARY                     3

JOSHUA BISSON              MARTHA               5

JOHN BLACK                   SUSANNA              1

RICHARD BRACKENBERY          ELLEN      4

JEREMIAH BOOTMAN   HESTER                  6

THOMAS CHUBB             AVIS                        4

ROGER CONANT             SARAH                    7

SAMUEL CORNING         ELIZABETH           4

MIGHILL CRESSY            MARY                     1

CHRISTOPHER CROE      DELIVERANCE     2

WILLIAM DIXEY              ANNA                     8

RICHARD DODGE            EDITH                    7

WILLIAM DODGE            ELIZABETH          4

JOHN EDWARDS              MARY                     2

RALPH ELLINWOOD      ELLEN                    7

ANDREW ELLIOT            GRACE                   6

EDMUND GALE               SARAH                   4

JOHN GALLY                    FLORENCE            4

EDMUND GROVER         MARGARY             6

ROGER HASCALL           ELIZABETH           9

ROGER HASKINS            RUTH                      2

NICOLAS HAYWARD      ELIZABETH           6

HENRY HERRICK            EDE                          8

ROBERT HIBBERT          JOAN                       9

JOHN HILL                       ABIGAIL                 6

WILLIAM HOARE           DORCAS                  6

FRANCIS HOOPER          JULIAN                    2

ISAAC HULL                    SARAH                    3

NICOLAS LAGROVE      HANNAH                5

RICHARD LAMBERT      ESTHER                  2

HUGH LASKIN                 ALISE                      2

LAWRENCE LEACH        ELIZABETH           7

THOMAS LOTHROP        BETHIA                  8

JOHN LOVITT                  MARY                     5

ROBERT MORGAN         MARGARET           6

RICHARD OBER             ABIGAL                   9

JAMES PATCH                 HANNAH                5

JOHN PATCH                   ELIZABETH            6

NICOLAS PATCH            ELIZABETH            2

THOMAS PICKTON       ANN                          0

DANIEL RAY                  BETHIA                    2

JOHN RAYMENT           RACHEL                   6

WILLIAM RAYMENT   HANNAH                 5

JOSIAS ROOTES            SUSANA                  4

JOHN SALLOWES         HANNAH                 6

THOMAS SCRUGGS     MARGARY              3

RICHARD STACKHOUSE  SUSANA            1

JOHN STONE                  SARAH                   4

JEFFREY THISTLE        MARY                     2

JOHN THORNDIKE       ELIZABETH           6

OSMAND TRASK          MARY                   10

THOMAS TUCK             JOAN                      3

JOHN WEST                    MARY                    3

THOMAS WHITREDGE  FLORENCE         3

JOHN WOODBERY        AGNES                  5

WILLIAM WOODBERY ELIZABETH        7

PETER WOODIN             ELIZABETH        4

PETER WOOLFE             MARTHA             2

IN FILIAL PIETY THIS MEMORIAL TO THE

FATHERS AND MOTHERS WHO ENTERED

INTO AND POSSESSED THE LAND NOW

BEVERLY IS ERECTED WITH GRATITUDE

TO GOD FOR OUR ANCIENT AMERICAN

BIRTHRIGHT BY THEIR DESCENDANTS

APRIL 19, 1913

Every two years the Beverly Historical Society hosts the "Old Planters Reunion" for descendants of the first settlers in what is now Beverly, Massachusetts.   This weekend was a three day event that included historic house tours, cemetery visits, lectures, a visit to the city hall archivists, a dinner at the Hale Farm, the annual Balch and Woodbury family reunions, and other events. We had a wonderful time in Beverly meeting lots of cousins and having fun.  I'm descended of a lot of these "Old Planters" including BALCH, BLACK, DODGE, DIXEY, ELLINWOOD, GALE, HASKELL, HERRICK, LEACH, STONE, THORNDIKE, WEST, TUCK and WOODBURY.

Are you descended of one of the families listed above?  Or other early Beverly families? The best way to be informed about the next reunion is to join the Beverly Historical Society, and they will mail you information and registration forms for 2018.  (see the link to click on the reunion brochure PDF below)  I hope to see you at the next  "Old Planter" reunion!

Dan Driscoll, Beverly City Archives Volunteer
describes the vast range of documents in the city vaults

Your truly poring over town clerk records from the 1600s

The John Balch House on Cabot Street with newly renovated facade.
This house dates from the early 1600s

Reunion participants touring the Balch House

Salem State University Archaeology Professor Emerson "Tad" Baker
describes artifacts found during excavations at the Balch house. 

Dinner in the backyard of the Hale Farm.  It was built in 1694 by Rev. John Hale
who played a large part in the 1692 Salem Witch Hysteria. 

We toured the Old North Beverly burial ground and also the
well hidden Dodges Burial Ground, and found lots of ancestors!

We finished the weekend with a tour of the Beverly "Gold Coast"
on the schooner "Fame".

Lots of cousins helped to lift the sails for our tour of Beverly Harbor. 

Beverly Historical Society -  http://www.beverlyhistory.org/  

Old Planters Reunion 2016  PDF   http://www.beverlyhistory.org/misc_files/OldPlantersReunion_Early2016.pdf


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, " "Old Planters Reunion", Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 26, 2016,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/old-planters-reunion-beverly.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ My 8th Great Grand Aunt, Mary (Norton) West, buried 1762 Beverly, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Abbott Hale Burying Ground, Beverly, Massachusetts

Here lies ye body of

Mrs. MARY WEST

wife of Mr. SAMUEL

WEST who died April ye

28th AD 1762

In the 80th year

of her age.

Mary Norton was the daughter of George Norton and Mary Foxwell of York, Maine.  She was born on 18 January 1685 and died 28 April 1762 (she was only 77, not 80 years old, but our colonial ancestors tended to round up not being as vain about age as modern Americans).  On January 1701/2 she married Samuel West in Beverly, Massachusetts.  He was the son of Thomas West and Elizabeth Jackson.  Samuel West was born on 22 May 1674 in Beverly, and died 18 April 1725 in Beverly.  He was the brother to my 8th great grandmother, Mary West (1676 - 1758) who married Robert Woodbury.

Mary Norton is my 4th cousin 10 generations removed via my NORTON lineage, as a descendant of Bonus Norton (1657 - 1719) of Ipswich, Massachusetts and Hampton, New Hampshire.

Mary Norton and Samuel West had nine children, all born in Beverly, Massachusetts.

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Published under a Creative Commons License

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ My 8th Great Grand Aunt, Mary (Norton) West, buried 1762 Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 19, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/tombstone-tuesday-my-8th-great-grand.html:  accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Thomas West, died 1745 Beverly, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Abbott Hale Burying Ground in Beverly, Massachusetts

HERE LYES THE

BODY OF Mr.

THOMAS WEST

WHO DYED JUNE

THE 7TH 1745

IN Ye 38TH YEAR

OF HIS AGE

Thomas West, son of Thomas West and Christian Woodbury, was born 30 August 1707 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  He married Mary Herrick on 14 February 1731 in Beverly and had five children.  She was the daughter of Henry Herrick and Joanna Woodbury, born 11 November 1711 in Beverly, and died 22 January 1787 in Beverly.

I'm a first cousin 9 generations removed from Thomas West.  We have common WEST, WOODBURY, WILKES, JACKSON, and WEEKES ancestors.

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Thomas West, died 1745 Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 5, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/tombstone-tuesday-thomas-west-died-1745.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ WILKES of Salem, Massachusetts

WILKES

In Essex County, Massachusetts there was a WILKES family, and a WILKINS family and a WILKINSON family.  When researching these families, besides keeping all these families separate in your record keeping, you have to deal with a plethora  of Interesting spelling variations.  Just remembering that these surnames were distinct families is very helpful.   There are no WILKES compiled genealogy books, nor any recent articles on this family.

Thomas Wilkes was the first generation of this family to live in Salem, Massachusetts.   He was a shipwright, and granted ten acres in the area of Salem known as North Field in 1656.  His house lot was on the North River.  It is lot #17 on the map above. 

from The Probate Records of Essex County, by George Francis Dow, 1916, pages 381-383:

"Estate of Thomas Wilkes of Salem.

Administration on the estate of Tho. Wilkes, that he had in this country, granted June 24, 1662 to Mr. Edmond Batter. An inventory, amounting to lOOli. 6s. 11 l-2d., was presented to this court. Salem Quarterly Court Records, vol. 4, page 98.

Inventory of the estate of Thomas Wilks, deceased, that was found in Boston in November, 1661, by John Wiswall and John Lake: Aparell and small things, 71i. ; 1 small pcell of goods as p. Invoys, 2li.; 10 p. small stockings, 6s. 8d. ; 6 1-4 linnen & woolen, 12s.; 5 yds. 1-2 Red cloath, Hi. 2s.; 9 yd. 1-2 gray Carsy, 21i. 7s. 6d. ; gloves, laces & silke, 7s. 6d. ; 3 grosse & 9 doz. buttons, Coat, 12s. 9d. ; 2 grosse, 8 doz. brest buttons, 9s.; 2 yds. Coifing stuffe, 3s. 4d. ; 13 yds. 1-4 shage at 3s. 4d. p., 2li. 4s. 2d.; 14 yds. Course woolen cloath at 3s. p., 21i. 2s. ; 28 p. gloves, Hi. ; 1 great Bible, 6s. ; 3 peeces Sardge at 4li. 5s. p., 12li. 15s. ; 16 yds. 1-2 duble Beys, 4li. 2s. 6d. ; 24 yds. Browne Lynen, 5li. 4s. ; 1 Coverled, 18s. & old Carpet, 3s. 6d., Hi. Is.; 1 old Satinnisco gowne, Hi. 6s.; Incle mancster & some ode things, 2s. 6d. ; packing cloath & Cord, 2s.; 19 yds. Carsy at 5s. 4d. p., 5li. Is. 4d. ; 14 yd. rlaninge, Hi. 16s.; hatte and Case, 8s.; 1 Child Blanket, silv. lace, Hi. 10s.; Chest, boxe, &c, 2 stone Juggs, lis.; 3 hhds. Suger, Neate, 15 C. 3qt. Hi., 151i. 15s. 3d.; 14 Gallon Rum at 3s. p., 21i. 2s. ; total, 701i. Inventory of goods in Salem, taken in December, 1661, by Walter Price and Hillyard Yeren: One pcell goods of small wares, 31i. Is. 3d.; 1 pcell Ironmonger's wares, &c, 2li. 10s. lid.; 1 pcell small wares, Hi. 4s. Id.; 1 pcell small wares, 2li. lOd. ; 1 friing pane, 2s.; 25 yds. Course Carsy at 4s. p., 5li. ; 14 yds. tickinge at 3s. p., 2li. 9s. ; 7li. old Iron & kitle, Hi. 7s. lid. ; 141i. peper, 28s., 2 grosse, 5 doz. hooks & eyes, 5d., Hi. 13s.; thimbles & nails, 3s. 7 l-2d.; 150li. Cotton, 3li. 15s.; 2701L Buckets, 31i. 7s. 6d.; 1 pcell small wares, 3li. lis. 10d.; total, 301i. 6s. 11 l-2d. Essex Co. Quarterly Court Files, vol. 8, leaf 28.

Court 25 : 9 : 1662 ordered Mr. Edmond Batter, administrator to send only 401i. of the estate to England to the widow, and to keep the remainder until the court takes further order. Salem Quarterly Court Records, vol. 4, page 106.

The request of Robert, son of Tho. Wilkes, deceased, made 26: 4: 1666, that he might have the estate of said Wilkes, which amounted to about 301i., in the hands of Mr. Edmund Batter, administrator, who held it for said Robert until he became of age, delivered to him for his own use. Court understanding that he was now of age and able to improve it, ordered that it be delivered to him. Salem Quarterly Court Records, vol. 4, page 165.

Robert Wilkes' receipt to Mr. Edmond Batter, dated 18: 10: 1666, for 361i., in full of what was due him from his father's estate. Witness: Hillyard Veren, jr., and Hillyard Veren, sr. Entered in the court records by Hillyard Veren, cleric. Salem Quarterly Court Records, vol. 4, page 178”

Thomas Wilke's wife, Mary Weekes, was the sister to Robert Weekes, a Salem merchant.  His will made his nephew, Isaac Woodbury the executor, and gave Mary, wife of Isaac and their children all his property. 

In the second generation I descend from Thomas's daughter, Mary, who married Isaac Woodbury. Thomas's son, Robert Wilkes was born about 1645 and died at sea in 1677.  According to the Essex Registry of Deeds, book 4, leaf 130, he was taken sick while on a voyage from Bristol to New England and died on the voyage.  He left a will that granted his house and land to his wife Mary for her life, and then to his neice Mary Woodbury.  He was a shipwright and he left his shop and the lot it sat on to his nephew Robert Woodberry, who was only five years old. Robert Woodberry became a mariner, and owned the shop and lot until 1707. [Essex Antiquarian, Volume 9, 1905, page 40]

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Generation 1:  Thomas Wilkes, born about 1620, died 1661 in Salem, Massachusetts;  married to Mary Weekes, two known children, Mary and Robert Wilkes.

Generation 2: Mary Wilkes , born September 1651 in Salem, died 19 December 1702 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 9 October 1671 in Beverly to Isaac Woodbury, son of Humphrey Woodbury and Elizabeth Hunter.  He was born 24 February 1643/44 in Salem and died 11 March 1725 in Beverly.  Seven children.

Generation 3: Robert Woodbury m. Mary West

Generation 4: Robert Woodbury m. Priscilla Ellingwood

Generation 5: Robert Woodbury m. Hannah Preston

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)

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Published under a Creative Commons License

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~WILKES of Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy,  posted October 3, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/surname-saturday-wiilkes-of-salem.html : accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ WEST of Beverly, Massachusetts

My mother, my little sister, my grandmother Gertrude (Hitchings) Allen, and me
all taking a winter walk on West Beach in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1970.
The pier you see behind us was destroyed in the Blizzard of 1978.

WEST

John West was only 11 years old when he arrived in Massachusetts on board the ship Abigail in 1635.  He was probably a servant, listed under the name of William Fuller, age 25.  In the History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, Massachusetts by J. B. Felt, John West is named as one of the first settlers at Ipswich.  He sold his house to John Woodman and remove to nearby Beverly.  He was admitted to the church in Salem in 1648 (there was no church yet in Beverly), and he was named a representative to the General Court for the town of Beverly in 1677. 

 In the early records of Beverly you can read “John WEST Departed this Life 6 Oct 1683, Aged about 68 yrs ."   His estate was granted to Thomas West.  The Salem court records mentioned his wife, former husband, Henry Ley [LEE].  The land was at the end of West Street near today’s West Beach in Beverly Farms, a section of Beverly near the Manchester border.  In the Essex Institute Historical Collections, 1920, pages 212 – 213 you can read “The eastern end of West street was a causeway three hundred and sixty-three feet in length. John West or his son Capt. Thomas West had contracted to keep it in repair; and, Jan. 21, 1750, Robert Haskell, Benjamin Woodbury, Mary Woodbury, widow of Capt. Robert Woodbury, deceased, Mary West alias Martin and Henry Herrick, jr., guardian of the heirs of Thomas West [Jr.], all of Beverly, agreed to divide the causeway into seven parts, which each respectively was to keep in repair.”  This is my lineage – John West, the immigrant to his son, Captain Thomas West, to his grand daughter, Mary (West) Woodbury.

Robert Charles Anderson, in his Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, Volume VII, page 301, says that there are no further records of John West after his passage on the Abigail.  Anderson believes that the John West in the Ipwich and Beverly records is a different John West.

I disagree, and I think there is evidence that Captain Thomas West of Beverly might be the son of John West.  Thomas West was made a freeman in Beverly on 11 May 1670.  In the Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 2, George Francis Dow, page 299 – 300 there is are lengthy notes of a court case of William Cressey v. Mordecai Larcom and his wife Elizabeth, in 1661, for slander “In saying that he would have come to bed to said Elizabeth.”

In this book the testimony for the case names a visit to the home of John West, who lived at Beverly Farms near the Larcom family.  There is also the testimony of “Deliverance Frensh, of Glocester, deposed that, June 27, 1661, being at Goodman Larcum's house, Thomas West, son of John West, and Elizabeth Jackson, maid servant to Goodman West, came in and asked to see Goodman Cresse's boy”  Later that year, on 12 December 1661 Thomas West married Elizabeth Jackson.  Here he is named as the son of John West.

My WEST genealogy:

Generation 1: John West, born about 1616 probably in England, died 6 October 1683 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married to Mary Unknown.  Three children.  She died 2 April 1675 in Beverly.

Generation 2:  Captain Thomas West, born about 1641, died 28 March 1723 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 12 December 1661 in Beverly to Elizabeth Jackson, daughter of John Jackson and Katherine Unknown.  She was born about 1642 and died 12 October 1708 in Beverly. Nine children.

Generation 3: Mary West, born 4 May 1676 in Beverly, died 6 December 1758 in Beverly; married on 11 December 1693 in Chebacco Parish (now Essex) of Ipswich to Robert Woodbury, son of Isaac Woodbury and Mary Wilkes.  He was born 8 June 1672 in Beverly and died about 1751.  Nine children and I descend from two sons, Robert and Isaac Woodbury.

Lineage A:

Generation 4: Robert Woodbury m.  Priscilla Ellingwood

Generation 5: Robert Woodbury m. Hannah Preston

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: Isaac Woodbury m. Abigail Herrick

Generation 5: Lydia Woodbury m. Humphrey Bray

Generation 6:  Humphrey Bray m. Molly Herrick

Generation 7: Polly Bray m. Asa Burnham

Generation 8: Lydia W. Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 9:  Samuel Mears m. Sarah Ann Burnham (see above)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ WEST of Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 26, 2015 (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/09/surname-saturday-west-of-beverly.html : accessed [access date]).