Jemima Ware

Other Events:

• Name: Jemima Kingsbury

Jemima married Capt. Timothy Kingsbury on 22 Mar 1736/37 in Needham, Massachusetts. Timothy was born on 14 Aug 1703; died on 18 Nov 1778 in Needham, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Will: 17 Dec 1754, Needham

Notes:

Anecdote:
According to the Ware Genealogy he was said to have had five wives, one son and six daughters. They were only able to identify four of the wives.

Will:
[CENTER:]Will of Ebenezer Ware, Senior, of Needham,[:CENTER]
In the Name of God Amen, the seventeenth Day of September Ano Demi one thousand seven hundred and Fifty four in the Twenty eight year of the Reign of or Souerain Lord King George the second over Great Britain &c I Ebenezer Ware Senr of Nedham in the County of Suffolk and Prouence of Masachusets bay in New England Husbandman being in usual helth of body but aduenceed in years but of sound mind and memory, Blesed be almity God therefor and calling to mind the Frailty of Life and Certainty of Death Do therefore make and ordain this my last Will and Testement in maner and Form folowing that is to say : First and Principally I commend my Soul into the hands of Almity God my creator hoping to Reciue ye pardon and Remission of all my sins and saluation through the alone merit of Jesus Christ my Redemer and my body to the Eaiah to be deacently Buried acording to the discresion of excecutrex herein Named and Executer hereinafter Named and as Touching such Worldly Estate the Lord hath lent me my mind and will is the same shall be disposed of acording as is hereinafter expresed hereby Reuoaking and Renounceing and making Null and Voaid all Wills and Testaments by me heretofore made declering and apoynting this to be my last Will and Testement Wherein is contained the same. Imprs, I will that all my just Debts and Funarall Expences be Well and Truly payed in conuenient Time next after my Deceas by my Executrex hereinafter named.
Itm. I do giue and Becpieth to my only son Nathaniel Ware Senr the Sume of Fine Shillings lawful money.
Itm. I do giue and Bequeth to my Daughter Mary's Children Namly William mills and John Mills and Benjamin mills to each of them one Shilling Lawfull money.
Itm. I do giue and Bequeth my Daughter Martha Smith one Shilling Lawful money.
Itm. I do giue to my Daughter Elizabeth children Namly Abial and Elizabeth and Meribath to each of them one Shilling Lawful money.
Itm. I do giue and Bequeth to my Daughter Jemima Kingsbery one Shilling Lawful money.
Itm. I do giue and Bequeth to my Dauuliter Sarah Dcuenport one Shilling Lawful money ; the above said sumcs with what they haue had shall be and is their Full Shear.
Itm. I do hereby (under and subject to the Terms under Writen) Giue and Bequeth to my Loueing Wife Anna Ware all my Moneable Estate whatsoener and whersoener it may be found shee paying all my just Debts and Funaral Kxpence and the aboue Legaceas giuen to my Children and Grandchildren.
Itm. I do hereby constitute and apoynt my Loueing Wife Anna Ware Executrex and my son Nathaniel Ware Sen"" Executer to this my last will and Testement.
In Testimony whereof I the said Ebenezer Ware Senr haue hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year first aboue written.
Ebenezer Ware
Signed, sealed, Published and Decleared by the said Ebenezer Ware Senr as and for his last Will and Testement.
In presence of us
Aaron Smith
Josah Newell junr
Joseph Gibbs.

Ebenezer married Martha Herring on 19 Mar 1689/90 in Dedham. Martha (daughter of Thomas Herring and Mary Pierce) was born on 11 Jul 1668 in Dedham, Massachusetts; died on 30 Jan 1709/10. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Martha Ware

Other Events:

• Immigration: Massachusetts
• Will: 25 Feb 1698/99
• Probate: 11 May 1699

Notes:

Anecdote:
According to Ware Genealogy, Robert:
came from his English home to the colony of Massachusetts Bay some time before the autumn of 1642. The earliest date at which the name in any form occurs on the Dedham Records, is Nov. 25, 1642 ; when "Robert Weares is Admitted to the purchase of Thomas Eames his house lott and three acres of land."
A grant of land was made to him "6. 12. 1642," (6 February, 1642-3).
Various other grants were made to him of land in different parts of the town; on Dedham Island, and (in what was afterwards Needham), on Rosemary meadow brook, on the Great Plain, and near Magus Hill, etc. One lot of "three roods and twenty rod, more or lesse," was the second lot east from the N. E. corner of Webster Street and Great Plain Avenue in Needham. The localities mentioned can be found in the "Atlas of Norfolk Co., Mass.", Comstock & Cline, New York, 1876. See also Mann's Annals of
Dedham. Robert Ware joined the church at the time of the baptism of his eldest child, October 2 or 11, 1646. He was made freeman May 26, 1647 ; was member of the Artillery Company in 1644. He lived and died in Dedham, though three of his sons-John, Nathaniel and Robert-removed to Wollomonopoag, set off in 1661, incorporated as Wrentham in 1673. His name stands second in point of wealth on the tax list.
"Robert Ware the Aged" died in Dedham, April 19, 1699. His will, made February 25, 1698, was proved May 11, 1699. The inventory, taken May 3, was £250, 2, 10.


Will:
From Ware Genealogy:
[CENTER:]Will of Robert Ware of Dedham.[:CENTER]
In the year of our Lord one Thousand six hundred Ninety eight nine, the twenty fift day of February, I Robert Ware; of Dedham, in the County of Suffolk in his Ma:ties Collony in the Massachusetts bay in New England, being put in mind of my great chang, by age, & the infirmities thereof, according to my duty, I do hereby, in the time of my life, & in the injoymt of my understanding make, ordeyne & declare this to be my last will and Testamt, for the disposeing and setleing of those things of my Estate, which the Lord he betrusted me with, wherein first, I comit my precious soul into the hands of almighty God, in and through the Lord Jeses christ, my most blessed Redemer, & my body to the earth to be therin interred in christian buryall at the discretion of my executor* heerin heorafter named.
Imprs I do heerby giue unto my Deare and well beloved wife Hannah ware the use & impronemt of the East end of my dwelling house & the north end of ray barne & halfe my orchard & one third part of my pasture land near my house & at ye north end of the Island planting feild, & one third part of my lot that I purchased of .John Keelum y' is fenced in pertickular, & halfe my broad meadow that lye betwixt the lands of John Eaton it the widdow Kingsberry. & one horse beast, and as much household stuff as she stand in need of, for her use all the tearme of her naterall life, all those things aforresd and the Twenty pounds of money, she hane receined, for her to dispose of as she se cause, & my son Samuel is to provid her wood fit for the tier at all times what she shall need, & he to be paed out of my estate what is just, also I giue unto my loveing wife ye use and improvem' of two acres of land y' is broken up wher Sanuiel have a part neer magus hill. Furthermore my mind & will is that each of my children shall have equall portions in my estate excepting my son John Ware who is to have Twenty pound mort; then a single portion, & what I have given to each of my children formerly as it is set doune in my book is to be acounted to each of them as a part of there portion, and for most of my lands I do devide them amongst my three sons in Dedham, and what they, or any of them shall have more than there equall portions they must make good paymt for the same to my executors within the space of four yeares after my & my wives decease for them to pay them that want ye makeing up of ther portions as followeth :—
Item. I give unto my Son Samuel Ware & to his Heirs & Assignes forever the west end of my dwelling house and the South end of my bearn, and my new bearn, and my shop, and halfe my oarchard, & two parts of three of all my pasture land, neer my house, & Greens lot, & two thirds of all my land at the north end of ye Island planting feild, & two parts of three of ye land I purchased of John Keelum, & a quarter part of my broad meadow, & my foule meadow, & all my swamps near my house, and about Greens lot, & my swamp neer south Playne, & my laud at the clapbord trees, more, fine acres of woodland near to meadfeild way, as it abut on Joseph Wights lot, more, I give unto him halfe of that land I bought of Mr Dwight near to magus hill abuteth on ye Lands of widdow Metcalfe west & Jno Eaton east, more, one third part of my land at ye stamping place, & one third part of my land at chesnut hill, & halfe my land at magus hill within fence, & halfe my land on the north side of my fenced land & after ye decease of my deare wife, Samuel my Son is to have all my houssing & all my oarchards, & all the land near my house, uplands & swamps, Greens lot, & all my swamps about it, & all my lands at ye northerly end of planting feild, meadow & upland as it abutteth on the east on charles river & ye pond north. And all my meadow and upland ye is fenced in with Eleazer Kingsberys lands near Vine Rock & halfe my broad meadow, and four cow comon Rights.
Item. I give unto my son Epherim & to his Heirs & assignes forever, that land I purchased of Mr Dwight ye abut on his house lot east, & halfe my land near magus hill within fence, and halfe my land one the north side of my land fenced in, & all my Small parcels of meadow near it, & one third part of my land at the stamping ground, and one third part of my land at chesnut hill & three cow comon Rights & one fourth part of broad meadow & after the decease of my wife, one third part, & all my children shall have equall share in my lot at the great ceader swamp.
Item. I give unto my son Ebenezer Ware & to his Heirs and assignes forever all my Land as it lyeth abutting upon Daniels swamp meadow east, Samuel Parker north, more, one parcell of land a little distant from his house lot towards the east, by Jno Woodcocks land more one third part of my land at the stamping ground, more a third part of my land at chesnut hill, & after my wives decease a third part of my broad meadow, & three cow comon Rights.
Item. I give unto my children at Wrentham onwards there portions to be equally devided betwixt them all my moveables, cattell & household stuf what my wife can spare, & my clothes & all debts due to me & eight acres of Land I purchased of Henery Brock & Lambert Ginery as it lyeth in the Island planting feild, more, three acres of land I purchased of Thomas Eames abutting on Jno Woodcocks, after the decease of my wife the household stuff she have to use, to be equally devided amongst them.
It is my mind and will is that my houses and lands near home may be low prised, & the lands in planting feild, being poor lands & require much fenceing, I do apoint & impower my well beloved sons John Ware, Robert Ware & Samuel Ware to be the executors of this my last will and Testamt & I request and impower my loveing friends Deacon Thomas Metcalfe, Deacon William Avery, & Deacon Joseph Wight to be ye overseers or supervisers to determin any differences that may arise from or betwixt any persons concearned in this my last will, & what they or two of them if any dye ye surviveing determin shall be of full force at any & all times & care must be taken for to recompence ye executers & overseers.
To confirme this my last will and testament I haue hereunto set to my hand & seale ye date aforesd.
Robert Ware
In presence of us
Thomas Battelle
hannah Alderidge
Thomas Fuller
[CENTER:]Notes on the Will of Robert Ware.[:CENTER]
Island planting field.—Dedham Island, just north of Dedham village, formed by a bend in Charles River and the " Long Ditch" which unites the upper and the lower parts of the stream. It is about a mile and three quarters from north to south, and three quarters of a mile from east to west, and contains about 1200 acres. The "Planting field plain" is in the northern part of the Island. The " Long Ditch," about half a mile long, part of which is now the boundary between Dedham and Needham, was cut through the Broad Meadows in 1653. The "Great Causeway" is a narrow strip of land about quarter of a mile long, along the river on the S. W. of Broad Meadows ; on this a road was laid out in 1644. " Ware's Causeway " is a small part of the road leading from the Great Causeway to Cart Bridge, on the western side of the Island.
Magus Hill is in the northern part of Needham (now Wellesley), just east of the Wellesley Hills station on the B. & A. R. R. The reservoir is on the summit. In 1681, John Magus and Sarah Magus. Indians, gave to the town of Dedham a deed of a tract of land lying within Dedham bounds, bounded N. by Watertown and Natick (now Weston), W. and S. W. by a line running from the mouth of Rosemary Meadow Brook on the N. E. to the mouth of Natick Brook on the S. W. Natick Brook runs through the two ponds in the western part of Wellesley, south into Charles River. It joins Dewing Brook near its mouth. The rest of what is now Needham. S. E. of this tract, had been deeded to Dedham the previous year by William Nahaton (Nehoiden) and his brothers.
Foule Meadow.—" Fowle meadows " lie on the Neponset River in the eastern part of Dedham and in Canton.
South Playne borders on the edge of the swamp southward of Ridge Hill in the southern part of Dedham. Claphord trees is in the S. W. part of Dedham east of Buckmaster pond ; it originally included the eminence where the West Dedham Church stands, with the land adjoining on the north and east. Stamping place is supposed to be a herding place for cattle, and to have been situated approximately in the space now enclosed within Linden and Washington Streets at Wellesley Hills. Before the division of the common lands, the feeding grounds for cattle were called " Herd Walks." One of these was on Dedham Island ; one on East Street, and the third on South Plain. Chestnut Hill is about half way between Magus Hill and North Hill, Needham. Lands at the north end of planting field abutting on the pond north. The pond is Cow Island Pond, formed by Charles River, just east of the northern end of Long Ditch. Vine Rock is on the eastern side of Dedham Island, on the; western bank of the river, half way between Cow Island Pond and the entrance to Mother Brook. The bridge just north of it, over which the road passes from Dedham to West Roxbury is Vine Rock Bridge. The Great Cedar Swamp was in the part of Dedham now Walpole, between the Plain and South Walpole. History of Norfolk County, page 709, in the will of Eleazer Ware, 1750, is mentioned "a piece of Cedar Swamp lying in the Dedham Cedar swamp so called."
Robert Ware's sons in Wrentham, John, Nathaniel and Robert, seem to have received their land as a part of portion during their father's lifetime.
The house of Ephraim, essentially the same as formerly, is in Wellesley, on Oakland Street, opposite the end of Brookside Road. Photographs of this house (Nos. 445, 44G) may be obtained of Holmes Bros., 19 Main St., Charlestown, Mass. The Indian Magus very probably lived near the spring which is just south of the house. The house of Ebenezer was probably at the corner of Rosemary and Highland Streets, Needham. [C. W. Morton, on map.] Deacon Reuel lived and died in this house. The house of Josiah (Nathaniel), and later of his son Joseph, the journalist, stood, until 1886, on the north corner of Russell Place, just north of Ridge Hill in Needham (opposite "J. Cartwright ").


Probate:
The inventory, taken May 3, was £250, 2, 10.

Robert married Margaret Hunting on 24 Mar 1644/45 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Margaret (daughter of John Hunting and Esther (Hester) Seaborn) was born about 1628 in Hoxne, County Suffolk, England; died on 26 Aug 1670 in Dedham, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Immigration: Massachusetts
• Name: Margaret Ware
• Baptism: 21 Sep 1628, Hoxne

Notes:

Anecdote:
Thomas Herring may have been from Demark, making him one of the very few colonial settlers who was not of English descent. Thomas settled in Dedham.

Thomas married Mary Pierce on 15 Feb 1649. Mary (daughter of Robert Pierce and Ann Greenway) was born in in Dorchester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Herring

Other Events:

• Immigration: Massachusetts
• Baptism: 24 Jan 1601/02, Thrandeston, County Suffolk, England

Notes:

Anecdote:
John brought his family over from England and was the first ruling elder of the Dedham church.
According to Anderson:
John and Hester first lived in Hoxne, where their children Mary and Margaret were baptized. The family next appears in the neighboring parish of Oakley, with baptisms of children in 1631, 1634, and 1636. (Although Hoxne and Oakley are adjacent parishes, they are divided by several jurisdictional boundaries; Hoxne fell within Hoxne Hundred and the archdeaconry of Suffolk, Oakley within Hartismere Hundred and the archdeaconry of Sudbury. The northern boundary of each of these parishes was also the border between Suffolk and Norfolk.)
The dominant family in Hartismere Hundred was the Comwallises, staunch Catholics and ancestors of Lord Cornwallis of Yorktown. At Oakley, this family held the advowson (the right to recommend appointments to the pulpit); and in 1628 or 1629, despite their Catholic leanings, they nominated a vigorous Puritan, William Greenhill. The Reverend Greenhill served this living for almost a decade, until silenced in 1638. Perhaps John Hunting was attracted by the preaching of Greenhill, moved from Hoxne to Oakley to benefit from his teaching, and then in 1638—being deprived of this religious nurturing—decided to join the migration to New England.
Upon his arrival in the colonies, Hunting wasted little time in settling at Dedham. On 28 August 1638, the town agreed that he could be "enterteyned to purchase John Coolidge his Lott." According to his contemporary, Reverend John Allin:
Towards the end of summer we having some experience of Jo. Hunting who came unto us that summer from England & some of us knowing him before & having very good testimony of him from others we agreed to make trial whether he might not be found meet for this work & be willing thereto; in both which we found that incouragement that he also came in amongst us into society.
Thus, John Hunting became one of the eight "pillars" of the church at Dedham, admitted before the congregation formally organized.
The Dedham church entered into covenant on 8 November 1638 and soon grew beyond those eight pillars. Its eighteenth member was "the wife of John Hunting who notwithstanding some scruples a while sticking in some of the church yet at length gave good satisfaction & was received.'" Shortly after this, the church proceeded to the selection of a ruling elder, the principal assistant to the minister. Four candidates were proposed; after lengthy consideration, John Hunting was chosen for the position and held it for the rest of his life. He also served Dedham in its secular affairs—being a feoffee (trustee) of the first free school in New England and a selectman on several occasions.
Hester Hunting died at Dedham on 4 May 1676, having made a will on 4 January 1675/76 with the consent of her husband. In this document, which was not actually proved until 12 February 1684/85, Hester noted that £45 had been given her in the will of her brother Francis, but that it had not yet been received from England. She bequeathed £20 of this to her son John Hunting and £10 to her son Samuel Hunting, "liveing in Charlestown" [Massachusetts]. To Hannah, the wife of her son Samuel, she gave a pair of sheets and her best tablecloth; to her grandchild Samuel Hunting, the eldest son of son Samuel, she left six napkins. Hester then requested that the £15 remaining from her brother's bequest be divided into four equal parts and distributed as follows: one-fourth part (along with a coat) to her daughter Mary Buckner of Boston; one-fourth part to be divided equally among the children of her deceased "daughter Ware"; one-fourth part (and her best gown) to her daughter Hesther Fisher of Dedham; and one-fourth part (and other clothing) to Hesther Peck, the daughter of her son-in-law John Peck of Rehoboth. Finally, Hester made bequests of clothing to her maidservant Mary Wood and to Elizabeth Hunting, wife of her oldest son John. She then named sons John and Samuel as executors.
John Hunting, Senior, of Dedham made his will on 15 December 1684; he was nearly eighty-three years old but had more than four years yet to live. John began by confirming the bequests made by his wife Hester. He then gave 20s. to his son Samuel, living in Charlestown; this, added to the sum already given Samuel, was to make up that son's full portion. The remainder of John's estate was to be divided into six parts. Two parts (a double portion) were to go to his eldest son, John of Dedham. One part was assigned to his widowed daughter Mary Buckner of Boston and her daughter Mary White; the mother was to have two thirds of their share, the daughter one. Another part was to go to a Dedham son-in-law, Robert Ware, Senior, in right of Robert's wife (Hunting's daughter) Margaret. A fifth part was bequeathed to Hunting's daughter Heasther Fisher of Dedham. The final part was left to his son-in-law John Peck of Rehoboth and Peck's eldest daughter Hesther (in right of Peck's first wife Elizabeth, Hunting's daughter); the Peck share was to be divided equally between Peck and the young Hesther. Executors were to be his Dedham friends, Sergeant Richard Ellis and Thomas Battelle, and his son John, Junior.
Although Hunting died on 12 April 1689 and the inventory was taken on 11 June of that year, the will was not proved until 26 March 1691. This delay in probate may have been a reflection of the political upheaval consequent upon the 1689 overthrow of the administration of Sir Edmund Andros, governor-general of New England. In any event, John's estate was appraised at £153 3s. 11d., which £129 10s. represented eight different parcels of land.
Of the three generations for which records have been found, the senior male representatives of the Hunting family of Palgrave, county Suffolk, had successfully maintained and improved their economic status. The father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of the immigrant had each left a substantial estate to the next generation; and each successor to the family property had added more lands. The father of the immigrant John Hunting had already provided for his eldest son and was, at death, building a second fortune. John, by his decision to sail for New England, had foregone a landed inheritance in England that would have made him one of the wealthiest men in his community; yet, by the time he died in Dedham in 1689, his estate was probably greater than those of any of the brothers he had left behind.

John married Esther (Hester) Seaborn on 28 Jun 1624 in Wramplingham, County Norfolk, England. Esther (daughter of Wiliam Sabume and Mary) was born in in England; died about 1684. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Immigration: Massachusetts
• Name: Esther (Hester) Hunting
• Will: 4 Jan 1675
• Probate: 12 Feb 1684/85

Notes:

Will:
The following is from Ware Genealogy:
[CENTER:]Abstract of Will of Hester Hunting.[:CENTER]
Will of Hester Hunting wife of John Hunting of Dedham dated January 4, 1675 proved Feb. 12, 1684-5.
After payment of debts, " unto my well beloved son John Hunting the whole & full sume of twenty pounds as his part of that Estate, Legacie or portion that was given to me by my loveing Brother Francis Seaborne in Old England, which Legacy is yet due to me to be paid as by my loving Brother Francis Seaborn's will appeares in Old England amounting to the sume of fourty and five pounds," --- " to my beloved son Samuel Hunting liveing in Charlstowne, the whole & full sume of ten pounds as his part & portion of the aforesd fourty & five pounds " - - " to Hannah wife of my son Samuel aforesd one pair of new sheets & ray best table cloth & to my grandchild Samuel Hunting (oldest son of my son Samuel aforesd) six napkins." The fifteen pounds of the said forty-five yet remaining to be disposed of as follows. " one fourth of s'd fifteen pounds remaining to my loving daughter Mary Buckner of Boston and also my best tamy coat " --- " unto the children of my daughter Ware deceased one fourth of s'd fifteen pounds to be equally divided between them all." --- "to my loving daughter Hester Fisher of Dedham one fourth part of s'd fifteen pounds & my best goune." --- "to Hester Pecke the daughter of my Son in law John Peck of Rehoboth one fourth part of s'd fifteen pounds & also my hat & my Stuff coat." --- "to Mary Wood my maid servant my old red undercoate & my searge under coate & my cloth wescoat. And what remains undisposed of all my wearing apparel Linning & wooling I give to Elizabeth Hunting wife of my oldest son John Hunting of Dedham."
" Furthermore my mind & will is that my dear & wel beloved husband aforesd should have the fall use and improvement of all the premises as long as he doth live excepting what things of my wearing Apparell he do see causs to give away to bee sooner disposed of to the person aforesd. Legacies in money to be paid within six months after the Decease of my dear husband if it be sent hither from Old England before, otherwise to be delivered presantly after it be sent over whenever it do come after my said Husbands decease, and if the whole sume aforesd of fourty & five pounds cannot be attained then so much thereof as can be attained shall be divided to the persons aforesd according to their severall proportions aforesd by abateing in each pound what the aforesd Sume shall fall short of fourty & five pounds."
The sons John Hunting and Samuel Hunting appointed Executors.
Husband gives his consent to the will and signs.
Witnesses.
Thomas Battle.
Thomas Fisher.

Other Events:

• Immigration: Abt 1630, Massachusetts

Notes:

Anecdote:
From the "Historic New England":
Robert Pierce and Ann Grenway settled in Dorchester in the first wave of seventeenth-century emigration from England to America, but the circumstances of their arrival are ambiguous. Family legend weaves a tale of a shipboard romance between them on the “Mary and John,” a vessel in John Winthrop’s Massachusetts Bay Colony fleet, but the passenger list for that 1630 voyage does not include a Robert Pierce. John Grenway, a millwright, his wife Mary, and their daughter Ann, however, were passengers on the “Mary and John,” and the Grenways became active residents of the fledgling town. Although not a proprietor, John Grenway was among the first to be granted freeman status, and he was therefore entitled to vote and to share in further land divisions. He owned a house on five acres of land, “said to be near the burying place,” and accumulated other properties throughout the town.2 Mary Grenway and her daughters, all of whom were literate, took an active role in town affairs that pertained to women. Mary Grenway initiated two petitions to the Massachusetts General Court seeking freedom for a midwife, Alice Tilly, to practice freely in Boston and Dorchester; Grenway gathered the signatures of over forty local women, including four of her daughters.
Robert Pierce, who married the Grenways’ daughter Ann, was among the first few groups of Englishmen who left from Plymouth and other western counties of Great Britain to settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is not known whether he sailed on another ship in Winthrop’s fleet, or came later in the 1630s on a ship arriving directly in Dorchester, but genealogists have traced the family to Plymouth, England, where Robert was born around 1600. It is clear that Ann Grenway and Robert Pierce eventually met, married, and settled in Dorchester, but the dates of these events remain uncertain because genealogical records of this era are spotty. Genealogists use the year 1635 as the approximate date of both their marriage and the birth of their first child. Ann Grenway Pierce’s birth date is also unknown, but Dorchester records and her gravestone assert that she was 104 years old at her death in 1695, noting her status as an aged and respected matriarch.
Robert and Ann Pierce settled first in Pine Neck, later called Port Norfolk, an area of upland and salt marsh along the Neponset River and the harbor that took its name from a dense grove of pine trees that persisted well into the nineteenth century. Pierce built their home on a parcel of land belonging to his father-in-law, John Grenway. Like other seventeenth-century fathers, John Grenway arranged for the distribution of property among his children. Common practice would have been for a father to divide his land among his male heirs at his death,6 but Grenway and his wife Mary had six daughters and no sons, and he divided his land during his lifetime, among his daughters and sons-in-law. In 1650 he gave portions of his lands to at least two of his five married daughters and their husbands, including Robert and Ann Pierce. To them he deeded all his land on Pine Neck, six acres, and it was there that Pierce built his first house.
Throughout the nineteenth century Pierce’s descendants and other Dorchester townsfolk had a clear idea of where this house was located, for the cellar and the well remained local landmarks. The Rev. John Pierce, minister of the First Parish in Brookline and a Pierce descendant, visited the site in 1804. He “found part of the cellar, in which was the stump of a tree, and drank water from the well dug for the use of my great, great, great grandfather.” On a return visit, in 1820, he took a small fragment of rock from the well as a memento. Later in the nineteenth century local historian Edward McGlenan wrote in The Dorchester Book that the house was near what was then the Neponset railroad station, and he also referred to the cellar and the well.
When the Pierces settled in Pine Neck, they were one of only a handful of families in the area, most notably the Pierces, the Minots, and the Tolmans. The most densely settled area of Dorchester remained Allen’s Plain, near the first meetinghouse, in the northern section of the town; this was the location of the Grenways’ home. The intention of the Massachusetts
Bay Company and its settlers had been to establish a nucleated town center, with small houselots clustered near the church. One concern was safety, as the colonists had feared attacks by any nearby Native American tribes, but they were equally concerned that
Dorchester should remain a cohesive, unified community, with religion at its center. In 1635 the General Court reiterated this intent, ordering that no dwelling be built more than a half mile from the meetinghouse without permission. As evidenced by the Pierces and others, however, settlement quickly spread from the tight, compact village to other parts of Dorchester. The actual threat from the native Neponsets, most of whom had been felled by disease before the colonists arrived, was negligible, and the land seemed boundless.
The earliest town records contain a few scattered references to Robert Pierce. The first reference, in 1639, declared that he “shall be a Commoner.” Pierce and his wife Ann joined the Dorchester Church in 1640, making him eligible for freeman status with its accompanying suffrageand property rights, but there is no record that Pierce ever obtained that status. He did take a role in town affairs, serving as fence viewer in 1651 and 1654, and he probably shouldered his responsibility for the maintenance of the roads that ran near his land in Pine Neck and later in the Great Lots. While women in the seventeenth century generally had a very limited public role, Ann Grenway Pierce, along with three of her sisters, signed her mother’s petitions to the General Court in 1649 and 1650.
Robert and Ann Pierce eventually moved to a house on a six-acre “home lott” of plowing land in the Eastern Great Lots. An unrecorded deed in the Pierce Family Papers indicates that Pierce acquired this property from John Smith in 1652, and he had apparently already built a house according to an earlier “verbal agremt” between them, on land which lay along the Lower Road, the “jogging” section of Adams Street that is now Gallivan Boulevard.
Pierce owned other parcels of land in addition to this homelot. The inventory of his estate, in 1664, lists the home lot, with the house, barn, and surrounding six acres, twenty acres of land in Pine Neck, five acres of meadow, perhaps from one of the town land grants, and thirty-six acres of common land. With the other items specified in the inventory, these land holdings indicate the kind of mixed-use, scattered- field farming typical of New England in the seventeenth century. Pierce had plowing land, meadow, and, on Pine Neck, the salt marsh so essential for forage. The inventory lists wheat, Indian corn, “pease,” and hay, and a few animals—two cows and two pigs—that were typical of crop and animal husbandry. The household goods, which included some brass and pewter, a table and chairs, a feather bed, and two Bibles, indicate a family of moderate means.
Robert and Ann Pierce had three children, and two, Thomas and Mary, survived into adulthood. In his will Robert Pierce provided both for his children and for his widow, Ann. With only one son there was no question as to whether his property would go only to the eldest son, or be divided among all the sons. In England, due to limited land, primogeniture, a practice which passed real property intact to the oldest son, was the rule, but with the abundance of land in the New World, fathers were able to make different decisions. Subsequent generations of the Pierce family dealt with the transmission of property to the next generation in various ways, factoring birth order, gender, age, and the amount of available property into the bequests.
Ann Pierce inherited more than the customary widow’s third; rather, she was to have, during her lifetime, one half of Robert’s house, land, and household goods. Although she could do as she wanted with the household goods, her share of the house and land would return to her son Thomas at her death. Thomas in effect inherited all the property—but only after an indeterminate period of time. Robert and Ann’s daughter Mary had married Thomas Hearring about 1650, and Robert gave her a dowry at that time. In his will he left her an additional twenty pounds, and he also bequeathed ten pounds to be divided equally among Mary’s five children. Ann Grenway Pierce survived her husband by almost thirty years. She probably lived out her long life in the house built by Robert Pierce in the 1650s, but it was Ann rather than her husband who lived long enough to see the house further north on the Lower Road that her son Thomas and his family moved into in the 1690s—the house that was for so long called the Robert Pierce House.

Robert married Ann Greenway about 1635. Ann (daughter of John Greenway and Mary) was born in 1591 in England; died on 31 Dec 1695 in Dorchester, Massachusetts; was buried in Dorchester North Burying Ground, Dorchester, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Ann Pierce
• Immigration: Abt 1630, Massachusetts

Notes:

Buried:
Her gravestone says:
Here Lyes ye
Body of Ann
Ye Wife of
Robert Pearce
Aged about 104 Years
Died December
Ye 31 1695

Notes:

Married:
It's not clear if they got married in England or in Massachusetts. From "Historic New England":
"Robert Pierce and Ann Grenway settled in Dorchester in the first wave of seventeenth-century emigration from England to America, but the circumstances of their arrival are ambiguous. Family legend weaves a tale of a shipboard romance between them on the “Mary and John,” a vessel in John Winthrop’s Massachusetts Bay Colony fleet, but the passenger list for that 1630 voyage does not include a Robert Pierce. John Grenway, a millwright, his wife Mary, and their daughter Ann, however, were passengers on the “Mary and John,” and the Grenways became active residents of the fledgling town."