| Framingham
derived its name, first known as Danforth's Farm,
from Thomas Danforth of England. He was the son
of Nicholas who had been a native of Framlingham,
Suffolk County, England which is about 90 miles
northeast of London and about 12 miles from the
shore of the North Sea. In the late 1880's, this
town was comprised of about 3,000 inhabitants and
its chief features were the great church and the
extensive ruins of a once magnificent castle
whose walls were eight feet thick and forty-four
feet high. While
living in Framlingham, Nicholas Danforth married
at about age thirty and was the father of seven
children, one named Mary died in infancy. He was
a protestor of the bigotry and oppression of the
English rulers, and though not of gentry or
considered wealthy, was a respected and trusted
man who had served as trustee of the town and
land properties. His signature bore that of
"yeoman" indicating therein that he was
not gentry but a freeholder of land.
In 1634 he escaped
England and its persecutors, coming to what was
then called "New Towne" and arrived in
Boston on September 18th on the
"Griffin" - a ship from London which
weighed 300 tons and carried two hundred
passengers including his brother-in-law Rev.
Zechariah Symmes (who later became minister of
Charlestown) and his six children, three sons and
three daughters ranging in age from six to
sixteen. His wife, Elizabeth Symmes had perished
nearly five years earlier in Aspall, Suffolk,
England in 1629.
In this new
country, Nicholas worked as a surveyor, and set
out the boundaries for Concord, Roxbury, Dedham,
and Dorchester. He served as a deputy to the
General Court and thus settled in New Towne which
had been renamed by the same court, as Cambridge.
He was admitted freeman on March 3, 1635-6 and
was an original member of the church of
Cambridge, had been chosen representative in 1636
and 1637, and had made the first appropriation
for the establishment of Harvard College.
Nicholas died in April 1638, only three and a
half years after his arrival.
Children of
Nicholas & Elizabeth Danforth
- Elizabeth -
born 3 Aug 1619 in Framlingham, England;
married Andrew Belcher, Sr. of Cambridge
on 1 Oct 1639. They were the grandparents
of Governor Jonathan Belcher and owners
of the Blue Anchor Tavern in Cambridge.
- Mary - born 3
may 1621 in Framlingham, England and
married Thomas Parrish of Cambridge in
1639.
- Anne - born 3
Sep 1622 in Framlingham, England; married
Matthew Bridge of Cambridge on 19 Jan
1642/43 and was great-grandmother of the
second pastor of the church in
Framingham, Rev. Matthew Bridge.
- Thomas - born
20 Nov 1623 in Framlingham, England;
married Mary Withington of Dorchester on
23 Feb 1643/44. They were the parents of
Sarah - born 16 Apr 1645; died 29 Oct
same year; Sarah - born 11 Nov 1646;
married Rev. Joseph Whiting; Mary - born
28 Jul 1650 married (1) Solomon Phipps of
Charlestown; md (2) Thomas Brown of
Sudbury; Samuel - born 5 Oct 1652;
graduated at Harvard University in 1671
and died of small-pox in London on 22 Dec
1676; Thomas - born 16 Dec 1654; probably
killed in the great Narraganset Swamp
fight on 19 Dec 1675; Jonathan - born 27
Feb 1657; died within a few weeks;
Jonathan - born 10 Feb 1659; graduated
from Harvard University in 1679 and died
unmarried at Cambridge on 13 Nov 1682;
Joseph - born 18 Sep 1661 ; died 2 Oct
1663; Benjamin - born 20 May 1663; died
23 Aug 1663; Elizabeth - born 11 Jan
1665; married Francis Foxcroft of
Cambridge on 3 Oct 1682; and Bethia -
baptized 16 June 1667; died the following
year.
- Lydia - born
24 May 1625 in Framlingham, England and
married William Beaman on 9 Dec 1643 in
Sabybrook, CT and died there on 16 Aug
1686.
- Samuel - born
in 17 Oct 1627 in Framlingham, England,
graduated at Harvard University in 1643.
He became pastor of the church in Roxbury
from 1650-1674 and was a colleague with
the apostle Eliot. He married Mary Wilson
on 5 Nov 1651 and died in Roxbury on 19
Nov 1674. His wife Mary died on 13 Sep
1713.
- Jonathan -
born 28 Feb 1627/28 in Framlingham and
settled in Billerica where he died on 7
Sep 1712.
These young
children of Nicholas, now orphaned, were left
upon their own, the death of their mother nine
years earlier, preparing them somewhat for the
duties that were required of them. Elizabeth, the
oldest and in her twentieth year, married Andrew
Belcher of Sudbury eighteen months after her
father had died. They kept a "house of
publique entertainment" which was to become
the famous Blue Anchor Tavern, located at the
corner of what was later called Brighton and
Mount Auburn Streets. After the death of her
husband in 1673, Elizabeth kept the tavern
license which was then passed to her son Andrew.
- Her husband's family was among the wealthy and
liberal merchants of Boston who were staunch
loyalists and held many offices under the Crown,
one being the royal governor, first of
Massachusetts and afterward of New Jersey.
Another, in the next generation, was
lieutenant-governor and chief-justice of Nova
Scotia whom it was said "was associated with
John Adams and Josiah Quincy as counsel for the
British soldiers indicted for murder in the
Boston Massacre."
Anna, next eldest
daughter, became the care giver of the younger
children and married at age twenty-four. Her
husband was Matthew Bridge, the son of John who
was a leading citizen. This marriage lasted
fifty-six years, until the death of her husband.
Lydia, the
youngest daughter, married at the age of
nineteen. Her husband was William Beaman of
Saybrook, Connecticut. She returned with him and
there she remained the rest of her life, dying at
the age of sixty-two. Her name appears as grantee
of lands bought from Joshua, the son of Uncas, an
Indian sachem.
Jonathan, the
youngest of the family, became surveyor and was
known as "Father of Billerica" where he
had emigrated from Cambridge in about 1654 along
with the first settlers, and built what may have
been the first house in the Indian village os
Sawshin. His skill as a surveyor had given him
continual employment and his survey descriptions
are said to have filled 200 pages of land grants,
penned in very clear and handsome handwriting -
the contents of which have been preserved in the
state archives of New Hampshire.
He married
Elizabeth Poulter in Boston on 22 Nov 1654 by
whom he had eleven children. After her death on 7
Oct 1689, he married Esther Champney Converse of
Woburn, on the 17th of November 1690. - The
children of Jonathan and his first with Elizabeth
were: Mary who married John Parker (probably a
descendant of Joshua Parker of Groton who was son
of Captain James Parker who had married Abigail,
the youngest daughter of William Shattuck and
widow of Jonathan Morse - son of Joseph and
Hester); Elizabeth who married Simon Haywood;
Jonathan; John who died shortly after birth; John
who also died as an infant; Lydia who married
Edward Wright; Samuel who married Hannah Crosby;
Anna who married Oliver Whiting; Thomas,
Nicholas; and Sarah who married William French.
Samuel, two years
older than Jonathan, had been dedicated to the
ministry and was placed in the care of Rev.
Shepard. He afterwards completed his courses in
college and graduated in 1643. In 1650 he was
ordained colleague to John Eliot, the revered
pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, whose
"labors for the red men occupied much of his
time, and procured for him the title of 'Apostle
to the Indians.,"
He also gave much
attention to the study of astronomy and published
a series of almanacs, and a particular account of
the comet of 1664. Samuel married Mary Wilson,
daughter of the first pastor of the Old Church in
Boston and they were the parents of twelve
children. He died on 19 Nov 1674 and his remains
were laid in Governor Dudley's tomb.
Thomas, the eldest
son of Nicholas, married Mary Withington within
the same year his sister Anna had married. This
same year, 1643, he was admitted freeman and in
1650 was treasurer of Harvard College, an office
he held for nineteen years. For two terms he was
a representative from Cambridge to the General
Court and in 1659 was chosen councillor or
assistant of the Executive to which he was
elected for nearly twenty years. In 1679 up until
the dissolution of the colonial government, he
was deputy governor, and Commissioner of United
Colonies between 1668 and 1679. He also held the
position of President of the District of Maine
between 1680 and 1686 and also 1689 to 1692 and
was a member of Council of Safety in 1689,
Justice of Superior Court from 1692 to 1699 and
had been from 1662 to 1679 commissioner from
Massachusetts to the New England Confederacy
which negotiated treaties with the Indians.
On the 16th of
October of 1660, Thomas was granted 250 acres of
land which joined the Sudbury town line on the
west side of Sudbury river and was adjacent to
the land already occupied by John Stone who had,
with other residents of Watertown, made a journey
to the Connecticut river to erect a few huts at
Pyquag (Wethersfield) and remained for the
winter. Stone purchased of the Indians eleven
acres of land in 1656 and a grant of 50 acres was
added thereto, laid out in May of 1658. He also
purchased the Corlett farm of two hundred acres
in December of 1661 and purchased of Mr.
Danforth, twenty acres of meadow.
Other land records
for Thomas indicate that on the 7th of May 1662,
he was granted 200 acres of land adjoining lands
he "hath between Conecticot path and
Marlbrorough" which was laid out
"adjoining to and west of the former grant
of 250 acres.
Having supplied
the Commissioners to York with ten pounds money
he was granted this same day, "so much land
lying between Whipsufferage an Connecticut path,
adjoining to his farm as old Goodman Rice and
Goodman How of Marlborow shall judge the said ten
pounds to be worth, and they improwered to bound
the same to him."
In addition to
these lands, the General Court allowed and
approved additional lands on October 7th of 1662,
a grant that covered most of the Framingham
territory on the westerly side of Sudbury river,
and between the river and Southborough line.
These lands amounted to no less than 15,500 acres
within the limits of the old Framingham
plantation.
The following is a
portion of the deed given to Danforth by the
Indians, it states in part: "Indians all of
Natick in the County of Middlesex and
Massachusetts Colony in New England, for and in
consideration of the sum of forty shillings in
current money of ye New England, to them in hand
payd at and before ensealing and delivery of
these presents by Thomas Danforth Esqr of
Cambridge in the above Colony and County, have
granted bargained and sold, aliened Enfeoffed and
confirmed and by these presents do grant bargaine
and sell, alien enfeoffe and confirme unto him
the Said Thomas Danforth, all that tract of land
to him the said Danforth belonging and
appertayning, Scittuate, lying and being on the
Southerly or South Esterly Side of Sudbury River,
counting by Estimation Eight hundred acres more
or less, and was the grant of the Genral Court of
five hundred acres part therof to Richard Russell
Esqr deceased, and three hundred acres to
Marshall Richard Wayte, late of Boston deceased,
to him the said Thomas Danforth, to have and to
hold the above granted tract of land and every
part and partes therof, together with all the
priviledges and appartenains therunto belinging
or in any wise appertayning to him the said
Thomas Danforth, his yeyrs and assignes forever
to his and their only proper use and behoof ...
" and was
signed the first of October 1684.
After he had
matured and made known his plans for supervising
of his land by long leases, settlers began to
locate on the west side of Farm Pond, and on the
west side of Sudbury river and the Whitneys and
Mellens who had come from Watertown, settled on
Danforth's land in about 1687 or 1688.
Intending to
personally supervise the settlements on his
Framingham farm, Danforth found responsible
parties to homestead and cultivate his lands, and
in turn, he allowed them to occupy these
homesteads rent-free for a few years, so that
settlers began coming along rapidly and by the
time Danforth died on the 5th of November 1699,
there were about 70 families located on this
land.
After Danforth's
death, the differences between the town of
Sherborn and the inhabitants of the plantation of
Framingham (which was described as "all that
tract of land formerly granted to Thomas
Danforth") was ordered and dated June 25,
1700, that "said plantation be from
henceforth a township" and was signed by
Bellmont, the Royal Provincial Governor.
Among some of the
settlers were those families of Danvers, then
called Salem Village, some of which were
tragically accused of witchcraft. Rebecca (Town)
Nurse, the wife of Francis and mother of Benjamin
and her sister Sarah (Town) Clayes, wife of Peter, were among
those accused. The jury, on two occasions, failed
to convict Rebecca, but upon the third trial, the
third court came to the conclusion that she had
not fully answered their questions and convicted
her. It was later learned that due to deafness,
she had been unable to full comprehend the
questions. She was driven in a cart with four
others to Gallows Hill and hanged on the 19th of
July in 1692. One sister, Mary (Town) Estey, was
also hanged on charges of being a witch, and her
sister Sarah, had been tried and found guilty and
was committed to a jail in Ipswich where her
husband was allowed to visit her. Finding, or
having been given means to escape, Sarah was
concealed by her friends and eventually the
uproar of the witchcraft and trials began to
subside, this due largely in part to Governor
Danforth who was instrumental in stopping the
convictions by the court.
Rebecca, mentioned
above, was the daughter of William Town and wife
of Francis who died on 22 Nov 1695 at the age of
77, surviving his wife, who had been an honored
member of the old church in Salem at the time she
was hanged. They were the parents of eight
children: John; Samuel; Rebecca who married
Thomas Preston; Mary who married John Tarbell;
Francis who was born 3 Feb 1661 and had settled
in Reading; Benjamin who was born 26 Jan 1666;
Michael; and a daughter who married William
Russell.
The son Benjamin
had emigrated from Framingham in 1693 and had
located on Salem Plain. His second wife was
Elizabeth (Sawtel/Sautle) Morse, widow of Joseph
Morse of Watertown whom he married on 16 Feb
1713-14. They were the parents of Elizabeth,
Joseph, Abigail, Zechariah, Samuel, Jonathan. -
Sarah Town, sister of Rebecca and wife of Peter
Clayes, had first married Edmund Bridges of
Salem, and had five children. It was in the
spring of 1692, ten years after her marriage to
Peter, that she had been accused of witchcraft
and was imprisoned, escaping the day before her
execution. She later died in 1703, the same year
the town of Framingham hired school master Deacon
Joshua Hemenway.
James Clayes, son
of Peter, was the father of Mary Clayes who was
born 12 October 1712 and had married Deacon
Jonathan Morse who was the son of Joseph but had
been brought up by his step-father Benjamin
Nurse. This Jonathan was the father of Nathan
Morse who had married Elizabeth Stevens. He was a
Revolutionary soldier, and the grandfather of
Marianne Nichols Morse who had married William
Henry Danforth in Concord, Essex County, Vermont
in 1843.
The line of the
Danforths of Framingham to the Morse family of
the same, is suspected to tie one to the other
from either Samuel the minister of Roxbury or
Jonathan the pioneer of Billerica, as these two
Danforths are the only lines having surviving
male descendants of Nicholas. Although, unlikely,
there was a William Danforth who had immigrated
in 1670 and settled in Newbury. This line, in my
opinion, does not evoke the similar ties that the
Danforth and Morse lines show in the Framingham
and Watertown areas, and I suspect is not the
ancestral line of William H. Danforth.
The challenge,
herein, is connecting the early Danforth and
Morse Massachusetts settlers to these families of
same name who removed to New Hampshire. The
Danforths, as far as can be ascertained, lived in
Massachusetts until about 1743 when the
descendants moved from Billerica to Hollis
(Hillsborough County, NH) which was then West
Dunstable. But when it was David Danforth, son of
Jonathan and Hannah (Leeman/Lehman) found their
way to Fort Covington, Franklin County, New York
is not known. He had married Paulina Richmond,
the daughter of Jonathan and Amarilles (Chambers)
in that town in 1806 and this couple is the
presumed parents of William H. Danforth.
Of the Morse
family, it is known that Deacon Jonathan Morse
was brought up by his step-father Benjamin Nurse
of Framingham, and that his son Nathan Danforth
was born in Framingham in 1750 and served in the
Revolutionary War from Grafton, Worcester County,
Massachusetts. After his service, Nathan moved to
Alstead, Cheshire County, New Hampshire where
they remained there until at least 1818 or
perhaps 1820, when he removed to Canadice,
Ontario County, New York.
Nathan Morse, the
son of Nathan above, though born in Framingham in
1777, had by the year 1800 moved to Concord,
Essex County, Vermont where he married Polly
Fisher, she having been born in Alstead, New
Hampshire and was the descendant of the early
settlers in Wrentham and Dedham, Massachusetts.
In conclusion,
Nathan and Polly's daughter Marianne Nichols
Morse, who was born in 1824, was the third
great-granddaughter of Anna Whitney who had been
born in Watertown in 1660 - the very same year
Thomas Danforth had been granted the 250 acres of
land lying adjacent to John Stone's land.
John Stone's
sister, Ann, had married Lewis Jones and were
parents of Lydia Jones who was the wife of
Jonathan Whitney - thus the parents of Anna
Whitney who had married Cornelius Fisher and
became then, the 3rd great grandmother of
Marianne (Morse), wife of William Henry Danforth.
In looking back
upon the history of the early settlers of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, it is apparent
that the Danforth and Morse lines are intertwined
with these early emigrants who had left their
oppressive rulers of England and then
courageously fought to save their land and
preserve the liberty they had sought in Colonial
America. They broke the primitive grounds, they
tilled and chartered new governments. They forged
ahead and left behind an ancestry worth looking
back on, and the story of a small Massachusetts
town once known as Danforth's Farm.
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