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• _FSFTID: 2Z3W-HZF
• _UID: 9B8FE942AEA04DAABAEA17856ABF5A248143

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• _FSFTID: LDLD-DJ4
• _UID: 2135F4B21A944215BA85B1689C11DF5439C8

Notes:

Edmund was listed as the head of a family on the 1790 Census in Sutton, Worcester, MA. He settled in Sutton before his mariage and owned lands there and in Oxford. He was at Fort Edward in 1755 and served in the French and Indian War. He and his wife are buried in the burying ground near their home, on the road from Auburn to Millbury Old Common. Sons, Elijah and Gideon drowned the same day. - unknown
Edmund Barton, son of Samuel Barton (i), was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, August 5, 1714. He removed to Oxford with the family when he was only two years old. He made his home in the second parish of Sutton, now the first parish of Millbury, and was prominent in town and church affairs. He was often named on important committees of the church and he had one notable difference with the minister over a religious service he held at his own house without asking permission of the minister. He was appointed on many of the important church committees and was evidently a leading man in his day. He was a soldier in the French and Indian wars. Mr. B. B. Vassell, late of Worcester, author and compiler of the family genealogy, states that Edmund was "bound out" at the age of thirteen, shortly before his father's death. He married, April 9, 1739, Ann Flynt, of Salem. She was born June 9, 1718, and died at Sutton, now Millbury, March 20, 1795. Edmund Barton died there December 13, 1799, and is buried with his wife in the old burying ground at Millbury. The children of Edmund and Anna Barton were: 1. Dr. Stephen, born June 10, 1740, at Sutton; studied medicine under Dr. Green, of Leicester; was trader at Oxford 1764-6; landlord 1766-9; removed to Vassaloboro, Maine; returned to Oxford, 1790, but went again to Maine and died there October 21, 1804; grandfather of the late Judge Ira M. Barton, father of Edmund M. Barton, librarian of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester; grandfather of Clara Barton (Clarissa H., born December 25, 1821, daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Stone) Barton. Sarah Stone was the daughter of Captain David and Sarah (Treadwell) Stone. Clara Barton is the famous Red Cross leader.) 2. Mary, born June 10, 1742, married Obadiah Brown, of Sutton. 3. Hannah, born September 22, 1744, married Samuel Boutelle and had three children. 4. Jedediah, born May 6, 1747, settled in Sutton; married Lydia Pierce. 5. Flynt, born December 3, 1749 (or April 3, according to records of Pliny Barton), mentioned below. 6. Elijah, born April 22, 1752, died June 5, 1756, by drowning. 7. Gideon, born April 22, 1754, died June, 1756. 8. Ann, born August I, 1756, married, April 29, 1778, David Gibson. 9. Luke, born February I, 1759. - Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts
Edmund was listed as the head of a family on the 1790 Census in Sutton, Worcester, MA. He settled in Sutton before his mariage and owned lands there and in Oxford. He was at Fort Edward in 1755 and served in the French and Indian War. He and his wife are buried in the burying ground near their home, on the road from Auburn to Millbury Old Common. Sons, Elijah and Gideon drowned the same day.Edmund Barton, son of Samuel Barton (i), was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, August 5, 1714. He removed to Oxford with the family when he was only two years old. He made his home in the second parish of Sutton, now the first parish of Millbury, and was prominent in town and church affairs. He was often named on important committees of the church and he had one notable difference with the minister over a religious service he held at his own house without asking permission of the minister. He was appointed on many of the important church committees and was evidently a leading man in his day. He was a soldier in the French and Indian wars. Mr. B. B. Vassell, late of Worcester, author and compiler of the family genealogy, states that Edmund was "bound out" at the age of thirteen, shortly before his father's death. He married, April 9, 1739, Ann Flynt, of Salem. She was born June 9, 1718, and died at Sutton, now Millbury, March 20, 1795. Edmund Barton died there December 13, 1799, and is buried with his wife in the old burying ground at Millbury. The children of Edmund and Anna Barton were: 1. Dr. Stephen, born June 10, 1740, at Sutton; studied medicine under Dr. Green, of Leicester; was trader at Oxford 1764-6; landlord 1766-9; removed to Vassaloboro, Maine; returned to Oxford, 1790, but went again to Maine and died there October 21, 1804; grandfather of the late Judge Ira M. Barton, father of Edmund M. Barton, librarian of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester; grandfather of Clara Barton (Clarissa H., born December 25, 1821, daughter of Stephen and Sarah (Stone) Barton. Sarah Stone was the daughter of Captain David and Sarah (Treadwell) Stone. Clara Barton is the famous Red Cross leader.) 2. Mary, born June 10, 1742, married Obadiah Brown, of Sutton. 3. Hannah, born September 22, 1744, married Samuel Boutelle and had three children. 4. Jedediah, born May 6, 1747, settled in Sutton; married Lydia Pierce. 5. Flynt, born December 3, 1749 (or April 3, according to records of Pliny Barton), mentioned below. 6. Elijah, born April 22, 1752, died June 5, 1756, by drowning. 7. Gideon, born April 22, 1754, died June, 1756. 8. Ann, born August I, 1756, married, April 29, 1778, David Gibson. 9. Luke, born February I, 1759.

Buried:
in Dwinell Cemetery

Edmund married Anna Flint on 9 Apr 1739 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Anna (daughter of Stephen Flint and Hannah Moulton, daughter of Stephen Flint and Hannah Holton) was born on 9 Jun 1718 in Middleton, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 20 Mar 1795 in Sutton, Worcester, Massachusetts; was buried in Millbury, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: K8X2-153
• _UID: CF4ED754DECF4A49BFE1B8F881BA2125592A
• Baptism: 22 Jun 1718, Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Buried:
Dwinell Cemetery

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• _FSFTID: KZHX-1D2
• _UID: 5926426E622146B6B4A5E55EFA141673E13B

Notes:

He married Hannah BRIDGES circa 1690. Hannah was born June 9, 1669 in Salem, Essex, MA. Hannah was the daughter of Edmond BRIDGES and Sarah TOWNE. Hannah died March 13, 1727/1728 in Oxford, Worcester, MA, at 57 years of age. Samuel was employed at as a husbandman. He made a will 13 June 1732. Samuel had his will probated 23 September 1732 in Worcester, Worcester, MA.(20) Samuel Barton is the founder of the Bartons of Oxford. He and his wife, Hannah are buried in the burying gound west of the common in Oxford. He first appears public records in 1683 when he witnessed a deed in Wells, Maine. In 1687 Capt. John Gerrish of Dover, N. H. mentions Samuel as one who assisted in work on a bridge in Madbury, N. H. In 1692 Samuel Barton aged about 28 was a witness for Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor in the witchcraft troubles in Salem. In the spring of 1693 members of the Towne, Bridges, Barton, Cloyes and Elliot families from Salem Village started to settle in the plantation of Framingham which in 1700 was incorporated as the town of Framingham in Middlesex County. Samuel's second child, Mercy (called Mary in his will), was born there in 1694.
In 1709 Samuel was appointed a grave digger in Framingham with authority to receive 3 shillings a grave for grown persons. By 1716 he had decided to move to Oxford and in June of that year he sold his lands in Framingham bought another consisting of one thirtieth of the English settlement in Oxford consisting of the home lot of forty acres, ten acres adjoining to the south, fifty acres on long hill, two acres of meadow on the brook below the sawmill and thirty rods of meadow on the river. This made Samuel one of the landed proprietors and part owner of Elliott Mills. In 1720 John Towne (son of Jacob and first cousin to Hannah (Bridges) Barton), Samuel Barton, Abiel Lamb and Joseph Wiley met to found a church of Christ in Oxford. His will leaves everything to son Caleb as the other sons had received their shares prior to his death.
- Paul Barton, http://www.edwardbarton.org/i0000053.htm#i53
Samuel Barton (I), the immigrant ancestor of Charles Albion Barton, of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was also the progenitor of all the old families of Worcester county of this name, many of whom have been prominent. Very little is known of his life before he came to Framingham. He settled in Salem and was a witness in one of the famous witchcraft cases. It is not even known that he was an immigrant. Marmaduke Barton was in Salem in 1638 and Samuel, who was probably not born before 1650, may have been a native of Salem. He was in Watertown for a short time and received the usual "warning" that new-comers got when moving into a Puritan colony, under date of June 16, 1693. He was in Framingham in 1699 and perhaps earlier. His children are all recorded in Framingham, although the two eldest were born elsewhere. He bought what was known as the Elliott grist mill at Oxford. He bought a fourth part of the "corn mill," one home lot of forty acres and ten acres adjoining, also fifty acres in the second division on Long Hill and various other lots of land in Oxford together with the right of common October 19, 1716, for eighty-five pounds, of Jonathan Provender. He was then of Framingham, but his daughter was called of Oxford when she married, December 17, 1716, so he must have moved in the fall of 1716. He was formally dismissed by the Framingham church to the Oxford church January 15, 1721, and he was one of the original members of the church at Oxford. Before he died he gave one-half his homestead to his son Joshua. He died September 12, 1732. His will is dated June 13, 1732, and was proved September 23, 1732. He bequeathed to all his children, leaving the 'lands not previously disposed of to Caleb, his third son. He married Hannah Bridges, daughter of Edmund Bridges, of Salem, probably, and Edmund Bridges, Jr., also settled in Framingham. The children of Samuel and Hannah Barton were: 1. Samuel, Jr., born October 8, 1691, married, May 23, 1715, Elizabeth Bellows, of Marlboro, one of the thirty original settlers of the town of Sutton; blacksmith by trade; was selectman and town treasurer; removed 1748 to Dudley; his son Bezaleel was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill; he was the ancestor of the Barton family at Coryden, New Hampshire. 2. Mercy, born May 22, 1694, married (intentions December 17, 1716) David Town. 3. Joshua, born December 24, 1697, settled in Leicester. 4. Elisha, born April 22, 1701, resided at Sutton, South Hadley and Granby, Massachusetts. 5. Caleb, born February 9, 1705, resided at Framingham and Charlton. 6. Jedediah, born September 18, 1707, settled in North Oxford. 7. Mehitable, born August 22, 1710, married, November 12, 1730, Samuel Duncan, of Worcester, where she died 1742. 8. Edmund, born August 5, 1714 - Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts

Samuel married Hannah Bridges in 1691 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Hannah (daughter of Edmund Bridges, Jr. and Sarah Towne) was born in 1669 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 13 Mar 1727 in Oxford, Worcester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: L84F-G2T
• _UID: EF68D772A80146E78D9AF1B1E8DD06545EAA

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• Occupation: Middleton, Essex, Massachusetts; farmer
• _FSFTID: L6FW-7Y9
• _UID: 3784335043BA4F8382AD4C6D8F1E10E69829

Stephen married Hannah Holton on 6 Nov 1714 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Hannah (daughter of Henry Holton and Abigail Flint) was born on 13 Jul 1695 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died about 1744 in Middleton, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _UID: 748E3599DC62457182CE2A8B6D69E5C84C54

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• _FSFTID: L6P9-LZ8
• _UID: F42081DDEE4644749099162D2354B98D87E8

Notes:

Matthew, son of Edward. He returned to his father's farm at Cape Porpus, Maine, with his son Samuel. Samuel was born about 1664. Matthew was a sailor, shipbuilder and farmer. His children are: Samuel, above mentioned. By wife Sarah had Susana, b. May 10, 1680. Matthew, b. Sept 6, 1682. Sarah, b. April 1, 1685. Elizabeth, b. April 20, 1687. The following is from the Essex Antiquarian: "'June 1679. Thomas Clarke deposed that one night being upon the watch in company with Matthew Barton when the privateer lay within Baker's Island, as they were walking the rounds they heard a loud noise at or near the door of John Williams, the cooper, and it was John Chaplin drunk, Jonathan Barton testified that he saw the man but being a stranger did not know his name until Clarke told him it was Chaplin. The further said that Chaplin swore and said, 'now is the time to get money, the privateer wants horses,' etc. Sworn 7:11:1678
- Barton, Edward S., Genealogy of the Barton Family: of the town of Marshall, Oneida County, New York. Waterville, NY: unknown. 1920.
"Matthew Barton, of Salem, Portsmouth, N.H., and Cape Porpoise, Me., shipwright, mariner, born about 1640, was living in 1729. He married first Martha -----, who was living in 1675; secondly Sarah -----; and thirdly, at Salem, 20 Dec 1694, Elizabeth (Tapley) Dickinson, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Pride) Tapley. For many years he probably divided his time between Salem and Cape Porpoise. In 1668 Matthew Barton and Martha, his wife, of Salem, sold to William Dicer of the same their dwelling house and one-fourth acre of land, by the South Harbor, Salem. In the same year he was one of the Salem petitioner against imposts. There are indications that his family lived at Cape Porpoise for some years. On 29 April 1671 Matthew Barton of Salem, mariner, deposed, aged about thirty-two years, his deposition being recorded 30 June 1671. In 1675 Martha Barton is mentioned as a temporary resident of Salem on account of the Indian troubles. In 1683 Matthew Barton bought from Hannah Simmons, administratrix of the estate of Richard Simmons, all of Salem, a house and one-sixth acre of land at Salem, for L35. In 1686 he bought from Edmond Woolland, Sr., a small piece of land adjoining, for L 6.5s. Evidently he possessed other property in Salem. In 1721 he sold to Ezekial Goltwigth a common wright in Salem, in the southeast division of common lands, granted by the last meeting of the proprietors. In 1729, being then of Salem, he sold the farm of three hundred acres, of Cape Porpoise, which was formerly the home of his father. " - Barton Family of Oxford, Mass, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1930, Vol 84, pp. 400-421.p 403-4
Matthew Barton was born to Edward Barton and his wife, Elizabeth, about 1640, most likely in Salem, Massachusetts. He moved with his family to Marblehead and then to a farm near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Matthew grew up on the farm near the Piscataqua River. Around 1662, Matthew married a girl named Martha, whose last name is unknown. Matthew and Martha must have moved to Salem and had several children. Their oldest was a son, Samuel, born in 1663. Around 1666, Matthew's father's family moved again, up the coast to Cape Porpoise, Maine, near the present site of Kennebunkport. He purchased a farm on Montague's Neck, between the Montague and Cape Porpoise Rivers. In 1668, Matthew was living in Salem, and he took part in a protest against taxes. During this time, Matthew was a shipbuilder and sailor. later in 1668 Matthew and wife Martha sold their dwelling house and one-fourth acre of land by the south harbor in Salem to William Dicer. they must have moved to Cape Porpoise at that time. When his father died in 1671, Matthew was named as executor of his estate, and inherited the farm at Cape Porpoise. In July of 1673 in Portsmouth, Matthew had a brush with the law, when he was accused of travelling on Sunday, a serious charge in Puritan New England. Matthew and Martha lived on the farm in Cape Porpoise for the next twelve years, but were given temporary residence in Salem in 1675, apparently driven from their home by hostile Indians. Martha died, and in 1679, Matthew married again, to Sarah, a woman whose last name is unknown. Matthew and Sarah had four children. In 1683 Matthew purchased a house and one sixth acre of land in Salem for £35, his hopes of moving back to Cape Porpoise dashed by the continuing Indian troubles. He purchased adjoining land several years later. Sarah died, and Matthew married again, in 1694, widow Elizabeth Dickenson, daughter of John Tapley and Elizabeth Pride, with whom he had six more children. In 1729, he finally sold the farm on Cape Porpoise, which had lain abandoned for over forty years. Matthew died sometime after 1729. - Smith, Ken, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=112224336&ref=ac om

Mathew married Martha in 1662 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Martha was born in 1641 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died in 1680 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _UID: 0183F13D2A924B4ABE18A9A9250C6EFEC837

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• Occupation: black smith and attorney
• _FSFTID: MVSS-VR3
• _UID: AD26A733A39C45E5A614AF880A026FCD4F31

Notes:

“Edmund’s father, also Edmund, was living in Topsfield in 1660. He came to Massachusetts in 1635 and is said to have lived in Lynn, Rowley, and Ipswich, to which he returned some years before his death. The name Edmund Bridges appears frequently in the Essex County Court Records, and it is not possible always to distinguish father from son. They both acted as witnesses as juryman and as “attorneys”....Edmund Bridges, Jr., was evidently considered familiar with legal procedure and skilled in the trade. He along with John and Nathaniel Putnam, with whom we will shortly become familiar, all appear over and over again as witnesses and attorneys in the county court records. This did not necessarily mean that they were notoriously litigious, but that they were asked to represent others in court.” (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
1661; Commoner of Topsfield. Settled near father in law Towne. (History of Topsfield) 1664; Paid minister’s rate at Topsfield. (History of Topsfield)
“Sarah’s husband was a very busy man, for in addition to his legal activities, he had still another trade. He was a blacksmith... His blacksmith shop was a center of town activity, as was neighboring John Gould’s “ordinary”. (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
“The Essex County Court records are full of a bewildering number of references to Edmund Bridges in connection with John Gould...In March, 1664, an individual called John Millington was sentenced to be whipped, or to pay a fine of ten pounds, “for his great misdemeanor” and also to be bound for twenty pounds. A person, whose name is deliberately left out, deposed that in January her brother, Edmund Bridges, asked her to go to Salem with him, but she did not go and Edmund and his wife left without her. Whilst they were gone, John Millington offered “uncleaness to her, and she told him that she would not yield to him for all of Topsfield”. Although Millington later prayed that she, the one to whom he had offered “uncleaness” would forgive him, Sarah Bridges acted as a witness in the resulting court case. She referred to her sister. It is not at all clear who this sister was...The reference may have been to Faith, one of Edmund Bridge’s sisters. Faith and her husband Daniel Black, were involved in domestic troubles, and at one point had been ordered to sit in the stocks for an hour. Danile was ordered to live peaceably with his wife, and to refrain from threatening her, while she, for her part, was to be orderly, not gad abroad or be in the company of other men. If either party disobeyed these rules, they were to be whipped.” (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
“Edmund Bridges appears far more often in connection with John Gould in a bewildering series of cases connected with the ill-starred iron works. Iron works were established in Rowley Village (now Boxford) around 1668. They were sited not far from the Topsfield line upon some land left to Gould by his father Zaccheus...Although Edmund was not personally involved in the manufacture of iron, as a blacksmith he was deeply interested. It is a fact that the records show that Edmund was in debt to John Gould even before the establishment of the iron works. Court records are full of suits between the two men in which payments were ordered to be in bar iron. By November 1670, Bridges was in serious trouble and was sued for ‘not setting his hand to a bill of sale’. He was ordered to sign over the deed of his house and land in Topsfield, or to pay one hundred and fifty pounds to Gould. Since he did not have the money, he went to prison, losing eight acres of land, a dwelling house and a barn at the same time. However, Edmund, although down, was not out. He apparently realized enough from the sale of his property, and from the collection of other debts outstanding, to be able to buy a small piece of land near the waterfront in Salem. Here he built another house and a barn.” The family moved there. (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
1668; Sold house and 8 acres of land to Ensign John Gould, bounded on ne by land of Thomas Perkins Sr., e and w e by that of Jacob Towne, w and s by John Robinson and Edmund Towne. Deed not given until 1670 when Edmund Bridges had moved to that part of Salem, now Danvers, not far from the Topsfield line. His house there is said to have stood on the se side of Rea’s hill, so called. The building was later purchased by John A. Sears, father of Judge George B. Sears, and moved to his farm in Putnamville. (History of Topsfield)
November 1670; John Robinson bought a house and eighteen acres of land from John Gould for 40 pounds which had formerly belonged to Edmund Bridges (jr or sr?). (History of Topsfield)
“Edmund Bridges and a certain William Becket owned part of a wharf on the Salem waterfront. Edmund also procured a license to sell alcholic beverages.” “Sarah became involved with running the waterfront tavern while her husband carried on with his legal practice, often appearing in Salem quarterly courts as attorney, arbitrator and as a witness.” (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
1673; Petition got up by Robert Smith, John Ramsdell and he protesting reassignment of certain families from Topsfield to Rowley for tax purposes. (The Refiners Fire; Mormon Cosmology)
1678; “Edmund Bridges was involved in 1678 in a court case with a powerful Salem merchant, Mr. Edmund Batter... The character of Edmund Batter is described by Bernard Bailyn as “extraordinary in its brutality...” Edmund Bridges sued Batter for defamation of character for : “saying that (the said Bridges) was the leader of a factious company in Salem and that it was their design to overthrow all order and government in the town of Salem, and also for saying that the plaintiff was the caus of all trouble in Salem.” Bridges relations and some others came to his defense. Francis Nurse, a brother in law, and Isaac Cooke, deposed that in a public town meeting in the past spring, they had heard Batter make these charges. Jacob Towne, another brother in law, and John Hobb, testified that fifteen years earlier when Bridges had been a resident and voter in Topsfield, he had opposed those who did not have the right to vote by law. In other words, that Bridges was on the side of law and order. They also said that he had taken the required oath of fidelity twelve years earlier. Thomas Preston, a son in law of Rebecca and Francis Nurse and therefore another relative of Bridges, testified that he had heard Batter say that Edmund Bridges was the ringleader of the opposing company. He further deposed that, as he was generally at town meetings, he had never heard Bridges speak before he asked leave of the moderator. Bridges had told Preston that he wished to prevent disorder at the meetings.” The opposing side was a powerful group of elites, and the judges as well. The court ruled against Bridges and imposed a fine of two pounds, five shillings and eighpence to be paid to Batter.” (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
May 1679; Selectman consented that Edmund Bridges could sit the seat in the gallery of the meeting house vacated by Sargeant Lake. Sarah could sit in the next seat behind the woman’s pew, but of course, as female, was not allowed to speak. (Currents of Malice - Persis W. McMillen)
September 12, 1682; “the widow of Edmund Bridges and her children were ordered out of Topsfield by the constable, September 12, 1682. She was Sarah Town, daughter of William, and had probably returned to Topsfield after the death of her husband which had occured a few months earlier. She soon became the second wife of Peter Cloyse and was accused of witchcraft but was not executed.” (History of Topsfield) November 28, 1682; Inventory of estate by Francis Nurse, John How. (History of Framingham)

Edmund married Sarah Towne on 11 Jan 1659 in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of William Towne and Joanna Blessing) was born on 11 Jan 1638 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died about 1703 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: LZSS-S4L
• _UID: E44A26AE026643229E6B2ABE61BA483C5FD7
• Baptism: 3 Sep 1648, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Salem Witch Trials notes: Accused in Apr 1692 during the Salem witch trials, she escaped conviction. Sarah's sister, Rebecca Nurse, 71, was accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams on March 19, 1692. She was visited by a local delegation on March 21, and arrested the next day. Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin examined Rebecca Nurse on March 24. March 27: Easter Sunday, which was not a special Sunday in the Puritan churches, saw Rev. Samuel Parris preaching on "dreadful witchcraft broke out here." He emphasized that the devil could not take the form of anyone innocent. Tituba, Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey were in prison. During the sermon, Sarah Cloyce, likely thinking of her sister Rebecca Nurse, left the meetinghouse and slammed the door. On April 3, Sarah Cloyce defended her sister Rebecca against charges of witchcraft -- and found herself accused the next day On April 8, she and Elizabeth Proctor were named in warrants and arrested. On April 10, the Sunday meeting at Salem Village was interrupted with incidents identified as caused by the specter of Sarah Cloyce. On April 11, Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor were examined by magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, Isaac Addington (secretary of Massachusetts), Major Samuel Appleton, James Russell, and Samuel Sewall were also present, as was the Rev. Nicholas Noyes, who gave the prayer. Rev. Samuel Parris took notes. Sarah Cloyce was accused in testimony by John Indian, Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, and Benjamin Gould. She shouted out that John Indian was a "grievous liar" and refused to confess. Among those who accused Sarah Cloyce was Mercy Lewis, whose paternal aunt Susanna Cloyce was Sarah's sister-in-law. Mercy Lewis took a less active role in accusing Sarah Cloyce than she did in accusing others including Sarah's sisterRebecca Nurse. That night, Sarah Cloyce, her sister Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, Dorcas Good, and John and Elizabeth Proctor were transferred to Boston prison. John Indian, Mary Walcott, and Abigail Williams claimed to be tormented by Sarah Cloyce even after her jailing. Mary Easty was arrested on April 21 and examined the next day. She was briefly set free in May but returned when the afflicted girls claimed to have seen her specter. A grand jury indicted Rebecca Nurse in early June; on June 30 the trial jury found her not guilty. The accusers and spectators protested loudly when that decision was announced. The court asked them to reconsider the verdict, and they found her guilty, discovering on reviewing the evidence that she had failed to answer one question put to her (perhaps because she was nearly deaf). She, too, was condemned to hang. Gov. Phips issued a reprieve but this was also met with protests and was rescinded. Rebecca Nurse was hanged, with Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sarah Wildes, on July 19.
Mary Easty's case was heard in September, and she was found guilty on September 9. Together, Sarah Cloyce and Mary Easty petitioned the court for a "fayre and equall hearing" of evidence for them as well as against them. They argued that they had no opportunity to defend themselves and were not allowed any counsel, and that spectral evidence was not dependable. Mary Easty also added a second petition with a plea was focused more on others than herself: "I petition your honors not for my own life, for I know I must die, and my appointed time is set .... if it be possible, that no more blood be shed." But Mary's plea was not in time; she was hanged with Martha Corey (whose husband Giles Corey had been pressed to death on September 19), Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott and Samuel Wardwell on September 22. Rev. Nicholas Noyes officiated at this last execution in the Salem witch trials, saying after the execution, "What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there." In December, a brother of Sarah Cloyce helped pay the bond to release William Hobbs from jail. Charges against Sarah Cloyce were dismissed by a grand jury on January 3, 1693. Her husband Peter had to pay the prison for her fees before she could be released. Sarah and Peter Cloyce moved after her release, first to Marlborough and then to Sudbury, both in Massachusetts. In 1706, when Ann Putman Jr. publicly confessed in church her contrition for her part in the accusations (saying that Satan had put her up to it), she pointed to the three Towne sisters: "And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing of Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters [including Sarah Cloyce], I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families...." In 1711, an act of the legislature reversed the attainders on many who had been convicted, but since Sarah Cloyce's case was eventually dismissed, she was not included in that act. Sarah Cloyce was the key character in the 1985 American Playhouse dramatization of her story in "Three Sovereigns for Sarah," starring Vanessa Redgrave as Sarah Cloyce in 1702, seeking justice for herself and her sisters. - http://womenshistory.about.com/od/salempeople/a/Sarah-Cloyce.htm

The Cloyes were members of the Salem Village congregation of Rev. Parrish. Like the Nurse family, the Cloyes were also displeased with issues revolving around the Parris ministry and by 1692 were also "absenting" themselves from Sabbath. After Sarah's arrest, she was examined and refused to confess. She was fitted with hand and leg irons and placed in Salem jail with her sister Rebecka. Later she was removed to a Boston prison, and then with her sister Mary to Ispwich, and them back to Salem again. Two weeks after Rebecka's execution, a charge of 20 pounds sterling was presented by the blacksmith "for making fouer payer of iron ffetters and two payers of hand Cuffs and putting them on to ye legs and hands of Goodwife Cloys."
Sarah's grandneice Rebecca Townes testified against her, just as she had testified against her great aunt Mary, and an indictment followed. Her husband Peter was truly devoted and toiled diligently for her release. Danvers church records note his devotion to her that summer: "Brother Cloys hard to be found at home being often with his wife in Prison in Ipswich for Witchcraft." Peter did the only intelligent thing as the shadow of the hangman's rope drew near in the new round of trials of January 1693. He broke Sarah out of jail and fled south.
According to the book "Framingham Historical Reflections,"Clayes was imprisoned in Ipswich and smuggled out along with friends who had come to visit her ... conveyed by night to Framingham." Certainly Peter had been petitioning for a recognizance for his wife and it always possible they simply skipped bail. However they managed Sarah's escape, it was deep in New England winter when they made their way southwest to Framingham, then known as Danforth Plantation, and marked in old records of the times as "the wilderness." This is full 40 miles as the crow flies, but they did not undertake such an unlikely journey on speculation. They knew somehow they had a safe (albeit cold) haven waiting at Danforth Plantation in the wilderness. The only cross-country roads in 1693 were the early bridal paths that followed the old Indian trails. The only such path going southwest toward Framingham wasthe Old Connecticut Path. This wound its way from Watertown southwesterly through the wilderness lands until eventually reaching the shores of the Connecticut River near Hartford. Peter knew Old Connecticult Path, having grown up in Watertown. It was the main path southwest. In fact, it was the only path southwest. He had probably walked the eastern end extensively as a young man.The Cloyes would have carefully picked their way to Boston by night, avoiding encounters. It is unlikely they would have been unable to manage this portion of the trek without assistance from friends who helped smuggle Sarah out of Ipswich jail. For one thing, Sarah wasn't well. Having reached Boston safely, they would have gone west to Watertown and picked up the trailhead of the Old Connecticut Path. The Cloyes traveled this path southwesterly abuot 10 miles, entering the eastern side of the new town of Sudbury (now Wayland), following the lower contour of Reeve's Hill, well above the icy wet river meadows, and then crossing the frozen Cochituate Brook at the ancient wading place. Shortly thereafter they would have entered what is now the northeast corner of Framingham, crossing the Sudbury River at an ancient fordway, and then preceding southwest, a five-mile journey as the crow flies from Wayland.
Refuge at Danforth Plantation. It's a strange thing, but Danforth Plantation where the Cloyes sought asylum was owned by one of the early Judges at the Salem Witch Trials. Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth had sat on the early Tribunal. But he had left the tribunal n May, everal months before the hangings began, harboring a secret disgust and ill-ease with the proceedings. In fact, Judge Sewall, a prominent withc trial judge, wrote in his diary that Danforth had done much to put an end "to the troubles under which the country groaned in 1692."
It may also be that Danforth's departure from the tribunal in May might have to do with the fact that he was Deputy Governor under Governor Bradstreet, and the Governorship changed hands to Sir William Phips on May 14, 1692. He may simply no longer have had the position or authority to sit on the tribunal. Judging by his later actions, this may have been a disastrous loss for the accused. Danforth had acquired at least 16,000 acres of land in Colonial government grants between 1660 and 1662. This was originally known as Danforth Farm or Plantation, and later renamed Framingham. In a 1999 newspaper article, Herring is quoted as saying he believes that Danforth was the secret "guardian angel" who helped the Cloyes, and more than a dozen other escaping Salem area families who were "all related by blood or marriage," to fine refuge on his Plantation. Danforth subsequently turned over almost 800 acres to Salem families seeking asylum and safety, including the Towne, Nurse, Bridges, Easty and Cloyes families. The new settlement quickly became known as Salem End Road. They came fearing for their lives, seeking a safe haven, and found it on Danforth's Plantation, living in safety on his land as a reparation for their treatment in Salem. The Cloyes' escape and deliberate journey to the Plantation, the subsequent steady arrival of Salem Witch Trial refugees and the awaiting farmland, all smacks of a shadowy hand moving behind th scenes, and a loose network of helpful friends. In short, there are glimmers of a primitive "underground railway" in operation, quietly moving Towne sisters and related families out of Salem Village to a more hospitable locale.
Danforth had been on the Tribunal through May, long enough to have observed the character of all three Towne sisters. Records show that the three sisters repeatedly behaved with dignity, piety, firmness and good character to such an extent that the magistrates hesitated repeatedly with their cases. ... The minister of Topsfield vouched for both Mary and Sarah, but to no avail. Sarah wrote elegant appeals that were ignored. It seemed the fates were blindly determined that they should die regardless of the laws of man and god. Many were rightfully impressed with the Towne sisters and deeply distressed with the proceedings. Danforth seems to have been one of those and afterwards made it his business to take in and see to the welfare and reparations of the surviving Towne sister's families, starting with Sarah (Towne) Cloyes herself. Ironically, in Arthur Miller's play The crucibloe, Danforth was unflatteringly portrayed as a "Black-robed paragon of Puritan rectitude." However it was that the Danforth haven became known to those fleeing the accusations and executions, a large boulder on Salem End Road was said to be the official landmark that signaled escaping families that they were on the Plantation and safe at last.
A Cold Winter in the Rocks: It is unknown exactly where the Cloyes spent that first bitter winter in Danforth Plantation. But local legend has always claimed it w was in a network of small boulder caves in a steep cliff face (Witch Cliffs) on the Framingham-Ashland line. These caves have always been called Witch Caves. I have explored these caves twice; once in 2001 and more recently in 2007. One thing I can assure above anything else is that these caves are small, cold, drafty, and hard. Little improvement over the stone cell of Salem Town Prison. Of course, I am sure they would have blocked the holes tight with snow, stuffed the place full of leaves, made spruce-bough beds, built a lean-to of logs in front of the entrance, and made a door flap with birch bark. That's pretty much what any outdoorsman would do faced with such a situatoin. Add a fire under the lean-to, and it's a slight much better, and warmer, than you might expect. Peter Cloyes had been an Indian Fighter in the 1675-76 King Philip's war and lived in Wells, Maine, and was likely a rough and tumble woodsman of necessity. I don't think he would have have much trouble turning the caves into a snug burrow for the winter.
Sarah was hardly in good health when she escaped Ipswich. She was 50 years old, and had spent nine months in various jails routinely shackled in irons, in unheated quarters, subsiding only on what her family was able to provide her. She emerged from jail that cold winter night a sick and fragile woman. She was very lucky to have survived the ensuing winter in the caves. Having survived the winter in the caves, the spring of 1693 brought new hope and a new start for the Cloyes. Danforth gave them permission to build a house on his land and that year they constructed a new house for themselves on Plantation property. Herring comments on the location, "There was the Cowasock Brook nerby and a relatively friendly Indian village. Just across what must've been a trail then (now Salem End Road), there's an enormous glacial boulder you can see today that probably served as a good landmark. This boulder is the one that escaping families looked for. ... The initial trickle of refugees intensified to a migration, and by 1700 when Peter signed the township petition for Framingham, at least 50 people related to the Towne sisters had re-settled from the Salem Village area to the Salem End Road district, with more than 800 acres given away to them by Danforth. Among the new arrivals included the families of Sarah's two sons from her first marriage, Caleb and Benjamin, Benjamin arriving in the spring of 1693, with Caleb following shortly thereafter. Rebecca's youngest son Benjamin Nurse also relocated with his family in 1693, as did Mary's son John Easty and his family a few years later.
The Towne family was also represented early in the migration. Lt. John Towne and his son Israel Towne both relocated their families by 1698 and built on Danforth-gifted land. Lt. John, one of Framingham's original selectmen, was the son of the Towne sister's brother. Needless to say, grandneice Rebecca (Towne) Knight did not join them in Salem End Road. The Nurses changed the spelling of their name to Nourse to distance themselves from Salem, and if you examine Framingham's Old Burying ground, you will find many Towne, Nourse, Bridges, Easty, and Cloyes names represented throughout the years. (One Cloyes, John, was struct down by lightning in 1777.) The Townes did not saty long in the area, but the other "witch" names became part of the founding fabric and ongoing life of the town, and descendants still live there. The earliest existing grave marker left of the original emigres is that of Benjamin Bridges, who died in 1723. This marker, a rough field stone with the crudely cut epitaph, reads, "When he served his generation, by the will of God he fell asleep." ...
Three Sovereigns for Sarah: After the court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved, and all the witchcraft cases cycled through by May of 1693, the processes of petitioning for compensation and overturning the earlier verdicts began. At the fore of this effort was Mary's husband, Isaac Easty. It took almost 20 years, but on October 17, 1710, the General Court passed an act that, "the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and delcared to be null and void." Further, on December 17, 1711, Governor Dudley issued a warrant awarding Isaac 20 pounds sterling in compensation for the injustice of the 1692 verdict against Mary. Mary's sister Sarah received 3 gold Sovereigns, each worth 1/4 of a pound. Sarah retrieved them herself, in her first and only return to Salem. - http://www.boudillion.com/witchcaves/witchcaves.htm:

"Sarah was the fourth child of William Towne and Joanna Blessing of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England and Topsfield, Massachusetts. She was their first born in New England, on January 11, 1638, in Salem, Massachusetts, and baptised there on September 3, 1648, along with some siblings. Later, the family moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts, where Sarah married, on January 11, 1659/60, Edmund Bridges, Jr., the son of Edmund Bridges and his wife, Elizabeth. Edmund was born about 1637. Sarah and Edmund had three children in Topsfield by 1667, then moved to Salem, Massachusetts, before 1669, where they had two more children, including Hannah. Edmund died about 1682 in Salem. After the death of Edmund, Sarah married Peter Cloyes of Salem Village, and apparently had 2 children, Benoni, baptised September 2, 1683, and Hepzibah, who married February 3, 1708, Ebenezer Harrington. In 1692, Sarah, along with her sisters Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, were accused in the Salem Witch trials. Rebecca and Mary were hanged, but Sarah, who had also been condemned, escaped from the jail in Ipswich. In the spring of 1693, members of the Towne, Bridges, Barton, Cloyes and Elliott families moved away from Salem, no doubt because of the witch trials, and settled in the new community of Framingham, Massachusetts, where Sarah died about 1703. Information for this biography from the privately published book, The Bartons, by Ray Barton Jr.; NEHGR, v. 84, 'The Bartons of Oxford, Massachusetts'; New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey; Genealogical Dictionary of New England, by Savage; Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts (1933), by Blodgett & Jewett, pg 42; the vital records of Ipswich, Topsfield, Salem and Framingham, Massachusetts." - Ken Smith (findagrave.com)

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• _UID: B1601A69150A4ABAAA71183D79CDE1D22050
• Civil: Apr 1690, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; was made a Freeman

John married Elizabeth. was born in 1660 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died in 1729 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _UID: 1EB98824662648FDA0EFE9D58E263D2ABC90

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• _FSFTID: MYJM-Y96
• _UID: B2556CDAAF8F4BF0BF2711C77DA9661E2EF7

Henry married Abigail Flint on 4 Mar 1689 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Abigail (daughter of Thomas Flint and Hannah Moulton) was born on 27 Jun 1668 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 28 Feb 1758 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: 414L-XMN
• _UID: 5746C64969274EAA970F25398F7A4EE372F7

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• _FSFTID: LK72-TLZ
• _UID: AE4FF2D0C32D4A92BA489D1DDC8F940E54C0

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On 15 October 1650 at a General Court held at Georgianna Edward Barton sued Phillip Gorrell in an action for a seven pound debt. The action was withdrawn. He served in 1650 at Portsmouth as a trial juryman and in 1651 was brought to court for beating his wife. He received additional grants of land at Portsmouth in 1652 and 1653 and served as a grand juryman in 1656 and as a coroner's juryman in 1657, the same year in which he took the oath of fidelity at Exeter, NH to the Massachussetts Bay government. At the town meeting of March 20, 1656 James Johnson, William Seavey and Anthony Bracket were directed to settle a land dispute between Edward and Nicholas Row. In June of 1656, at Portsmouth, Susannah Trimmings, wife of Oliver Trimmings of Little Harbor, complained that she had been bewitched by Jane Walford, wife of Thomas Walford, formerly the first settler of Charlestown and among the witnesses was Eliza Barton, Edward's wife, who testified to Susannah's unusual physical appearance. The Walfords earlier had sued Nicholas and Elizabeth Roe for slander in calling Jane a witch and they won in court. At the town meetings between 1658 and 1666 he was among those who subscribed to the minister's salary in the amount of 15 shillings.
In July of 1661 Edward presented at Court in a section referring to the Isles of Shoals for swearing commonly by Jesus Christ. The witnesses were William Scadlocke and Morgan Howell. Barton was fined 10 shillings and 5 shillings for officers fees.
On 18 July 1665 in court at Wells, Edward sued Stephen Batson for "not performing his bond according to his award to the value of 40 pounds." The court found for Edward and Batson forfitted the bond. He was one of the appraisers of the estate of Morgan Howell at Cape Porpoise in June of 1666 and swore to its accuracy 1 April 1667. On 18 July 1665 in court at Wells, Edward sued Stephen Batson for "not performing his bond according to his award to the value of 40 pounds." The court found for Edward and Batson forfitted the bond. He was one of the appraisers of the estate of Morgan Howell at Cape Porpoise in June of 1666 and swore to its accuracy 1 April 1667.
Probably about 1666 Edward moved from Portsmouth to Cape Porpoise, ME and settled on a farm of about 300 acres which he bought from Anthony Littlefield. The move may have been occasioned by Edward being a loyalist to MA. The Maine farm was situated on Montague's Neck bounded by the sea, Cape Porpoise River and Montegue River. Indian troubles forced Edward, his wife and family to abandon the Cape Porpoise farm for safe haven at Salem where he purchased a house and land which later were exchanged for a house and lands at Marblehead. His estate with the house, lands and marsh at Cape Porpoise and other property was valued at £81 in an oath sworn by the widow 16 June 1671. The inventory was done by Griffin Montegue and John Davies
In 1671 Elizabeth the widow of Edward, along with Griffin Montegue, gave bonds for £200 as security for Edward's estate which was valued at £81 with the house, lands and marsh valued at £40. Edward had his will probated 4 Jul 1671 in York, York, ME. Edward is the founder of our branch of the Barton family in America. His origins are unknown at this writing but he was established at Portsmouth, NH by 1646 when in August of that year Reynold Fernald was granted four acres of marsh at the great house at Little Harbor, on the Piscataqua and his grant mentions that he was bounded on the east by goodman Barton. On January 13th 1673 widow Barton was among the commoners at Marblehead who met and appointed men to protect the town commons from cattle over grazing. -http://home.comcast.net/~pwbarton1/barton/i0000097.htm#i97

Edward married Elizabeth in 1639 in Marblehead, Essex, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was born about 1617; died after 1673 in Cape Porpoise, York, Maine. [Group Sheet]

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• _UID: 2CF7209B57774D13A4B79BCEDCECC8339376

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• Occupation: black smith
• _FSFTID: L52F-QB9
• _UID: E76CBA0B18C04CA0901B7C7AB5CBCC80494B
• Arrival: 1635, Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts; from London aboard the James
• Civil: 7 Sep 1639, Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts; was made a Freeman

Notes:

He was an immigrant from England aboard the Ship "James" in July, 1636, giving his age as 23 years old. He settled at Lynn, Massachusetts and followed his trade as a Blacksmith. He was admitted a freeman September 7, 1639 and was one of the proprietors of the town. He removed to Rowley and was living there in 1641 when he had a suit of law at Ipswitch. he was also a proprietor of Rowley. The general court, May 26, 1647 ordered him to answer at the Essex court for "neglect to further public service by delaying to shoe Mr. Symond's horse when he was about to come to the General Court". That was before the days of labor unions and strikes in America. he deposed in 1658 that he was aged about 48 years of age. he removed to Ipswich and was a subscriber to the Denison fundin 1648. he was a commoner of Ipswich as early 1664 and a voter in 1679. He administered on the estate of of his wife's third son, John Littlehale, Nov. 25, 1675. He removed finally to Topsfield (Ipswich), where he died Jan 13, 1684/5. His will is dated Jan 6, 1684/5 and proved Mar 31, 1685. The inventory amounted to 235 pounds. - Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Vol.2, William Richard Cutter

Edmund married Elizabeth about 1636 in Essex Co., Massachusetts. Elizabeth was born about 1612; died on 31 Dec 1664 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: LYQQ-M47
• _UID: 4FFF1594177F42459DC37C274BEB14CB2CDD

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• _FSFTID: 9MTJ-YTD
• _UID: AD3196639F784BD4928CD9F71076EEEB5A9E
• Birth: Bef 18 Mar 1599, Great Yarmouth, England
• Baptism: 18 Mar 1599, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
• Arrival: 1635, Salem, Massachusetts
• Arrival: Abt 1635; in Massachusetts from Great Yarmouth, England
• Death: 24 Jun 1673

Notes:

Although there is no known record of immigration, it is believed by Savage and Virkus that the family came to America in 1635. The first record of William Towne in America appears in the town book of Salem some time between 1635 and 1640 (undated) when he received a land grant "a littleneck of Land right over against his house on the other side of the River" in the area called North Fields. In 1651, he purchased land in the neighboring town of Topsfield from William Paine, which consisted of forty acres, part plow land, meadow, and unplowed land. He sold his Salem property to Henry Bullock in 1652 and bought additional land at Topsfield in 1656. He was made a commoner in Topsfield in 1664. When his son Joseph married Phebe Perkins, he deeded 2/3 of his property to Joseph. - www.findagrave.com
Estate of William Towne of Topsfield. Essex Probate Docket # 27923 Administration granted April 24, 1673 to Johana Towne on the estate of Wm Towne, her late husband, and she was to bring in an inventory to the next Ipswich court.
Petition for settlement of a small estate left the undersigned by their father, who died ten years ago leaving no will, but left his estate in the hands of their mother who was appointed admininistratrix and the estate remained unsettled until her death, and now they desire that the following division may be allowed: the land to be divided equally to his three sons, Edmund, Jacob, and Joseph and the moveables equally to the three daughters, Rebecka, Mary and Sarah; also the three brothers to pay all debts now due and what charges shall after arise in settlement of the estate to be equally borne by all six. Dated Jan 17, 1682. Signed by Mary (her mark) Towne relict of Edmond, Jacob Towne, Joseph (his mark) Towne, Francis (his mark) Nurs with the consent of Rebeka, Mary (her mark) Esty, formerly Mary Towne, Sarah (her mark) Bridges. Witness: John How John Pritchet Allowed by the court at Ipswich April 10, 1683. Source: Ipswich Deeds, vol 4, page 515
William Towne was cited by the Archbishop of Norwich County, England, for failing to appear for communion and was noted as a "Separatist" [not a member of the Church of England]. His family was Puritan. William Towne came to America on the "Rose" from Great Yarmouth. They left Ipswich and arrived in June 1637. William came to Massachusetts with his wife and children. He was a basketmaker and a gardener.
On March 20, 1647, William Towne and son-in-law Francis Nurse asked for a grant of land. By 1651, William Towne bought land in Topsfield, from William Paine of Ipswich, and William Howard. This property bordered Topsfield and Salem and was known as "Salem Farms" and "Salem Village." The Towne children were all brought up in a house which was located at the intersection of South Main Street and Salem Street. This house was built in 1651.
In 1681, Jacob Towne testified, at age 50, that the house of William Towne, was bought some 30 years previous and William paid for it with wheat. Remember barter was the way most people obtained property at this time. When his father moved to Topsfield, he was said to have sold the twenty acre lot to Nathaniel Felton.
In 1682 Jacob Towne acted as an witness to end the bitter dispute between Salem and Topsfield over the boundary line. This event is considered to have birthed repercussions that resulted in the witchcraft accusations in 1692.
William died June 24, 1673. His estate was NOT immediately proved since he left no will. William was a basketmaker and gardener. Joanna administered his estate, which was not divided between his heirs until her own death in 1682 in Topsfield. Joanna was buried at Pine Hill Cemetary in Topsfield, Essex County, MA. - unknown
``Goodman William Towne was a man of character, substance and social position, but about a quarter of a century after his death three of his daughters were brought under the condemnation of a fanatical court on the charge of witchcraft, and two of them suffered death on the gallows while the third barely escaped a like fate at the hands of an unthinking and illadvised judicial body. The name of Rebecca Nourse, who suffered the death of a martyr, will endure with time through centuries yet to come, and they who are her defendants, and descendants of her martyr sisters, will look back with pleasure to the fact that she and they are their ancestors, for they were good, innocent and unoffending women, the victims of fanaticism as unjust in its accusations as it was cruel and barbarous in meting out its punishments. This unfortunate episode in the history of the Towne family brought no disgrace upon the name, and there lives not one descendant of either Rebecca Towne Nourse or her sister Mary Towne Esty who cannot feel a just pride in the noble characters of those martyr mothers.´´ - William Richard Cutter

William married Joanna Blessing on 25 Apr 1620 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. Joanna (daughter of John Blyssynge and Joan Preaste) was born in 1595 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England; died in 1682 in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts; was buried in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: LZ2Y-D2J
• _UID: E79A7362023240D39DA553B7EA9CCEA2DF8D
• Baptism: 22 Jun 1595, Caister Parish, Norfolk, England

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Buried:
Pine Grove Cemetery

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• _UID: D1ACF0D181F94F1B9FE4D295FF30B6D3C47D
• Arrival: Abt 1640, Massachusetts Colony; from Wales, England

Notes:

Thomas Flint, the emigrant ancestor, came to America, as tradition reports, from Wales, in Great Britain. The first mention made of him in the town records of Salem is in 1650; but there is reason to believe that he came to this country much earlier; and there is also some evidence to show that he had a mother here as early as 1642. He was among the first settlers of Salem Village, now South Danvers. The spot in the wilderness which h~ selected for his home is situated on the Salem and North Reading road, about six miles from the present Court House in Salem, and five miles from the town of North Reading, and near Phelps’s mill and brook. He acquired his land by purchase. The first deed to him on record, “ containing one hundred and fifty acres of meadow and pasture land, and lying within the bounds of Salem,” he bought Sept. 18, 1664, of John Pickering. The price paid for this land is not mentioned; but quite a good opinion can be formed of its value, from the fact that John Pickering, three years before, gave Mr. John Higginson thirteen pounds for the same land. The second lot recorded, containing fifty acres, he purchased 1st January, 1662, of Robert Goodall, for which he paid twenty pounds sterling. It is described· as situated in Salem, and as being “near upon a square,” and bounded southerly by land of Henry Phelps, westerly by Phelps’s Brook, and northerly and easterly by land of said Goodall.1 This farm of the old patriarch has always remained in the possession of his descendants. It is now occupied by the heirs of Elijah Flint, and may truly be called the old homestead, it having been in the family more than two hundred years. He died April 15, 1663. His wife’s name was Ann. They had Six children. - A Genealogical Register of the Decendants of Thomas Flint of Salem
"Thomas Flint, the immigrant ancestor, was born about 1602-14, probably in En-gland, and died 15 April 1663 in Salem Village, now South Danvers, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first mention made of Thomas Flint is in the town records of Salem. Under the date March __, 1637-8, the colonial records of Salem give a list of the names of persons who had signified their desire to become freemen, and the name of Thomas Flint is on this list.
Thomas had a mother here as early as 1642. She lived with his brother, William, and it would seem she was a very strong force in William's life, either through her strong religious faith and moral force, or through control of the family purse-strings. She cared for William's motherless children after their arrival in America, at least until his second marriage to Alice Williams. In February 1642-3, Goodman William Flint was presented to court for not living with his wife. He answered that his mother was not willing to let his wife come to America with him, The court then acquitted him of this charge. Thomas Flint was among the first settlers of Salem Village. The area was then a wildreness and the spot which he selected for his home was situated on the Salem and North Reading road about six miles from the site of the Salem courthouse (where it was located in 1860).... This farm remained in the family until about 1860 when it was sold to Mr. Carten by the heirs of Elijah Flint, one of the descendants of Thomas.... "The 1860 genealogy stated that the old cemetery on the Flint farm lies on a pine-shaded knoll about a mile east of the present house,and that it was poorly enclosed by a stone wall. The original house burned after 1860. The graves were badly over-grown with brush and new growth. William L. Flint in his By the Name of Flint tells the story of an old Irishman who used to care for the graves for free when there were no Flints in the neighborhood to mourn the dead. When asked why he did this, he said, 'They are men's graves and someone should care for them.' Somewhere in that forgotten spot lie the bones of Thomas and his wife Ann.
"Thoman Flint was a Puritan and kept their stern code. He testified against Hannah Phelps, a Quaker, and his evidence helped convicther in a charge of heresy. His brother William paid her fine to keep her fron being publicly flogged (a fate which William's wife had suffered for the crime of fornication before marriage with said William Flint). "Thomas married a lady named Ann, but to date no one has found a record of her last name or of her parents. He married Ann sometime before 1645 and she died in the summer of 1668. After the death of Thomas in 1663 she married John Southwick in Salem Village. She had no children by John Southwick." - The Family Histories of Charles Edwin Flint, Jr. and Bessie Hazel Lee, Rosalie V. M. Flint & Kathleen A. B. Hedrick, Flint, 1981
Estate of Thomas Flint of Salem - Essex Probate Docket # None Dated April 1, 1663. This present writing doth declare that I, Thomas Flint being on my sick bed, do leave this as my Last will and Testament. To my wife I give fifty acres of emproved land and my meadow and housing. To my son Thomas I give thirty acres of upland on my farm next to Mr. Gardner's as he sees fit, not entrenching on his mother's meadow or broken land and also ten pounds of corn or cattle all which he is to enjoy at age: And also after my wive's decease to enjoy two thirds of my farms I bought of which was Mr. Higginson's & Goodman Goodall and in case his mother doth marry then that he shall enjoy the one half of the improved lands and meadow and housing. To my sons George and John, I give all my land I bought beyond the river, to enjoy equally divided to them when they are at age or at their mother's decease if she die before, it is my will that if George dies without seed, then my son John to enjoy his part and if John die without seed then my son George to enjoy his part. To my son Joseph I give the other third part of my land which was Mr. Higginson's and Goodman Goodalls. It is provided that my son Joseph enjoy it at his mother's decease and if my son Thomas died without seed unmarried dthen his part to fall to my son Joseph and contrarywise if my son Joseph dies without seed then his part to fall to Thomas and so to pass from one to another if he that enjoys it die without issue. To my daughter Elizabeth I give thirty pounds at marriage in corn and cattle and I do appoint my son Thomas when he enjoys his two thirds as abovesaid then to pay to my daughter Elizabaeth and in case the farm falls into Joseph's hand before he is of age or he is to pay her the said ten pounds. I do appoint my wife whole executor, I entreate my two friends Mr. William Browne Sr. and Goodman Moulton to be my overseers, to see this my will and testament performed, and this I leave at my last will and testament. In witness whereof I set my hand: T.F. Witness: Robert Moulton Joseph Pores, marke Job Swinerton, Jr.

Thomas married Ann about 1644 in Massachusetts. and died. [Group Sheet]

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• _UID: 238C6C85141F422AB8729622FE60A5365A04

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• _FSFTID: LHLP-X44
• _UID: 0E7AE936A59F4570904842B5F9400E01B703

Joseph married Sarah Ingersoll on 13 Nov 1651 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts. Sarah (daughter of Richard Ingersoll and Agnes Ann Langley) was born before 1 Jul 1627 in Sutton, Bedfordshire, England; died on 25 Oct 1719 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts,. [Group Sheet]

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• _FSFTID: KNS6-DPH
• _UID: 22113CBC2BE54362AA1408FBE49C400A6BBF
• Baptism: 1 Jul 1627, Sutton, Bedfordshire, England

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• _FSFTID: LRFD-DR2
• _UID: 12F55DC11D424E06B3C674D709C2F35FB96E
• Birth: Abt 1645, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts

Thomas married Hannah Moulton on 22 May 1666 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. Hannah (daughter of Robert Moulton and Abigail Goode) was born about 1646 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 20 Mar 1673 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• _FSFTID: LVCF-Q1N
• _UID: 244EC4D5BF984A7E884770D6A682DF024806