IN THE SAFE ZONE

William Simonds hath left a wife and she is weakly and crazey and aged... ~ from Woburn probate records

a more secure life

The wars that took place in the second half of the seventeenth century affected every town in New England in some way. But, as in real estate, location, location, location meant everything. The towns along the coast and the well-established towns just inland fared far better than the frontier towns on the fringes of the colony. In the safe zone, the main affect of the war was econonic. With no real threat of attack, life went on pretty much as usual in spite of the chaos in other parts of the Colony. Three of the safer towns where our relatives lived were Lynn, Reading and Woburn. However, all three of these families had problems of their own not really connected to the wars waging around them, proving that life in colonial America could be very hard indeed.

In the map below, you can see the three more protected towns compared to the outlying frontier town of Chelmsford.

Purple = Chelmsford Orange = Woburn Blue = Reading Red = Lynn

in Lynn

Daniel Eaton (8GGF) was born in Watertown in 1638, son of our immigrant grandfather William Eaton (9GGF). The family moved to Lynn in 1644 and that is where Daniel spent the rest of his life. Daniel married Mary (last name unknown) (8GGM) in 1664 and in 1665 the first of their nine children was born.

Very little is known about Daniel. From a town record we know that he owned a mill: "...the town will pay 10s towards the purchase of land on the Lynn side of the river at Daniel Eaton's Mill to the better accommodations of the country road to Salem..."

Daniel's daughter, our grandmother Mary Eaton (7GGM), married John Cole, Jr. (7GGF) in 1691. Only a year later, both John's step-mother and his uncle's wife would be accused of witchcraft.

John Cole Jr.'s stepmother was Sarah Aslett Cole and Grandpa Daniel Eaton got a mention at her witchcraft trial. It seems that Sarah Cole was something of a scold, which just might have had something to do with the accusations against her. And it also seems that her husband, John Cole, Sr. (8GGF), preferred to be away from her as much as possible, spending many hours visiting his pal Daniel Eaton. Fellow townsperson, Isaac Wellman, testified at Sarah's trial that "I have often heard the Wife of Jno Cole of Linn, wish harm to her Husband, & one time being both at my house having some words, s'd Sarah Cole wished her Husband might Dye if ever he came within Daniell Eattons Doore any more." Grandpa John Cole, Sr. and his wife Sarah's full story will be told in a future post.

Daniel Eaton died in 1712 at age 75. Mary Eaton died in 1716 at about age 74.

in Reading

Our grandfather, George Davis (10GGF), was a sea captain and had written his will right before setting out on a voyage to Cape Fear, off the coast of North Carolina in 1664. His will tells a great deal about his family and, in particular, about the fortunes of his son, Joseph Davis (9GGF).

Early records for the Davis family in America are fuzzy so the details needed to be pieced together. We discovered that Grandpa George had two wives. He was married very briefly to the Widow Audley (10GGM). Our only source for this first marriage are records from the Essex County Court. From court files of October 1642 we find this: "George Davis (presented from Lynn) admonished for unseemly conduct toward his first wife's daughter. Wit: Edmund Audley (9U) & wife. * Mary Audley (9A), who testified."

Note: Edmund Audley was the Widow Audley's son and her daughter, Mary Audley, was the object of George's "unseemly conduct."

While there is no further information on Grandpa George's "unseemly conduct," we know that by the time these charges were filed, the Widow Audley had died and George had married his second wife, Sarah Clarke.

How did all this affect the fortunes of his son, our Grandpa Joseph? A careful reading of George's will leads me to believe that Joseph was a product of George's marriage to the Widow Audley and not Sarah Clarke. Sadly for Joseph, colonial men tended to favor children from their second marriage over their first.

It also appears from George's will that Joseph was with his father on the voyage to Cape Fear. Towards the end of the will we find this bequest: "To my sone, Joseph, I give all that I have now in the shipp, and that we cary with us to Cape Feare, with the weavers loome; but in Case it does Miscary before it come ther, and he come agen to new England my executors out of the whole estate shall pay him (Joseph) ten pound farther..." Happily, both George and Joseph made it back from that voyage.

It's apparent that Joseph's entire inheritance from his father was what they carried on the ship, a loom and (if he made it back to New England) £10. George's six children with Sarah Clarke made out considerably better:

"My whole estate, that I leave in New England, I do bestow uppon my wife and Children, and doe make my wife executrix, and my son, Benjamin, executor Joyntly. My estate to be divided into five parts, two parts I give to my wife and my son Benjamine equaly, the other three parts I give to my five daus to be divided equaly..."

Grandpa George Davis died in 1667, five years after making his will with no revisions added. Sadly, his son Benjamin did not live long enought to enjoy the considerable property he inherited. He died two years later in 1669, leaving his entire estate to his mother, Sarah Clarke

left destitute

Regardless of which wife was actually Joseph's mother, being left out of the property bequest by his father most certainly played a part in future events for Joseph and his family.

Sometime before 1669 Joseph married Hannah (last name unknown) (9GGM). We can assume that Joseph made his living as a weaver since his father left the loom to him, but the trade evidently provided only a subsistence living. Over the next six years Joseph and Hannah had six children, two of them twins.

Joseph died in 1676, three months after his youngest child was born. He was only 36 years of age and his death turned into disaster for the family. That same year, two of Joseph and Hannah's sons also died. That left Hannah with four children, 7, 5, 3 and baby Thomas (9U). Only three years later, hard times had fallen on Grandma Hannah. In the Middlesex County Court records for 1679 we find a petition from the selectmen for power "to dispose of Hanah Davise, a widdow woman with minor children, she not haveing whearewith to mainetaine her selfe but her hard labor much less to mainetaine her children...she haveing bene by us warned to put her children out and free us of this truble but yet the matter is neglected..."

The petition from Reading was acknowledged by the Court. Records show that in 1679 "The select men of Redding are ordered to dispose of the children of Widow Davis as the law directs."

I could find no records as to who took Hannah's children but, generally, family would be the first option. There is every reason to believe that Joseph's step-mother, Sarah Clarke Davis, took in Joseph's youngest son Joshua (8U). Sarah certainly considered him to be her grandchild. In her will, she left small bequests to her daughters but the bulk of her estate went to her "grandson Joshua."

We have no way of knowing who raised Joseph and Hannah's oldest son, our grandfather Joseph Davis, Jr. (8GGF). Since Joseph, Sr. had six step-brothers and sisters, most probably one of them took young Joseph Jr. to raise. Grandpa Joseph Davis, Jr. eventually moved to Billerica and led a productive life there.

The story of the Davis family doesn't end here. After George's death, his wife Sarah Clarke Davis married a man named Nicholas Rist and, in 1692, Sarah Rist would be accused of witchcraft. Read all about it in a future post.

in Woburn

Before our grandmother Judith Phipps Symonds (9GGM) married our grandfather William Symonds (9GGF), she married a man named James Hayward. In 1635, Grandma Judith came to America as an indentured servant on the ship "Planter." Judith's master, Nicholas Davis, brought another servant with him named James Hayward. About five years later, just about the time their indentures would have been completed, Judith married James Hayward. The couple had one child, daughter Rebecca (8A), born in 1642. James Hayward died when the child was still a toddler. Judith then married William Symonds (9GGF) in 1644 and William raised the child as his own.

Fast forward seventeen years. In 1661, our aunt Rebecca Hayward was nineteen years old. Sometime that year, she married a man named Tobiah Cole. Also that same year, Rebecca and Tobiah had a child Rebecca, Jr. (1C9X), born 21 Nov 1661. It's very possible that Rebecca, Sr. died in childbirth or shortly afterwards. I can find no death record for her but she had already died sometime before August of 1664 when Tobiah Cole's will was probated.

Most proably after the death of his wife, Tobiah moved to Saybrook, CT, leaving his daughter Rebecca with her grandparents, William and Judith Symonds. Three years later, Tobiah died leaving a will recorded in Saybrook. His bequests are quite interesting. He apparently had no other family than Rebecca as he left all his worldly goods to friends. Also, I'm intrigued with his practice of leaving days of work to his buddies. Tobiah mentions his daughter only at the end of the will and it's quite possible that he had forgotten her name.

"I give to John Comstock one Axe and 2 days work; to Henry Champion 2 days work and one payre of Woosted Stockings; to Henry Waller 5 Shillings; to Reinold Marvin 2 days work; to Richard Smith 1 days work; to Wolstone Brokeway 1 days work. I do allso give my Cloth Suite and Drawers that be at Wolstone Brockwayes to John Borden. Also my Sarge Suite and Drawers and my Hatt I do by this Will give to Peter Laye, and also my Woosted stockings and Showes I give to Peter Laye. To Abigail Laye, my Chest which is in John Prentice House. My Corne in Timothy Brooks lot, my 2 Steers & my Hogs, & my land on Black Hall Playne which I bought of William Backhus, all these do I leave with Mr. Laye as his owne. I make John Laye my Executor. My Will is that my Child and its friends shall rest satisfied with that which I have formerly done for it and them in bringing it up."

afterward

We wrote extensively about the Symonds family in our "Woburn" post. We also wrote about the rape trial of William and Judith Symond's son Benjamin (8U) in our "Not So Petty Crimes" post.

Evidently life had been quite difficult for Grandma Judith. Grandpa William Symond's died in 1672. Included in his probate records is the following: "William Simonds hath left a wife and she is weakly and crazey and aged..." The trial of her son Benjamin a few year later couldn't have helped matters.

In addition to his five sons and seven daughters, William remembered the step-granddaughter he had taken to raise in his will. Rebecca was ten when William died and he left her a bequest of land. I can find no further records Rebecca so we don't know the fate of the child who was orphaned at so young an age and raised by her grandparents.