John Landers (1654-1737) and His Wife Rachel Freeman (b. 1659) of Sandwich, Massachusetts

John Landers (sometimes spelled Launders) was born 2 January 1653/4 at Sandwich on Cape Cod, the son of Thomas Landers. [Sandwich Vital Records in the Mayflower Descendant, 14:168] His mother was Jane Kerby/Kirby. John is my 8th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

In 1672 John Launders turned in two dozen blackbirds’ heads to receive a bounty, indicating he was a good marksman as a teen. [Brownson & McLean]

John’s mother Jane was a Quaker, as was his brother Richard, but I haven’t found an indication of John practicing the religion.

John married, probably at Sandwich, Rachel Freeman about 1686, based on the birthdate of their first child. “Rachell Ffreemand” was born 4 September 165[9?]* at Sandwich, the daughter of Edmund Freeman. [Sandwich VR in MD 14:110] Rachel’s mother was Edmund’s second wife Margaret Perry. That Rachel married John is shown in the 9 June 1705 distribution of Edmund Freeman’s estate: John Launders and Rachel his wife received £1 6s. Some of Rachel’s siblings/half-siblings received far more money—Edmund £15, Ezra Perry and his wife Rebekah £12 14s 6p—so perhaps Rachel had been gifted something while her father was living. [Barnstable County Probate Records 2:190]

Rachel’s father Edmund 2 Freeman was 22 and John’s father Thomas 1 Landers was 15 when they came to New England in 1635 on the same ship and were both first at Saugus and then were neighbors in Sandwich. Rachel’s sisters Deborah and Sarah also married sons of Thomas Landers. [Brownson & McLean]

Rachel and John had six children born Sandwich [Sandwich VR in MD 29:32]:

1. Alice born 15 April 1687; married 18 Nov 1714 John Hathaway, son of John & Joanna (Pope) Hathaway of Dartmouth.
2. Richard born 6 March 1688/9; no death record found—evidently died intestate and perhaps unmarried. 
3. Deborah born 19 Oct 1691; died unmarried in 1769 ae 78.
4. John born 9 April 1694; married Content Nye 4 June 1719; died Sandwich 4 March 1737/8.
5. Margaret born 30 August 1697; died unmarried 1770 age 73. 
6. Ebenezer born 13 March 1699/1700; married Temperance Tobey 19 Dec 1721; removed to Bridgewater.

I descend from their son John whom i wrote about here.

A map of East Sandwich depicting homestead locations in 1667 shows John’s father Thomas Landers living on what is now Ploughed Neck Road, off Old County Road, next to Edmund Freeman Jr and land owned by John Freeman, sons of Edmund 1. [Lovell] John’s father did not leave a will but it seems likely that John inherited or was deeded his father’s land.

In 1733, John signed a receipt for his share, £5, of his sister, Sarah Landers' estate which he received from his brother Joseph Landers who was administrator of her estate. [Barnstable Co. Probate Records 4-5:173]

“John Landers sen” died Sandwich on 15 April 1737. [Sandwich Vital Records in MD 29:28] He was 83 years of age, quite a long life for that era.

No probate of John’s estate is found. It is probable he distributed his real estate by deed as was frequently done in that time, but no proof exists because of the 1827 fire that destroyed most of the Barnstable County land records

John’s son John died 4 March 1737/8 which has caused confusion in keeping their identities distinct. 

I have not found a death record for Rachel—I only know she died after the 9 June 1705 distribution. There is commonly an unsourced death date of 7 October 1709 shown for her online.

*The last digit in Rachel’s birth year has been marked over and is practically illegible. Savage in his Genealogical Dictionary and Freeman’s History of Cape Cod, both give the year as 1659 which is a good fit among her siblings’ birth dates. 

Sources:

Maclean McLean, The American Genealogist, “Mr. Edmond 2 Freeman of Sandwich Mass and His Family,” 40:103 (1964)

Lydia (Phinney) Brownson & Maclean McLean, NEHGS Register, “Thomas 1 Landers of Sandwich,” 124: 45 (January 1970)

R.A. Lovell, Jr., Sandwich A Cape Cod Town, 1984

Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700

Frederick Freeman, Freeman Genealogy, 1875

Samuel Storrs (1640-1719) and His First Wife Mary Huckins of Sutton-cum-Lound Nottinghamshire, Barnstable, Mass., and Mansfield, CT

Samuel Storrs was baptized 7 December 1640 at St. Bartholomew, Sutton-cum-Lound, Nottinghamshire, England, the fourth of seven children of Thomas and Mary Storrs. His family were land owners and of Nottinghamshire for generations. [Storrs] His surname is spelled in a variety of ways including Stores and Stoars. He is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family. 

St. Bartholomew's Church

Samuel emigrated to New England about 1663, settling at Barnstable. He married, first, Mary Huckins on 6 December 1666 at Barnstable. [Barnstable Vital Records 1:60] Mary was the daughter of Thomas Huckins and his first wife Mary Wells.  Her father was a prominent man in the colony. [Hawes]

The 1683 list of members of the Barnstable Church by Pastor Russell she is named “Mary ye wife of Samll Stoore.” [Barnstable Church Register]

Mary and Samuel had seven children born Barnstable.  [Barnstable Vital Records 1:60]:

1. Mary born 31 Dec 1667

2. Sarah born 26 April 1670; died before 19 Sept 1720; married Thomas Burgess 26 February 1696 Barnstable

3. Hannah born 28 March 1672; died before 19 October 1751 at Harwich; married Prence Snow Sr in 1698 at Eastham; had a large family

4. Elizabeth born 31 May 1675; married John Kingsley and had children Ebenezer and Lydia

5. Samuel born 17 May 1677; died 9 October 1727 age 50, Mansfield; married Martha Burgess 31 October 1700 at Windham and had large family

6. Lydia born June 1679;  died 23 Oct 1751, Mansfield 

7. Mehetable baptized 17 Sept 1683 [NEHGS Register 10:345]; likely died in infancy

Mary’s father Thomas Huckins and her half-brother Joseph drowned at sea on 9 November 1679. Her father did not leave a will, but Mary is named in the settlement of the estate. “Thomas Huckens (Mary’s half-brother) to pay Samuell Stores and Mary his wife…sixty six pounds in marchants pay at prise Currant…viz: thirty pounds therof att or before the fifteenth of November Next Insueing & fifteen pounds within a year after the said November Next ensuing: and twenty and one pounds by the fifteenth of November which shalbe in the year 1682; and further to Deliver to them the said Samuell and Mary three Cowes; or their value in other Neate Cattle and a p’sell of Marsh of late the said Thomas Huckens, Deceased in the Committees Cove; and that p’sell of his marsh which hee bought of Mr Linnell, since sold by the said Samuell Stores, and alsoe further to the said Samuell eight shillings, in silver mony, and the second best suite throughout, of the said Thomas Huckens Deceased, or in liew therof three pounds in silver Mony; and this to be in full of the said Samull and Maryes prte of the said estate, to be payed att Barnstable.” Samuell Stores signed the document about the division of Thomas’ estate on 14 March 1679/80. [Plymouth Colony Wills 4:I:8]

Mary Storrs died at Barnstable 24 Sept 1683, soon after Mehitable’s birth. [Barnstable Vital Records 1:60] On Pastor Russell’s list of 1683 Barnstable Church members, he noted next to Mary Stoore’s name: “She Septembr 23 1683 died in childbed.” [Scan of original images available in the Quartex Collection at the Congregational Library website] 

Samuel was admitted to the Barnstable Church on 8 March 1685, a year and a half after his wife’s death. [Barnstable Church Records p 166]

Samuel married, second, widow Hester/Esther Egard on 14 December 1685 at Barnstable. [Barnstable Vital Records 1:60] Hester’s maiden name and her first husband’s full name are not known. She had a son John Egard. 

Children with Hester, born Barnstable: [Barnstable Vital Records 1:60]

8.  Thomas born 27 October 1686; died 4 April 1755 age 68, Mansfield, married Mehitable Joyce 14 March 1708

9. Hester/Hester “born About ye Middle of Octor 1688”; married William Hall 20 July 1708

10. Cordial born 14 October 1692; died about October 1782; married 1) Hannah Wood 15 or 18 September 1724; married 2) Katherine Tiffany 10 October 1765; both at Mansfield

Samuel and his family removed to Windham, Tolland County, Connecticut in or before 1698. [Hawes] He lived in the part of town that became Mansfield in 1702. A condition of Mansfield becoming a separate town was for the citizens to quickly find a minister and until that time they were to continue to pay their rates to Mr. Whiting, the Windham minister. 

Some of the early Mansfield town meetings took place at Samuel’s home, indicating his prominence in town. [Storrs]

• A Town Meeting was held at Mr Sam. Storrs house 6 Nov 1702, for the purpose of making arrangements for the settlement of a minister in Town of Mansfield.
• At a Town Meeting held at Saml Storrs 18 March 1703, a committee was appointed to lay out 100 acres of land to each Allotment. 
• At a meeting held at Saml Storrs house, voted that the common lands on the plain be enclosed annually for winter grain until the owners or a major part thereof shall order it otherwise.
• At a town proprietors’ meeting 8 Dec 1707, voted that Saml. Storrs see what the Proprietors will do for encouraging and settling a minister.
• At a 24 March 1709 town meeting, voted that Saml. Storrs be one of a committee to see about getting a minister, which he declined.
• On 18 October 1710 Samuel Storrs was one of the ten founders of the First Congregational Church of Mansfield.

Interesting how long it took to hire a minister. Perhaps there was division among townspeople since Samuel declined being on a hiring committee in 1709.

Samuel’s house is believed to be near the southern boundary of the old burial ground in Mansfield. [Storrs] 

Samuel was involved in many land transactions [Storrs]:

• The first deed on record of that part of Windham which is now Mansfield was given in 1700 to Samuel Storrs by six or eight gentlemen from Norwich. The next deed related to him was from Samuel Gifford, six acres, 14th home lot in Windham 6 Dec 1700. Next Samuel Stoors to a Mr. Crane in 1709. Next from Capt John Mason to Samuel Storrs Sr of 10 acres of land in Windham, 20 June 1710. 
• Saml. Storrs Sen’r Land laid out it being the 15th Farm in Number—The west side of the Cedar Swamp road. This laid out in lieu of a hundred Acres and drawn for the 10th allotment
• Ten Acres lying at Turnip Meadow for Saml. Storrs Sen’r abutting eastward on the river northward on the Common westerly southerly on the Storrs meadow laid out Dec. 20th 1698.
• 50 Acres laid out to Saml. Storrs Sen’r in 3 pieces.
• 1st piece South and West side Spring Hill.
• 2nd piece South side of Fenton’s Division.
• 3rd “ lying at Chestnut Hill March 14th, 1710.
• Part of 2nd Division 50 acres laid out to Saml Storrs Sen’r. The said 50 acres belonging to the 10th allotment south of John Agard’s farm Mansfield Feb’y 2nd, 1710.
• Land laid out for Saml Storrs Sen’r at Chestnut Hill belonging to the 10th allotment.
• A 2nd Div. of 10 Acres laid out for Saml Storrs Sen’r lying on East side of Nachaug River laid out in the year 1706.

Samuel Storrs Senr yeoman of Mansfield, being weak of body, wrote his will 22 May 1717. Witnesses were Eleazer Williams, Mary Williams, Mehetabell Gary.  [Hartford Probate District, probate no. 5282 contains all the document pertaining to his estate] Bequests:

• Esther “my dear and beloved wife” £10 a year “if she stand in need of it,”  use of two cows, and half of the orchard, and a fire room in the dwelling house and her fire wood “so long as she continues my widow.” These particulars are to be fulfilled by “my beloved son Thomas Storrs, hereafter named.”
• “To my beloved son Samuel Storrs” my gun, sword, hoan and razor. He had already been given a whole allotment of land.
• To five daughters, Sarah, Hannah, Elisabeth, Lydia, and Esther, 100 acres of land that lyes at Corry Rock, and 10 acres that lyes there, and 50 acres that “I purpose” lyes there in the other division, to be divided equally, and after my my wife’s all the movables and household stuff within doors, and cattles if there be any, equally among them, only Lydia is to have my feather bed that I lied on with the furniture thereof over and above the rest.
• I have given to my son Cordial by deed of gift, 150 acres of land and 6 acres of meadow, which is his portion.
• I have given to my son Thomas Storrs, whom I likewise constitute make and ordain my only and sole Executor of this my last will and testament, my home lot and pasture lot, house, barn, and small divisions in a deed of gift, which I account his portion.

Samuel died 30 April 1719 at Mansfield, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. [Storrs] He was buried at the Old Mansfield Center Cemetery. [Find A Grave Memorial ID 22828401] He had a large memorial stone erected by Charles Storrs with an extension inscription including that Samuel and Esther Storrs are buried under the monument.

On 23 June 1719 Mr Eleazer Williams & Mrs Mary Williams both personally appeared at court and made oath they were present and saw Samll Storrs sign his will and that they judged him to be in disposing mind and of sound memory.

His estate was inventoried on 2 July 1719 by Shubael Dimmock and Thomas Huntington and totaled £73 6s 5d. It included a 100 acre lot, a 50 acre lot not yet laid out, clothing including a satin cap and gloves, cooking items, furniture, various tubs to hold food stuffs, a churn, a pair of scales, tablecloth and napkins, gun, sword, two cows, an old mare. The inventory was presented at court by Thomas Storrs, executor, on 7 July 1719.

Hester Storrs died 13 April 1730 at Mansfield. [Find A Grave Memorial ID 25652158]

Sources: 

Charles Storrs, The Storrs Family: Genealogical and Other Memoranda, 1886

NEHGS Register, “First Settlers of Barnstable, Mass.,” 2:197 (1848)

Connecticut Nutmegger, “Headstones, Old Storrs Cemetery, Mansfield,” 19:36 (1986)

NEHGS Register, “Scituate and Barnstable Church Records,” 10:345 (1856)

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700

James W. Hawes, Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy, “Nicholas 1 Snow of Eastham,” no. 34, 1916

Thomas Dexter (ca 1594-1677) of Leicestershire, England, Saugus/Lynn, Sandwich, Barnstable and Boston, Mass.

Thomas Dexter was born about 1594 in England, possibly at Great Bowden Leicestershire but there is no baptism found there so his parents are not yet known. He was in New England by 1630 where he was an entrepreneur with a keen head for business and the ability to design and build useful things. But he also comes across as a bit of a jerk! He was intensely litigious, physically attacked someone during an argument, and was accused of mistreating a young indentured servant in his care. The records indicate he was contemptuous of government figures, was fined for sleeping at church, yet was frequently used by the government to get things done. [Lovell]

Being an arrogant, distrustful hot-head who could get things done means Thomas frequently appears in the records of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, a gift for researchers. Thomas is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur “Art” Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

I adore Sandwich, a Massachusetts town on Cape Cod. I have many early Sandwich ancestors and have long known of the name Thomas Dexter. I have visited Dexter Mill in Sandwich as my other ancestor, Seth Pope, purchased the mill in 1699 from the Dexters for his son John to run. So I was tickled when I recently discovered that I descend from Thomas as well. A later mill was moved to the original site and is a tourist attraction that actively mills corn. 

Thomas migrated with either Mr. Endicott in 1629 or in the Winthrop fleet of 1630. He bought with him at least three of his children and several servants. [Warden]

On 30 January 1613[/14] Thomas married Mary Harper at Great Bowden. Mary was baptized 25 Dec 1590, daughter of Richard Harp[er]. Mary and Thomas five children baptized Great Bowden [Mahler]:

1. Thomas born baptized 6 November 1614; m. by 1648 Elizabeth —?—; a marriage entry of Elizabeth Vincent to an unnamed groom is thought by some to be Thomas but proof is lacking
2. Mary baptized 16 Oct 1616; m. 1) in October 1639 John Friend; m. 2) Capt. James Oliver
3. William baptized 21 Feb 1618[/19]; m. Barnstable in July 1653 Sarah Vincent. [Mayflower Descendant 4:223]
4. Frances baptized 5 August 1621; m. Roxbury 29 Dec 1646 Richard Woody
5. Elizabeth baptized 31 August 1623; possibly married Richard Carr who was called brother-in-law to Thomas Oliver but Oliver already had a married daugther named Elizabeth and there are no Carrs mentioned in his will. 

No mention is found in New England of his wife Mary, so it is presumed she died in England. [Warden] I would not think Thomas would come to New England alone with five children, so perhaps Mary died early in New England. I have not found anything supporting a second marriage. I descend from William.

In 1630 Thomas settled on a whopping 800 acres in Saugus (later Lynn), on the west side of Saugus River, where he had many servants. He became a freeman in 1631. On 4 March 1632/3, the court ordered Mr. Dexter to be set in the bilboes [iron shackles around ankles], disenfranchised, and fined £40 (later reduced to £10) for speaking reproachful and seditious words against the government. [Massachusetts Bay Colony Records 1:103, 243 hereafter MBCR] This meant he was deprived of the right to vote or participate in government.

Many people write, including Warden, that Dexter was one of the founders of the Saugus Iron Works, then called Hammersmith, which abutted his homestead. A reproduction of the Saugus Iron Works operates as a National Park Historic Site. A paper from the National Park Service states Thomas owned some 1,300 acres of land, lived nearby where he ran a grist mill, and sold some acreage for the works, including a farmhouse and barn, but found nothing indicating he was one of the founders of the works. [Carlson]

Saugus Iron Works source: npplan.com

He is called farmer in records, and he had many servants and workers to run his farm and other business enterprises. In 1633 he built a bridge across the Saugus River, stretched a fishing weir across it, and later built a mill nearby. [Warden] 

Thomas was a man of substantial means and clearly was well educated. He is often referred to with the honorific “Mr” in records. On 3 April 1637 he and nine others, referred to as “The Ten Men of Saugus,” obtained a grant from Plymouth court to establish a settlement that became known as Sandwich on Cape Cod. [Lovell] In 1640 he was given six acres on which to build the first gristmill in Sandwich. [Plymouth Colony Records 1:149-50 hereafter PCR] Up to this point townspeople had to travel to the mill at Plymouth. [Sheedy & Coogan] 

Sign at Old Town Hall, Sandwich

He probably lived in Sandwich a short time as a 1640 land grant of 26 acres was dependent on "if he comes to live here.” [PCR 1:149-50] His son Thomas Dexter Jr. served as the miller and the elder Thomas returned to Saugus, forfeiting the 26-acre grant. [Gill]

About 1646 Thomas purchased two farms in Barnstable on Cape Cod, one near what is now Willow Street, adjoining the mill stream and afterwards occupied by his son William, and the other on the northeastern slope of Scorton Hill. His dwelling was situated on the north side of the old county road which had a commanding view of the countryside. His serene surroundings did not at first keep him conflict-free. In 1648 alone he had no less than six lawsuits in court, but all were decided in his favor. [Warden] At Scorton Marsh he built a causeway connecting Scorton Hill and Scorton Neck at the border between Barnstable and Sandwich. He sought to collect tolls from eight Barnstable families who used the causeway. When they did not pay, he sued to collect. He won his case but was granted only a one-time award from those whose lands were affected. [Lovell]

Thomas’ disenfranchisement eventually came to an end as in 1657 he took the oath of fidelity at Barnstable. [PCR 8:179] He was admitted freeman of Plymouth Colony on 1 June 1658. [PCR 5:277] He finally settled into a quieter life on his farm. 

In the 1650s through mid 1670s Thomas served his community in a variety of ways: as highway surveyor, on many juries, committee to lay out a highway, committee to set bounds between Sandwich and Plymouth, and committee to gather the minister’s maintenance. [Anderson] He must have been a man of great energy as aging didn’t noticeably slow him down.

There are far too many legal battles involving Thomas Dexter list separately, but a few of interest:

• Thomas Dexter accused John Endicott (later to be Governor) of battery and on 3 May 1631 the case was tried before a jury, which decided in favor of Dexter who was awarded £10. Endicott said ”I hear I am much complained of by goodman Dexter for striking him. Understand since it is not lawful for a justice of the peace to strike, but if you had seen the manner of his carriage with such daring of me, with arms akimbo, it would have provoked a very patient man. He has given out that if I had a purse he would make me empty it, and if he cannot have justice here, he will do wonders in England, and if he cannot prevail there, he will try it out at with me here at blows. If it were lawful for me to try it out at blows and he a fit man for me to deal with, you would not hear me complain.” [MBCR 1:86]
• On 3 Sept 1633 the differences between John Dillingham, Richard Wright and Thomas Dexter were referred to John Endicott and Increase Nowell for arbitration. [MBCR 1:108]  This caught my eye because John Dillingham and Richard Wright are also my direct ancestors.
• On 1 October 1633 Thomas Dexter was fined 20s for drunkenness. [MBCR 1:108] 
• At court 31 March 1645 Samuel Hutchinson of Lynn sued Thomas Dexter Sr. of Lynn for assault and battery and was awarded a 40s judgment. Dexter felt he had been insulted by Samuel Hutchinson, met him one day on the road, and “jumping from his horse bestowed about twenty blows on the head and shoulders of Hutchinson, to the no small danger or deray of his senses as well as sensibilities.” [Essex Quarterly Court Records 1:95 hereafter EQC] The depositions of several neighbors who were going to work and passed “Goodman Dexters” said that Dexter struck Hutchinson “with the great end of his stick about twenty blows, that the man was a quiet man and that Goodman Dexter had no cause to complain.” [EQC 1:100]
• “Mr. Thomas Dexter, Senior” brought eight debt suits to court 6 March 1648/9 with mixed results. [PCR 7:43-4]
• Thomas’ greatest lawsuit was in 1657 against some inhabitants of Lynn over the ownership of what is now the entire waterfront town of Nahant. Thomas purchased this from Indian Chief Pognanum, called  “Black Will,” for a suit of clothes. He was defeated but he and his heirs kept the case active in court for over 38 years. [EQC 2:43] One of the issues was that Black Will seems to have sold Nahant to more than one buyer.  Capt. James Oliver and Thomas Dexter Jr, administrators of the estate of selectman Thomas Dexter Sr. sued the town of Lynn and Thomas Laiton regarding the ownership of Nahant, appealing the Court of Assistants’ ruling of 1 Sept 1657. [EQC 6:325] The judgment was in favor of Lynn 26 Nov 1678. [EQC 7:124-5] The most telling evidence against Dexter was probably the deposition of about 1677 made by “Clement Couldam aged about fifty-five years” who said that “about thirty-four years since he lived with old Thomas Dexter and the latter coming from the town meeting told Mr. Sharp of Salem, in his hearing, that he had given up his right in Nahant to Line and the town had given him a considerable tract of land on the back side of his farm which would be of more advantage to him.” [EQC 7:127]

Thomas Jr. seems to have inherited is father’s litigious streak and forceful personality, but William appears to be the more mild-mannered member of the family as I don’t see him in court records. 

It seems Thomas Dexter was also a hard master. On 6 October 1646, Thomas Jenner wrote to John Winthrop asking him to see to the matter of a child of Mrs. Allin whose only son had been placed with “one Goodman Dexter of Lyn.” “The truth is, the boy is used very hardly: I saw the youth at Dexter’s own house most miserable in clothing, never did I see any worse in New England…” [Winthrop Papers 5:77]

It seems Thomas was always wheeling and dealing and that his family was not immune from his tactics.  “John Frend” had lawyer Thomas Lechford record a list of “money due to me from my father-in-law Thomas Dexter” about the spring 1641. It included over £100 borrowed from Friend prior to the marriage and “My wife’s portion was to be 100 to be paid at the day of marriage w[hi]ch was in October 1639…” Evidently not being able to pay the various sums, Thomas Dexter bound the Saugus(?) mill to Friend on 26 June 1640. [Hale]

On 20 August 1640, Thomas Dexter of Lynn, yeoman, mortgaged the 800-acre farm in Lynn and 20 head of cattle to Humphrey Hooke for payment of a £500 judgment against Dexter. [Hale] 

On 25 Jan 1646[/7] Thomas Dexter of Lynn, yeoman, sold to “Richard Ledder” “for the use of the ironworks, all that land which by reason of a dam now agreed to be made shall overflow and all sufficient ground for a watercourse from the dam to the works to be erected, and also all the land between the ancient watercourse and the next extended flume or watercourse together with five acres and an half of land lying in the cornfield most convenient for the ironworks and also two convenient cartways that is to say one on each side of the premises as by a deed indented bearing date the twenty-seventh of January 1645 more at large appeareth.” [Essex County Land Deeds 1:2]

On 30 June 1648, Thomas Dexter was described as “late of Lin & now of Sandwich” when he confirmed that he had assigned one hundred acres of plowland and five hundred thirty acres of pasture near Charlestown line to Samuel Bennet as ordered by Mr. William Hooke. [Boston Record Commissioners, 32:135-7]

He conveyed his mill and large real estate holdings in Sandwich to his son Thomas and his West Barnstable farm to his son William. He sold his Scorton Hill farm to William Throope in 1673. [Warden]

On 24 October 1638, “Thomas Dexter of Lynne…Yeoman…for my natural love and good affection that I bear unto my son & heir apparent Thomas Dexter” granted him one mansion house and appurtenances, and one water mill, and six hundred acres of land, meadow and pasture to the said mansion house belonging “lying and being in Sandwich by the Indians heretofore called Shawme” in Plymouth Colony, and if “my said sone…shall not think good to accept of the premises hereby granted, that I will pay him the sum of five hundred pounds upon reasonable demands.” [Hale] On 30 October 1638, the previous deed was amended to include Thomas Dexter’s gift of oxen, plough and a horse and to commit to writing the agreement that young Thomas would “pay or case to be paid unto Mary Dexter & Frances Dexter his [Thomas the elder’s] daughters, for and towards their portions the sum of one hundred pounds” each when the younger Thomas “shall enter into & upon the said land…after his marriage, or at such time as he or his executors….shall demand & receive the said five hundred pounds, in case the said Thomas Dexter above bounden should marry a wife and die at sea before his return into these parts of New England, or not be well advanced in marriage according to the good liking of the said Thomas Dexter the father.” [Hale]

After Thomas sold his Barnstable farm, he moved to Boston to live with his daughter Mary Oliver. Thomas Dexter died in Boston in 1677 and was buried in the Oliver family tomb at King’s Chapel Burying Ground. [Warden] I have not found an original source about Thomas’ burial.

Administration was taken on the estate of “Thomas Dexter Senior” 9 Feb 1676[/7] by “Capt. James Oliver his son-in-law and Thomas Dexter Jr., his grandson.” [Suffolk County Probate Records 12:16 hereafter SPR] The grandson soon died and at November 1679 court “Ensign Ri[chard] Woodde” was named in his place. [SPR 12:16]

An inventory was sworn 25 April 1677 on the estate of “Thomas Dexter Senior late deceased in Boston and as far as is known” totaling £70 with no land, except “a claim of some lands” at Lynn, which were unvalued. [SPR 12:138]

Sources:

William A. Warden, Genealogy of the Dexter Family in America: Descendants of Thomas Dexter Together with the Record of Other Allied Families, 1905

Jack Sheedy and Jim Coogan, Cape Cod Companion,1999

Barbara Gill, CCGS Bulletin, "The Ten Men From Saugus,” Spring 2005

R.A. Lovell, Jr., Sandwich A Cape Cod Town, 1984

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Edward Everett Hale, editor, Note-book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638 to July 29, 1641, 1885

Boston Record Commissioners, A Volume Relating to the Early History of Boston Containing the Aspinwall Notarial Records from 1644 to 1651, 1903

Stephen P. Carlson, Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site: Historical Sketch, 1973

Leslie Mahler, The American Genealogist, “Colonists from Great Bowden, Leicestershire: Dexter, Cole, Blakeman,” 78:181 (2003)

Nathaniel Shurtleff, editor, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth of New England, 12 volumes, 1855