52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 14: HENRY HERRICK PT3

While the will of Henry Herrick is missing from his probate file, the inventory of
his estate is not. I found this image of the document in the Essex County, MA: 
Probate File Papers, 1638-1881 on the AmericanAncestors.org website:

I found a transcription in The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1665-1674
Vol 2 :


Inventorv of the estate of Henry Herricke of Beverly, taken Mar. 15, 1670-71 by John Rayment, Sr. and Isaack Hull, Sr.: his dwelling howse wth orchard & 70 acrees of land more or lesse adjoyning to the same, 180li.; the English pasture wth the marsh & orchard in itt, 80li.; the farme bought of Mr. Allford conteining 2 hundred acres, 300li.; the farme bought of Henry & Franncis Skerry, 106 acres, 160li.; the 16 Acres of land wch is built uppon by Zakery Herrick, 32li.; the 15 Acres of land bought of Henry Reinald & Rich. Kemball, 22li. 10s.; 6 Acres of meadow in the bounds of Topsfeild, 30li.; Eleaven milch cowes, 40li., 2 oxen & 2 steires, 20li., 60li.; one horsse, 6li., 2 maires & 2 Coltes, 10li., 16li.; 32 sheepe & 17 lambes, 20li., 6 swyne, 3li., 23li.; his wearing apparrell, 7li., one bedd wth furniture, 2li., 9li.; one featherbedd & beddstedd wth the furniture belonging, 6li.; one other bedd & bedsted wth furniture theirunto, 3li.; brasse and pewter wth Earthen vessells in sundry dishes, 9li. 14s.; 3 Iron potts & other iron necissaries, 3li.; 4 bibles with other bookes, 2li.; one muskett, one sword, one rapier, one smothing iron, 2li. 5s.; 4 spining wheeles, wooden vessells, tubbs, traies, pailes, etc., 2li. 4s.; one great Table, one cubboard, 2 chaires, 2 formes, 5li.; 5 chests, 2li. 15s., one bedd & 2 blanketts, 2li. 8s., 5li. 3s.; Tickin for bedd & boulster wth a sett of curtaines, 7li. 10s.; 30 yarrd linnen cloth, a pillow, sheete & feathers, 5li. 2s.; 6 diaper napkins & 20 other napkins & 4 pillowbears, 3li. 14s.; 3 paire of sheets and one Table cloth, 4li.; one paire of cart boxes & hoopes, 2 chaines, 2 old axes, 2 old howes wth a grindstone, an iron Trevitt, 2 old tubbs, 2li. 5s.; looking glasse, box and some other Trifles, 10s.; total, 974li. 17s.

Attested in Ipswich court Mar. 28, 1671 by Henry Herick.pp221-222

The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1665-1674 (Google eBook) The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1665-1674 (Google eBook) VOL II
Essex Institute, Salem Ma., 1917

Henry was very well off, with a estate valued at 974 pounds and 17 shillings, including over 400
acres of land.

Henry had seven sons, two of whom, Joseph and Henry Jr., were my 8x great grandfathers 
Henry Jr. will be the next person in my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blogpost series.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 14: HENRY HERRICK PT2

I was once more disappointed to find that Henry Herrick's Probate File didn't contain a
copy of his will. I was able, however,l to find a transcription of it in Volume 2 of
The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1665-1674:

"I Henry Herick of the Towne of Beverly in the county of Essex in New England being in a decaying estate of body but in pfect mynd and me[m]orye, through the Lords mercy do heerby make my last will and testament, wherby I commiting my body to the earth, and my soule to the mercy of god in christ Jesus, I dispose of my estate in order following. Impr I give vnto my deare & loveing wife Edith the westwardmost halfe of my now dwelling house, that is the lower roome and leantoo behind it, together with free egress and regress in and out of it, and also the vse of the cellar, well, yard, out houseing & garden, these to haue & inioy dureing her naturall life, further I giue to my sd wife foure of my best milch cowes & 4 sheepe which shee shall choose and all my household stufe, these to be at her absolute free dispose, also I giue vnto my sd wife, the sixt part of the fruits that shall be raysed from the come lands, & orchard wch I leave with my executor Henry and in the possession of my sonn John Also I give vnto my sonn Thomas all my weareing apparell exsept my best great coate and that 20 Acres of land where his house standeth ||with ten pounds to be paid 1| by my son John wn my executor seeth need to supplye his wants, And if in case he live and dye a single pson, the lands shall remaine to my sonns Ephraim & Joseph, equally devided & the ten pounds to my sonn Beniamin, if not made vse of to supply him, Also I give my sonn Zackery one hundred Acres of land lyeing in Birch plaine wch I bought of ffrancis & Henry Skerry of Salem with 5 acres of meadow lyeing in wenham meadow belonging to it, and 16 acres of land more or lesse wheron his house standeth & fenced in by him, Also I give my sonns Ephraim, Joseph, and John, that farme I bought of mr Allford the 20 acres giuen to Thomas being first measured out to him, the rest to be equally devided betweene them three, yet soe that Ephraim & Joseph may inioy what they have impued, and fenct, and John what is impued by Henry, soe as to pay the sixt part of the pduce to my wife before exprest. Also I giue to my sonn John the two lotts I bought of Henry Rennolds of Salem & Richard Kemball of wenham, also my sonn John is to have two acres of meadow in Bounkards meadow, also the bedding he lyeth vpon and my cart and plow with the chaine therof Also I give Ephraim moreover one milch cow & my best great coate and vnto Joseph I giue moreover two ewe sheepe & my timbar chaine, I give vnto my sonn Beniamyn all that pasture land, called my english pasture, w°h joyneth on the east syde to Andrew Eliott, lyeing betweene the countrye high way & the mill River, I say all that land lyeing on the southeast 6yde of the sd country high way, the wch pasture land | |with the apptenances] | my will is shall remaine in the hands of my sonn Henry to improve vntill Beniamyn be 21 years of age and in case he dye before he be 21 years of age I giue the sayd land to my sonn Henry, he paying vnto my children Zachry Ephraim Joseph & Elizabeth foure pounds a peece Also I giue vnto my daughter Elizabeth forty pounds viz. 14u to be payd by my sonn Henry -within three months after the confirmation of my will and the rest to be made vp in 3 cowes & moveables allredy in her possesion, And to John the youngest yoake of stears, and whatsoever I giue to any of my children heerin mentioned by this my will, I giue to them, there heires executors administrators & assignes for ever And for the rest of my estate, not aboue mentioned I give it all to my sonn Henry, he payeing vnto his mother the sixt part of the increase of the corne land & orchard dureing her life, and pviding for her the wintering of foure milch cows 4 sheepe & her firewood redy cut for fire at the dore, for all the yeare long and liberty to keepe 3 swine at the dore, and (I giue my sonn Ephraim one acre of meadow in buncars Joseph 3 acres of meadow in buncars) And to have the pper vse of the parlour & leaneto behind it with free egresse & regresse to houseing yards for her, necessary occasions as is expresed dureing her life I say these things premised I giue my sonn Henry my dwelling house out houseing orchard tillage land meadows pasture & woodland with my stock & whatever elce within dores & without, not above excepted makeing this my sayd sonn Henry my sole executor of this my last will In wittnes whereof I have set my hand this 24 of november 1670."

Henry Herick.

Witness: Robt. Morgan, Nehemiah Grover: Proved in Salem court Mar. 28, 1671 by the witnesses. Copy, Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, vol. 5, page 136.



The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1665-1674 (Google eBook) VOL II Essex Institute, Salem Ma., 1917

To be continued...

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 14: HENRY HERRICK

Continuing on with Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,  I'm still exploring
the Barker and related families who are my Dad's maternal ancestors. This post will be the
first on the Herrick family. Edith Herrick was my 6x great grandmother and the wife of
my 6x great grandfather Francis Upton. Her immigrant ancestor was Henry Herrick.

Henry Herrick's own ancestry has been disputed lately. In this excerpt from Volume 3
of William Richard Cutter's  New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial I've
skipped the part tracing the Herricks from a Danish chief named Eric down to  Sir
William Herrick, who until recently was given as Henry Herrick's  father:

(I) Henry Herrick, immigrant ancestor, fifth son of Sir William (2) Herrick, was born at Beau Manor, Leicester county, England, in 1604. He was named by command of the unfortunate Prince Henry, the eldest son of James I., we are told. He probably went first to Virginia and then came north. He was among the first settlers of Salem, and he and his wife were of the thirty who founded the First Church of Salem in 1629. He was a proprietor of the town in 1635. He was admitted a freeman on May 18, 1631. He removed to Wenham, and then to Beverly, the Cape Ann side of Bass river. He bought large tracts of land in Beverly and gave farms there to his sons: Zachariah, Ephraim, Joseph and John, at Brick Plains and Cherry Hill. He was called a good and honest dissenter from the doctrines of the Church of England; he was a friend of Higgenson, but not so bigoted as some of the Puritans, for he was fined a few shillings in 1667 with others for "aiding and comforting an excommunicated person." He and his wife were among the founders of the church at Beverly. He married Editha, daughter of Hugh Laskin. He died in 1671, and the inventory of his estate taken March 15, 1670-71, was presented by his son Henry. The widow Editha deposed November 28, 1672, concerning some land her father, Hugh Laskin, sold "before he went away 25 years ago." She gave her age then as about sixty years, indicating that she was born about 1612. Children of Henry and Editha Herrick: Thomas: Zacheus. born in Salem, baptized December 25, 1636; Ephraim, mentioned below; Henry, baptized at Salem, January 16, 1640; Joseph, baptized August 6, 1645; Elizabeth, baptized July 4, 1647; John, baptized May 25, 1650; Benjamin, died about 1677. -p1180

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 3 (Google eBook), Lewis historical publishing Company, 1913. New York, New York


I have double descent from Henry and Editha Herrick through their sons Henry and Joseph, down to both my Dad's parents.

For more about the question of Henry Herrick's parents and a discussion of the theory he
resided in Virginia before coming to Massachusetts, see the entry for him in Volume 2 of
The Great Migration Begins.

To be continued.