52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 29: EDWARD COLBOURNE REVISITED

My very first entry in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge about a year and a half ago
was a post about my 8x great grandfather Edward Colbourne/Coburn. At that time I hadn't
as yet hit on the method of concentrating on the ancestors of one of my grandparents and
I wasn't really happy with the post on Edward. So I'm doing a "do-over" for Edward as I start
my examination of his descendants among my grandmother Cora Bertha Barker's ancestors.

I've found some new sources of information since that earlier post: the entry for Edward in
The Great Migration book, and several online local histories and genealogies that include the
Coburn family. Not surprisingly, two ofthem were written by Coburn family members. One
of them is a History of Dracut, Massachusetts, written by Silas Roger Coburn, which had
this on Edward and his family:

"In the list of passengers who sailed from Liverpool in 1635 on the Ship Defence in command of Capt. Bostock, the name of Edward Colburn appears. His home was in Wilts County, England, and when, at the age of seventeen, he arrived in Boston, he went to Ipswich and was employed by Nathaniel Saltonstall, who owned a large estate in that town, and who later committed the management of the farm to him. The plan of the town of Ipswich does not include any farm belonging to Edward, although he owned some outlying land. He married Hannah, whose surname is not given in the records, but references in private letters lead to the conclusion that her name was Rolfe. His neighbor, Samuel Varnum, had purchased in 1668, a tract of land in what was known as "The Wilderness north of the Merrimac," which later became Dracut. Large tracts of land in this vicinity were for sale and probably influenced by his neighbor Varnum at Ipswich he purchased a tract as already described in a former chapter. As the Indians were troublesome, he occupied a garrison house near the river, and with his wife and children, who were born at Ipswich, he removed here in 1669. His children were Edward, John, Robert, Thomas, Daniel, Hannah, Ezra, Joseph, and Lydia. The greater part of the Coburns and Colburns in the United States descend from the six younger brothers, Edward2 being killed in King Philip's war in 1675, as already recorded. The descendants of Edward and Hannah had been prominent in public affairs in town and state. In the lists of those who served in the different wars which have occurred since the settlement of the town, the name of this family appears defending the rights and liberties of the country. On the Roll of Honor the names of 33 Coburns appear as serving in the War of the Revolution."
pp371-372

History of Dracut, Massachusetts: Called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and Before Incorporation, the Wildernesse North of the Merrimac. First Permanment Settlement in 1669 and Incorporated as a Town in 1701,  Press of the Courier-Citizen Company, 1922 - Dracut (Mass.)



I'll discuss Edward Colbourne's probate file and other matters in the next post.
To be continued