IPSWICH

There is also Okes, Pines, Walnuts and other wood to make this place an excellent habitation, being a good and safe harbor. ~ Captain John Smith

the founding of Ipswich

As thousands of colonists flocked to the Massachusetts Bay area from England, crowded conditions in existing towns made it imperative that distant areas be considered as possible home sites.

As it happened, in 1614 Captain John Smith had led an exploration party from Virginia all the way up to Massachusetts Bay. He wrote a favorable report about an area named Agawam after the indigenous people who lived there. John Winthrop, Jr., son of the Governor of Massachusetts Bay, had read Smith’s account and in March 1633 led a group of 11 men to that area, about 30 miles north of Boston. One of the men selected to be part of this group was our grandfather Thomas Howlett (9GGF).

Winthrop appealed to the Court in Boston for permission to settle there. The courts decision was: “It is ordered that noe pson w’soever shall goe to plant or inhabitt att Aggawam, without leave from the court, except those that are already gone, viz…” Listed in this decree were John Winthrop, Jr., Thomas Howlett (9GGF) and eight other men. By April, 1633, the town was settled and in 1634 they changed the name to Ipswich.

Winter In Ipswich by Sandy Spring

The Agawam

Interestingly, the relations between the settlers of Ipswich and the Agawam people living there were friendly and mutually beneficial for many years. Their leader Masconomet, was not a chief. He was the hereditary head of a migratory band of Native Americans living only part time in that area. Though he didn't officially own the land, he and John Winthrop, Jr. made a deal and Masconomet deeded the land to Winthrop for 20 pounds. He later testified to that fact in a court of law.

The original deed signed by Masconomet

Note: The vast majority of towns and villages that sprang up in the newly formed colonies were built on land purchased from the native people living there. It was important to the settlers to have a signed deed for the lands they were developing.

The Agawam band gave up their native language and assimilated themselves into the English settlements. In addition, records show that Sgt. Thomas Howlett (9GGF) and ten others were "voted compensation for their 3 days acting in defense of the Agawam Indians against their tribal enemies.”

Note: Thomas Howlett was sergeant of the Ipswich Military Defense Co. and later became its ensign.

Note: "Praying Indian" became a term used to describe Native Americans of New England who converted to Christianity whether voluntarily or involuntarily. The villages the Christian Natives Americans lived in were called praying towns. It appears that the Agawam converted voluntarily.

our earliest Ipswich families

Thomas Howlett (9GGF), one of the founding fathers of Ipswich, was made a freeman in 1633 and granted 2 acres of meadow and 2 acres of marshland. It’s possible that he married Alice French (9GGM) in 1635, because that year he was given a house in town and 50 more acres of meadow and marsh land. Their first child was born in 1637. Thomas was a carpenter by trade, but proved more valuable as a surveyor. With so many new immigrants coming to New England, he was kept in almost continual work settling new town boundaries.

Thomas and Alice had seven children. Alice died in 1666 at age 56. In 1668 Thomas married widow Rebecca Smith. Grandpa Thomas Howlett died in 1678 at age 72.

Thomas French, Jr. (10U) was Alice’s French Howlett's brother. He was made a freeman in 1632 while still living in Boston. He moved to Ipswich with his wife, Mary and 2 daughters ca. 1635. We know he made his living as a tailor from this passage: "This wittnesseth that I Thomas French of Ipswich tailor, for five pounds, have sould unto George Varnham ten acres..."

Thomas French, Jr. and Mary had seven children.

Note: Thomas French's daughter Mary (1C10x) married a man named Robert Smith. Five generations later Joseph Smith (6C5x), founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church), was born to this family in New York. He will figure prominently in our family history later on.

Note: The Marsh land granted to Thomas Howlett was in an area now known as The Great Marsh Area of Critical Environmental Concern. ACEC designations highlight areas where special management attention is needed to protect important historical, cultural, and scenic values, or fish and wildlife or other natural resources. Google it!

Ipswich Salt Marsh by Tatiana Roulin

Red = Thomas Howlett Orange = Thomas French The Marsh is directly above Ipswich proper

the rest of the French clan

The distance between Massachusetts Bay and England is approximately 3,200 miles, but that didn’t mean that the colonists were out of touch with their homeland. Ships bringing settlers to Massachusetts and taking them back to England also brought mail from loved ones. Much ancestry information has been gleaned from letters that survived from that time.

When Thomas French Jr. (10U) and his sister Alice (9GGM) came to America ca. 1631, they left in England their parents and six siblings. From correspondence between John Winthrop, Jr. (founder of Ipswich and son of Governor Winthrop) and his brother-in-law, Thomas Goslin, we discover that two of Thomas and Alice's sisters came to America in 1634 by means of indentured servitude. An excerpt from the letter reads: “…she is one of the goodman Frenches daughters of Assington. I have sent 2 of them, one for your father (John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay) and the other for you. Your father must take his choice. The eldest must serve for 3 yeeres, & the youngest 4…pray let them be dealt as well with all as any of the same quality…” The two girls sent were our aunts Dorcas, age 20 (10A) and Susan, age 18 (10A)

Note: Many colonists could not afford the cost of passage for themselves and their families to make a start in the new land. Sometimes, wealthy patrons, like the Winthrops, paid passage for future servants or, in many cases, their expenses were paid by colonizing agencies like the Virginia or Massachusetts Bay Companies. In return, indentured servants agreed to work as contract laborers for four to seven years. They would then be free at the end of their term. Many were eventually able to secure land and set up homesteads. In New England, no social stigma was attached to a family that had its beginning in America under this semi-bondage.

In another letter to John Winthrop, Jr, John Bluett, the steward (manager) of the Winthrop Estate in Edwardstone, asked John Winthrop Jr. to give his regards to his "scholar" our uncle Thomas French (10U). We can surmise from this excerpt that the Frenches and the Winthrops were well acquainted and that Thomas French, Jr. was an educated man. The French family lived in Assington, Suffolk, which is about 5 miles from Edwardstone where the Winthrops lived.

Although the exact year is not known, the rest of the French clan made the journey to America sometime after November 1635 when daughter Margaret (10A) died at Assington at age 16. Below is the church, St. Edmunds, that the Frenches attended and where Margaret was buried.

Ca. 1636, Thomas French, Sr. (10GGF) and his wife Susan Riddlesdale French (10GGM) made the journey to Massachusetts with their remaining three children, Anne (10A), John (10U) and Mary (10A). Thomas, Sr. was not long in America. He died before 5 Nov 1639 when administration of his estate was granted to his wife, Susan.

The entire French family, except for Dorcas, settled in Ipswich. After serving her time in the Winthrop home, Aunt Dorcas married and lived in Boston where she was a member of the Church in good standing.

As the Howlett's and Frenches were establishing their lives in Ipswich, our grandfather Daniel Clarke (9GGF), hailing from London, arrived sometime in 1634. His family also intertwined with the Howlett's with the marriage of his daughter, Sarah (8GGM) to Thomas Howlett's (10GGF) son Samuel (9GGF). More about Grandpa Daniel next.