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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

TROUBLE IN PARADISE PT3

Before I write about the outcome of the petitions in support of Robert Pike,
I thought I'd try to track down the names of the men who signed from the
other four towns. I was partially successful, finding those from two in Google
ebooks. Again, the names of my ancestors are in red.

The first list is from  a footnote in The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement, in 1640 ... by George Wingate Chase, p 80 :

"The following are the names of the Haverhill signers, a s copied from the original
petition in the State Archives: —
Haverlll.
Richard Littlehale
Robbert Eres
James Davis
John Heth
George Corlis
Joseph Peaslv
Job Clements
Bartholomew Heth
Tristram Coffin
Abraham Tvlar
Edw. Clarke
Peter Coffin
John Williams
James Davis Jr
John Davis
John Williams
Theophilus Sachwell
 John Eaton
Thomas Davis
Tho: Whittier
Thomas Eaton
Joh: Eyres
Tho: Dow
Robert Clements
James ffiske
Joseph Davis
Thomas Belfore
Dan: Hendrick
Peter Ayre
John Webster
Stephen Kent
Samuel Gild
George Brown
Richard Singitarv
Robbert Swan
Ephraim Davis
Henry Palmer"

The second list is from the town of Hampton, which is now in New Hampshire but in
1653 was still part of Massachusetts. The signers included men from other towns
near Hampton, and the information comes from a magazine article Samborne family
ancestors, THE SANBORN OR SAMBORNE FAMILY. EARLY OPPOSITION TO ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT IN  HAMPTON. By F. B. Sanborn., in Granite 
Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, Volume 23 p 324

"Christopher Husse, Robart Tucke, Richard Swaine, John Samborne, Francis Swaine,
Williem Samborne, Stephen Samborne, Moses Cox, William Fifield, ]ohn Redman,
Thomas Fletcher [?],Jeffery Mingay, Eliakim Wardell, John Wedgwood, Thomas Marston, The T Mark of Willim Maston, Philemon Dalton, Samuell Dalton, Robert Page, Will. Moulton, Samuell Fogge, Nathaniell Bachiler, Jasper Blake, Christopher Palmer, John Marston, The I' Mark of Josiah Meren, The Mark of Antoni Talier, The /' Mark of John Cass, The T Mark of John Merin [Marian], Thomas Coullman, Thomas Philbrock, Abraham Perkins, Henry Roby, The T Mark of William Cole, Nathaniell Boulter, Humphrie Humber, The Mark X of John Clifoord."


I was unable to find the complete lists for Andover and Salisbury, but did find the
names of five of the men from Salisbury in another magazine article,  ROBERT PIKE,
A FORGOTTEN CHAMPION OF FREEDOM. By Nathan N. Withington. The article was
widely printed back in the late 1890's. The Googlebook edition I found was in
The New England Magazine , Volume 17,  pp29-30 published in 1898:

"The majority was overawed and apologized more or less abjectly for their disrespect
toward the authority of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts; but a minority
of about one-fifth of the signers refused to make any apology, and defended and justified their action. Thus boldly stood out eight from Newbury, five from Salisbury, besides Pike himself, and two from Hampton. Here were sixteen men who, in an age of intolerance, in an age when the right of the ruler was held to be from God, and as against this the governed had no rights, asserted and maintained at considerable peril the rights of free speech, for sectaries included, and of petition on the part of the citizens. They deserve to have their names remembered; they were:

Of Newbury—John Emery, Sr., John Hall, Benjamin Swett, John Bishop, Joseph Plummer, Daniel Thurston, Jr., Daniel Cheney, John Wolcot.

Of Salisbury—Samuel Hollis, Philip Challis, Joseph Fletcher, Andrew Greeley, George Morton.

Of Hampton —Christopher Hussey, John Sanborn.

These fifteen were each bound in the sum of ten pounds to appear for trial in the county courts; and here the matter, so far as relates to them, appears to have dropped."


So my ancestor Philip Challis was also a signer of the petition.

To be continued

1 comment:

  1. Wow - lots of Hampton ancestors and a few from the other towns in this one - John Webster, John Emery, John Hall, Joseph Plummer, Daniel Cheney, Philip Challis, Christopher Hussey, Robert Tuck, Richard Swaine, John Sanborn, Moses Cox, Thomas Marston, William Marston, Philemon Dalton, Samuel Dalton, Robert Page, William Moulton, Samuel Fogg, Nathaniel Bachiler, Jasper Blake, John Marston, Anthony Taylor, John Cass, Thomas Philbrick, Abraham Perkins, Henry Roby, and Nathaniel Boulter! I would need to do some further digging to make sure they are correctly identified in my tree - some fathers and sons have the same name. A few are cousins or married to cousins but many are direct ancestors. That's cool! Thanks for sharing.

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