This family traces its Americn ancestry from Thomas Safford

Thomas Safford, the immigrant, to Ipswich, Massachusetts Colony, through a long line prominent in the formation and advancement of the growth of the American colonies, and on the record of each the verdict : "He did what he could for the betterment of the human kind with which he was brought in contact" is true and just. From the English ancestral records we find that the surname occurs frequently in the early part of the thirteenth century and appears to be of Saxon derivation. The name appears in the inscription engraved on the seal of an ancient town on the English coast, and reads as follows : "Sigillum Burgensium de Saffordia." It also appears among the lists of immigrants who came from England to the Colony of Virginia between 1613 and 1623.

(I) Thomas Safford was born in Suffolk county. England, and first appeared in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony, prior to 1630. He owned land in Ipswich before April 6, 1641 ; was made a freeman by the general court of Massachusetts Bay Colony, December 19, 1648. He died February 20, 1667, having before his death made provision for the certain support of his widow and unmarried daughters, directing that a fixed amount should be paid to them annually out of the first proceeds from the product of his farm of sixty acres and this annuity to be continued during the life of his widow and her dependent daughters. His widow, Elizabeth, died March 4, 1671. in Ipswich. Their children were: 1. Joseph, born in Ipswich in 1631. 2. John, see forward, and the three daughters for whom provision was made in his will were : Elizabeth, Mary and Abigail.

(II) John, second son of Thomas and Elizabeth Safford, was born in Ipswich in 1633. He evidently lived on the farm of his father and was engaged in its cultivation probably in partnership with his brother Joseph, and before his death made provision similar to that made by his father, by which his wife, Sarah, and daughter were placed beyond danger of want in any contingency, by an annuity to be paid out of the product of the farm, and his wife joined him in the conveyance of the sixty-acre farm on such condition, the deed being signed by them September 5, 1665. He and his wife Sarah had children: 1. Sarah, born July 14, 1664, died July 21, 1712. 2. Margaret, February 28, 1666. 3. Rebecca, August 30, 1667. 4. Mary, February 26, 1669. 5. Elizabeth, February 27, 1671. 6. Thomas, see forward. 7. Joseph, March 12, 1675.

(III) Thomas (2), eldest son and sixth child of John and Sarah Safford, was born in Ipswich, October 16. 1672. He lived on the farm cultivated by his ancestors and added

to it by the purchase of six or more parcels of land. He married (first) October 7, 1698, Elinor Setchwell, who died December 22,

1724. Their children were: 1. Sarah, born March 29, 1701, died July 10, 1702. 2. Thomas, see forward. 3. Joseph, March, 1704-05. 4. Daniel, 1706. 5. John. 6. Nathan, March 16, 1712. 7. James, June 27, 1714. 8. Stephen, March 10, 1716-17. 9. Titus, baptized February 24, 1722-23, died April 11, 1729. Thomas Safford married (second) June 29, 1725, Sarah Scott, of Rowley, Massachusetts, who bore him no children.

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Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts : 1662-1667
By Massachusetts. County Court (Essex County), George Francis Dow, Massachusetts. Inferior Court (Essex County)
Published by Essex Institute, 1913

Thomas Safourd dying intestate, his son Joseph Saffourd, was appointed administrator, and the estate was to be ordered according to a writing delivered into court and to the testimonies of John Addams and Nicolas Wallis and said Joseph's own acknowledgement in court for his mother to have two cows.

Deed, dated Feb. 20,1666, Thomas Safford of Ipswich, husbandman, for love and affection and his care of said Thomas, to son Joseph of Ipswich, his farm where he dwells, 60 acres, with house, barn, etc., the land bounded on the south by the highway to Mr. Saltonstall's farm, on the southwest by the thick woods, on the northwest by the river and on the northeast by land of Robert Wallis, on condition that said Thomas during his natural life reserve for himself one-half the benefit of the farm to be paid him yearly, or if his wife outlived him, she was to be paid 6li. yearly. Said Joseph was also to maintain Thomas' eldest daughter Elizabeth during her life unless she thought well otherwise to dispose of herself, and if so, she was to have 20li., also to pay his daughter Mary, 5li., daughter Abigail!, 15li. within three years after his decease. Presented at Ipswich court, Mar. 26, 1667, by Joseph Safford, with testimony of John Addams and Nicolas Wallis.

John Addams and Nicolas Wallis deposed that they were present when Thomas Safford was on his death bed and he said he would have the writing stand, that he had given his daughter Killum five pounds and that he hoped she would not be troubled because he had done something formerly for her, but he would give her one of his heifers, also his daughter Abie a heifer with a calf six weeks old. Sworn in court.

Inventory of the estate of Thomas Safford, taken Mar. 19,1666-7,

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