52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#39: JOHN HOYT JR. PT3

One of my favorite stories about the Colby, Barnes, & Hoyt families is this one
John Hoyt Junior's wife, 8x great grandmother Mary(Barnes) Hoyt:

The wife of (3) John2 Hoyt was living in 1704, when she acknowledged a deed granting
her "youngest son Robert" the homestead where she was then living, which seems to
have been situated in that part of the town now called " Pond Hills." "Quick as Granny
Hoyt's powder-horn" is an expression which has been handed down in different branches of her descendants,—some of whom have been widely separated frorh each other for the last century,—and it seems most probable that she is the "Granny Hoyt" referred to. Tradition says that this lady lived alone and was always up at work early 
in the morning. One day her fire did not kindle well, and she undertook to hasten the operation by pouring a little powder upon it; but the fire spread further than she intended, and an explosion was the result. Authorities differ as to the direction the 
horn took, but the most common and plausible version seems to be that it was blown 
up chimney, while the old lady was no doubt prostrated on the hearth.
-p23
Hoyt family: A genealogical history of John Hoyt of Salisbury, and David Hoyt of Deerfield, (Massachusetts,) and their descendants: with some account of the earlier Connecticut Hoyts, and an appendix, containing the family record of William Barnes of Salisbury, a list of the first settlers of Salisbury and Amesbury, & c (Google eBook) by David Webster Hoyt (C. Benjamin Richardson, Boston, Ma. 1857)


Apparently some of my ancestors had good luck with gunpowder explosions. One
of them (whose name escapes me at the moment) survived unscathed the explosion of
a powder house in Boston.

And when I think about "Granny Hoyt" and her powder horn, I have an image of Lucille
Ball dressed up in colonial dress, with soot on her face and a shocked expression on her
face. 

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#39: JOHN HOYT JR. PT2

John Hoyt Jr. held several important offices during his lifetime, one of which
was the position of town constable. Among the duties a constable had in colonial
Massachusetts was the collection of unpaid taxes, and some constables were less
than enthusiastic doing that job. So in order to remedy that, the Massachusetts Bay
Colony adopted a unique policy: if the constables failed or refused to collect the
overdue taxes, they had to pay them out of their own money or be imprisoned.
That's what happened to John Hoyt Jr in 1694, which prompted him to send this
petition:.

"To the Honble their Majties Great and Generall Court of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, now sitting in Boston by adjournemt, March 6th, 1694/5.
"The Petition of John Hoite, one of the late Constables of Amesbury, now a prisonr in
Salem Gaol, "Humbly Sheweth,

"That yor Petitionr is now in Prison undr an Execution for the Nonsatisfaction of the
arreares of the rates comitted to him to collect whilest he was Constable of Amesbury.
That Your Petitionr has Lately mett with great losses, haveing had his house plundered
by the Indians, and has been visited with much sickness through the holy afflicting hand
of god upon him—besides sundry of the persons from whome many of sd arreares be
due are both dead & removed out of ye Towne. Now Forasmuch as yor poore petitionr
by the providence of God is reduced to a necessitous condition, and wholely uncapacitated, by reason of his confinemt, to doo any thing for himself & family or ye paymt of sd arreares for ye prsent, he therefore humbly entreates the favour of this high & honble Court to Consider the premisses, by being pleased to grant unto him two or three yeares space for paymt thereof, as also for areleasemt from his confinemt.
"And Yor petitionr, as in duty bound shall Ever pray, &c.

"John Hoite"

"Voted upon Reading the Petition abovesd that sd Petitioner is granted his Request provided he give security to mr Treasurer to pay sd money within two years into the Treasury. March 8th, 1694/5 past in the affirmative by the house of Representatives & sent up to the honrable Lt Governr & Council for consent. Nehemiah Jewet, Speaker." 
-pp21-22

Hoyt family: A genealogical history of John Hoyt of Salisbury, and David Hoyt of Deerfield, (Massachusetts,) and their descendants: with some account of the earlier Connecticut Hoyts, and an appendix, containing the family record of William Barnes of Salisbury, a list of the first settlers of Salisbury and Amesbury, & c (Google eBook) by David Webster Hoyt (C. Benjamin Richardson, Boston, Ma. 1857)


John Hoyt Jr. died about two years later on 13Aug 1696. He's one of my colonial ancestors who died as a result of the wars with the New England Indians. He and a
man named Peters were killed somewhere along a road between the towns of Haverhill and Andover, Ma.

To be continued, 

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#39: JOHN HOYT JR.

 Fellow geneablogger Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued the
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Basically, we have to post something every
week on a different ancestor, whether a story, picture, or research problem. For
this prompt I've tried to concentrate on ancestors I haven't researched as much
as I have others in my family. In this post and the next I will discuss my 7x great
grandfather John Hoyt Junior, the eldest son of John Hoyt Senior. 

From the family genealogy written by Daniel Webster Hoyt:

John,(2) b. about 1638; m. Mary Barnes, dau. Wm. and Rachel Barnes, June 23, 1659 .
On the Salisbury records, his ""Contry Rate Anno 1659," is given as 2s 3d. He received
his first lot of land ("on the river") in Amesbury, Oct., 1658, and was admitted as a "townsman," Dec. 10, 1660. Among the other lots which he received were one in
"Lion's Mouth," 26 Feb., 1661, and a lot of 120 acres, April, 1662. One of his earliest
purchases consisted of five acres of upland at the "southermost end of Tom: Whitchers
hill," bought of Edward Cottell in 1660. It is difficult to determine the location of his homestead. 

A "Jn° Hoyt of Salisbury tooke ye ffreemans Oath before this prsent Court,"  Salisbury,
2m, 1663. It was probably John,(2) though "Jun." is not added, as it is in most instances where he was referred to. On the records of the Salisbury Court, 9, 2m 1667, we find the three following entries: "Jn° Hoyt Jvn: tooke ye oath of fidelitie: att y" prsent Court." "Jn° Hoyt jvn: vpon ye request & choyce of ye Newtowne is admited by this prsent Court to keep ye Ordinary at ye Newtown of Salisbury, & to sell wine & strong waters for ye yeare ensuing." Also, "Jn° Hoyt jun: is dismist by this Court from all trainings: vntil such time: as  he shalbe cuered of y' infirmity wch doth att prsent disinable him fro trayning." On the records of the following year (Salisbury Court, 14, 2m, 1668) is found the following: "Jn° Hoyt jvn": license is renued to keep ye ordinary at ye new towne: & to pvide entertainmt for horse men & foot men: but hath liberty to sell wt wine & strong waters he hath laid in in respect to ye ordinary, and Lt Challis is to take notis of wt he hath layd in & to make returne thereof to ye clarke wthin 14 dayes." 13, 2M, 1669, he was also licensed "to keep ye ordinary for Amsbury for ye yeare ensuing." He took "ye oath of Allegiance & fidelity" before Majo' Robert Pike in "Eamsbery," Dec. 20, 1677. He is also frequently mentioned as a juror, on the Old Norfolk records.

John* Hoyt always signed his own name in full, and evidently had a pretty good education for a common man of those times. In old deeds (of which he gave and received a large number), he is sometimes called a "planter," and sometimes a "carpenter." He and his father sold buildings and land to the town for the use of the ministry, soon after Amesbury was incorporated. He had a seat assigned him in the meeting house, July 9, 1667. His name frequently appears on the Amesbury records as lot-layer, constable, &c. He was chosen a "standing lot-layer," 12 March, 1667-8; constable, 1674 and '77-8; to rectify bounds of land, 1680-1 ; constable in Thomas Stevens' place, April, 1690; added to committee "to return the bounds of land into the towne book of Records," March, 1690-1;* chosen '" Clarke of ye markett" for the town of Amesbury, 1692-3, &c, &c.
pp20-21
Hoyt family: A genealogical history of John Hoyt of Salisbury, and David Hoyt of Deerfield, (Massachusetts,) and their descendants: with some account of the earlier Connecticut Hoyts, and an appendix, containing the family record of William Barnes of Salisbury, a list of the first settlers of Salisbury and Amesbury, & c (Google eBook) by David Webster Hoyt (C. Benjamin Richardson, Boston, Ma. 1857)

Despite his high standing in the community, John Hoyt Jr. would find himself
in a bit of a legal predicament. I'll discuss that in the next post, along with a story
about his wife, my 7x great grandmother Mary Barnes,

To be continued.