TWELFTH GENERATION

4064. * John Whetcombe ^(3002)(3003) was born about 1588 in England.^{(3004) (3005)} *Whitcomb Family : "September 24, 1662, and died aged about seventy-four years." He died on SEP 24 1662 in Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA.⁽³⁰⁰⁶⁾ *Rix : gives "Sept 24, 1672" He is my 9th great grandfather. 9th great grandfather

*Jeffrey Families: "It is believed that when the surname Whitcomb was adopted by the progenitors of the family, they were living among the white cliffs and valleys of counties of Somerset and Dorset, England. The name is found in New England as early as 1633 when John1 Whitcomb, b. England, about 1588, appeared in Dorchester, Mass., and in 1635 joined the Puritan church. In 1640 he removed to Scituate, where he already owned land; but the spirit of the pioneer was strong in him and in 1654 he removed to Lancaster, Mass., where two years earlier, when the town was laid out, he had invested money. With his son, John, Jr., he was one of the founders of the town."

*Whitcomb family : p.25 : "John Whitcomb (or Whetcombe as the name was spelled) is believed to have been the first of the Whitcomb family to settle permanently in America. He was longe supposed to be the son of Symon Whetcombe who was one of the origional patentees of the old Massachusetts Colony as one of the six Englishmen of gentle birth to whome was made the famous Grant of Land, under charter of the king. But the publication of the will of Symon's father, John of Sherbourne (Dorset, England), shows this belief to have been erroneous." [see source for more]
p.28: "...John appeared in Dorchester as early as 1633. He may have come earlier; perhaps he was one of the voyagers with the good Winthrop on the ship Arbella in 1630. It would be interesting to find complete lists of passengers in boats destined for Dorchester in 1630-1633, but if such lists exist they are not yet found."
"John became a church member in 1635; this and the birth of his yougest son josiah, which occurred in 1638, are the only events of his family life recorded during the years he spent in Dorchester. Later evidence shows him to have been well-to-do for the times, a man of intelligence and enterprise much given to buying and selling land. His hand writing was strong and full of individuality and it is obvious that he was a man of academical education."
"In 1640 he removed to Scituate where he owned land, one piece being a farm of 108 acres near the mouth of the North river on the Marshfield side, and after 1646 when he became one of the Conihasset Partners [see footnote] he owned the lands which through that transaction became his share."
"During his residence in Scituate he was made constable, then one of the most remumerative as well as one of the most important offices in the gift of the townsmen. To act as sheriff he must have been a freeman in Scituate, but the only mention of his being such is in the Records of Plymouth Colony where the entry is, under date June 3, 1652, 'Freeman admitted to this court and sworn, John Whetcombe and John Willis.' Marvin says, 'Any man could become a freeman -- he had only to be a Christian.' Again, The Memorial History of Boston (Vol. I.) says, 'Church members and church members only, exercised the franchise.' Therefore as he became a church member in 1635 he may have been a voter and have taken part in town affairs from that date."
"In 1644, he sold his farm on North River to one Thomas Hicks and another disposal of land in Scituate was in 1654 when he conveyed half his share in the Conihasset lands to John Williams, Jr., giving the other half to his son Robert. During this year, 1654, he removed to Lancaster where two years before, when the town was platted, he had invested some money. Not all his children accompanied him to Lancaster..." [see p.30]
"John Whitcomb and his son John, Jr., have been named as among the founders of the town of Lancaster. John's signature appears as 'one of the pioneer settlers in the Nashaway Plantation which afterward became Lancaster' according to Mr. Nourse's Early Records, and, though he was not among those who took up a residence in 1652, he was among those who had a right by the conditions of the covenant to come later. He was also one of the signers to the petition for a township, -- 'We being now about twentie familyes, ect.' --[Nourse's Early Records, p.37.]"
"The first inhabitants of Lancaster were apportioned land according to their 'estate.' that is, 'so much land to every £100 of estate and accordingly for greater or less estate.' In these divisions John Whitcomb' estate in large in proportion to the rest, in fact among the largest. From the old entries reprinted in 'The Early Records' the following quaint descriptions are copied."
" 'The lands of John Whetcombe senor.' " [see p.30-31 for discription an p.30 for map]
p.31-33 covers quarrel with his neighbor, Steven Gates [see copy]
p.33 : "The products of John's tillage in Lancaster up to 1662 were corn, tobacco and flax with roots and garden herbs and vegetables. The farm probably yielded maple sugar also and the inventory shows that there was an orchard. Log houses were the rule in the time of John and a description of one would probably give the features of all. They were usually of one story and an attic. Small openings in the log walls served as windows; these were protected at night by shutters made of hewn planks; sometimes glass was simulated by the use of skins scraped to semi-transparancy or by the skins of bladders. Later the luxury of small pains of greenish glass was introduced. Doors were made of hewn plank battened together and the latch-string was universal. A huge chimney in the middle of the house provided a fireplace which served the purposes of heating and cookery and in Lancaster each family ground its own corn until to the general rejoicing, a miller with his wheel and millstones arrived."
p.34 : "After some thirty years of this primative life in the Colony, eight of it spent in Lancaster, the aged Puritan John Whetcombe, met 'the inevitable hour,' September 24, 1662, and died aged about seventy-four years. He was laid with other forefathers of the hamlet in 'the old burying ground,' but today no fragment of even a battered stone marks his resting place."
"He was married in England to Frances _____, family name unknown, and in England his older children were born. He had certainly five sons, perhaps six, and three daughters. There are no records of births, but in wills and other documents the children's names have been found. He died interstate and the widow and children mutually agreed upon a division of property which was approved by the court." [see p.35-37] He was married to * Frances in England. ^(3007)(3008)

4065. * Frances ⁽³⁰⁰⁹⁾ died on MAY 17 1671 in Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA. ⁽³⁰¹⁰⁾ She is my 9th great grandmother. 9th great grandmother

*Whitcomb Family : "He was married in England to Frances _____, family name unknown, and in England his older children were born." ... "He died interstate and the widow and children mutually agreed upon a division of property which was approved by the court." [see p.35-37] " Francis made her will May 12, 1671, and died in Lancaster May 17, 1671. She named her youngest daughter, Mary, as executrix." Children were:

i. Catherine Whitcomb⁽³⁰¹¹⁾ is my 8th great grandaunt. 8th great grandaunt
ii. James Whitcomb⁽³⁰¹²⁾ died on NOV 23 1686 in Boston, MA.⁽³⁰¹³⁾ He is my 8th great granduncle. 8th great granduncle

*Whitcomb Family : James Whitcomb, "appeared in Boston as early as 1662. Whether he was, as is indicated above, a son of Immigrant John is a question over which authorities differ in opinion. It has been suggested that he might have been a descendant of Richard Whitcomb ... " [see p.40]
"On the other hand several conscientious chroniclers plase him among the children of John where it would seem he might very properly be left at least until it can be shown that he belongs elsewhere. But instead of being a younger son of John the evidence shows him to have been the oldest..."
"Instead, he was a freeman in 1669 and a husband and father before any on of his brothers, Robert excepted, was married, and a personage of much social and oficial importance then and thereafter."
p.41 - footnote : "Whetcombe, James, merchant, freeman 1669, on of the commisson named by the king to administer the oath in 1679 to the new Governor of Mass., having borne a part in the funeral ceremonies of Leverette (Gov.) in March of that year. (Savage's Gen. Dict., Vol.4, p.504.)"
"Though a loyalist, he was, like John and John's sons in Lancaster, a dissenter or Puritan and amember of the Old South Church... [see footnote - p.41]"
"Mr. Samuel Witcomb, Jr., in his manuscript letters, says, James owned [see footnote] 'a little farm' in Bostom where the Tremont House now stands and also five acres opposite the Common." "...he spent his life in Boston and that his death occurred there November 23, 1686."....
"No dates of James marriage to either wife are yet found, nor is the date of the death of Rebecca known, but Judge Sewall in his Diary mentions the funeral of Elizabeth (Aug. 20, 1712), in a way that shows the ceremonial to have been condusted with much state."

iii. John Whitcomb Jr.⁽³⁰¹⁴⁾ died on APR 7 1683 in Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA.⁽³⁰¹⁵⁾ *Whitcomb Family : He drowned in the Penacook River. [see p.47] He is my 8th great granduncle. He was born in England. ⁽³⁰¹⁶⁾ 8th great granduncle

*Whitcomb Family : He may have been the eldest child. [rather than James]
"John Senior and John Junior appear to have been very closely associated in business and in the family life. Their signatures are found together in several places; -- once as early as 1652 when they signed the town covenant of Lancaster; they appear together again in 1653 among those who had the right to become residents of Lancaster within a year, and in 1654-5 they are both among the 'twentie familyes' named in the partition for a township drawn and signed by John Senior."
"John Jr., seems to have been, in an intimate and special way, the trusted son of his parents and the good stedy-going, helpful, elder brother to the homestead of younger children. He remained unmarried until his brothers and sisters were settled in homes of their own, and for nine years of his mother's widowhood one may think of him as her faithful adviser, and helper."
"His real estate in lancaster consisted of a 'home lot'containing twenty acres which adjoined his father's homestead and an 'entervail' lot of fifteen and one-half acres. following the death of John Sr., in 1662, the real estate was divided and the father's home lot was assigned to John and Jonathan jointly, while the home lot of John Jr., was allotted to the two youngest sons, Job and Josiah." [see p.30-30 for map and lot info]

[see p.47-48 for his probate]
iv. Robert Whitcomb⁽³⁰¹⁷⁾ is my 8th great granduncle. 8th great granduncle

*Whitcomb Family : "When, in 1654, John removed his family from Scituate, Mass., to Lancaster, Mass., Robert remained behind, perhaps in the family of his oldest sister Catherine Ellmes, who was settled there, she having been married ten years before. From the fact that Robert remained and was given real estate, it is reasonable to suppose him to have been one of the older sons. It is recorded by several authorities that in this year, 1654, Robert received from his father a half interest in the Conihasset lands and it is probable that this was recognized as his share of his father's estate, as in the division of the property after his father's death he was awarded no part, nor was he mentioned in the will of his mother."
"Events proved that Robert, like his brother-in-law, Rhodolphus Ellmes, and his neighbors, Gen. Cudworth and family, sympathized with the Quakers and possibly his inclinations led him to remain with these friends rather than to accompany his Puritan relatives to Lancaster. It is certain that six years later he was married by a Quaker preacher in Rhode Island to Mary (born July 23, 1637), daughter of Gen. James Cudworth. But this marriage being pronounced unlawfull he was remarried by a Puritan preacher, March 9, 1660."
"Robert Whitcombe was the first to settle at 'Beechwood' in the Beeches, the family place at Scituate wher several generations of Whitcombes have resided."
"He seems to have died interstate and there is no record of his children except in the will of Gen. James Cudworth, who left legacies to four grandchildren. Another child, Elizabeth, is named elsewhere. Dates of the death of Robert and his wife are unknown at this writing (1903)."

footnote : "Robert Whitcombe and his brother-in-law Rhodolphus Elmes were frequently in trouble for attending Quaker meetings - (see Plymouth colony Records: Vol. III.)"
v. Jonathan Whitcomb⁽³⁰¹⁸⁾ died in FEB 1690.⁽³⁰¹⁹⁾ He is my 8th great granduncle. 8th great granduncle

*Whitcomb Family : "...He removed from Scituate to Lancaster, Mass., with his father in 1654, and seems to have exercised the rights of a freeman thereafter. He with others, signed a petition to governor and council for aid after the Indian raid of 1675-6, and, excepting a tempory absence from the town because of its devastation by the savages, he spent the remainder of his life in Lancaster."
"From the death of his father in 1662 he shared the home lot with his brother John until the death of the latter in 1683, when it became wholly his. That he acquired real estate besides that in Lancaster is shown by the inventory." [see p.186]

"...Some of the children were born away from Lancaster during a period when the town was temporarily abandoned after the Indian raid."
vi. Abigail Whitcomb⁽³⁰²⁰⁾ is my 8th great grandaunt. 8th great grandaunt

*Whitcomb Family : "perhaps died unmarried; no record."
vii. Job Whitcomb⁽³⁰²¹⁾ died in 1683. ⁽³⁰²²⁾ He is my 8th great granduncle. 8th great granduncle

*Whitcomb Family : "Job was doubtless a suveyor, as Marvin's history of Lancaster (p.17) records: 'In surveying the boundaries of Lancaster, Job Whitcomb to carry the chain.' It is stated also elsewhere that Job Whitcomb was instructed by the town of Lancaster in 1659 'to assist with Goodman Prescott, young Job Farrar to carry the chain,' ect."
"The town of Lancaster during the winter of 1675-6 was ascene of alarm, violence and death because of the depredations of the savages, and on February 10, of this season, the house of the pastor, Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, was attacked, whereupon he left the town and later settlet in Wethersfield, Conn. Lancaster being considered untenable, troops were sent up with carts and the people and all their movable property were conveyed to the Eastern towns, where they found homes with their friends. the Indians immediately descended upon the luckless town and 'burned every house except the house of God and one other.' (See Marvin's Lancaster, pp. 11-112.)"
"Job Whitcomb's name was signed with those of his brothers, John and Johathan, to a petition to governor and council for aid after this raid; but he did not return to Lancaster at the re-settlement of the town, but followed the Rev. Joseph Rowlandson to Wethersfield, and settled there, probably subsequent to 1678, as the birth of his daughter, Jemima, is recorded in Cambridge in that year. According to Probate Court files he owned land in Wethersfield in 1680 on a proposed six-rod highway to Rocky Hill, then a part of Wethersfield."
2032 viii. * Josiah Whitcomb.
ix. Mary Whitcomb⁽³⁰²³⁾ is my 8th great grandaunt. 8th great grandaunt