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Monday, October 26, 2015

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 41: JOHN SPAULDING OF CHELMSFORD, MA.

John Spaulding is one of those ancestors that  I haven't found very much about online so far. The only biography is from a genealogy book about Pennsylvania, of all places, and he was in that only because
of one of his descendants:

"(III) John Spaulding, son of Andrew and Hannah (Jefes) Spaulding, was born at Chelmsford, August 20, 1682, died in the same town, March 7, 1760. He succeeded to the old homestead, and was engaged in farming and stock raising. He married, April 22, 1704, Mary Barnett. Children: Jonathan, Mary, Hannah, Samson, see forward; Job, Mary, John, Lot. "
-p201

Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania, Volume 1 by John Wolf Jordan.
Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, New York, 1915

John's wife Mary's last name was Barrett, not Barnett, and after her death he married a
woman named Lydia whose maiden name is unknown.
 
I also knew that he and his brothers had all served as "snowshoe soldiers" against the Indians, but I didn't know until recently that those soldiers were given bounties by the colonial government for taking Indian scalps. A bit disquieting to say the least.

John's will mentions his second wife Lydia and provides for his children. One of the interesting parts is that my 5x great uncle Sampson Spaulding's part of the estate was to be what John had already spent on his college education. It turns out Sampson graduated from Harvard University!





Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)20970-2




Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)20970-2


As for my 5x great grandfather Lot Spaulding, John left him one half of  his property, and a gun:


Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)20970-3
Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)20970-3
But it seems Lot and his siblings had their own ideas on how the estate should be divided, and I'll
discuss that in my post about him.

1 comment:

Celia Lewis said...

I do love wills, Bill. And this one can actually be read fairly easily! They are such treasures for family information. Cheers.