Benjamin Nye ca 1620 to 1704-07, Kent to Sandwich, Mass., and Katherine Tupper

Benjamin Nye came to America as a young man on the Abigail in 1635. He was first at Saugus (now Lynn), then he settled in Sandwich, Barnstable Co., Mass., where he built a grist mill.  His last name is spelled in a variety of ways in records, including Noye, Noy and Nie.  Benjamin is my 9^th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. There is a lot of misinformation on Benjamin Nye out there. Some genealogies have given him an exact birth date, origin and father’s name (Thomas) in England with a long royal ancestry going back to Denmark; some have said he was a 15 year old cabin boy on board the Abigail; others that he was an apprentice to Thomas Tupper. But as far as I know none of this has been proven according to genealogy standards.

What is known is that on 19 October 1640 Benjamin married Katherine Tupper (Plymouth VR p. 654). Plymouth Colony Court Orders has the marriage date as 6 October 1640.  Katherine was the daughter of Thomas and Katherine (Gator) Tupper.

Benjamin and Katherine had eight children, born Sandwich:

Mary born ca 1641, m. Jacob Burgess

John Nye, born ca 1644, married Esther _____ (seen as Shed, daughter of Daniel Shed, but not sure what the source for that is)

Ebenezer born say 1647, m. Sarah Gibbs

Jonathan b. 20 November 1649, married 1^st Hannah ____; 2^nd Patience Burgess

Mercy Nye, born 8 April 1652, did not marry

Caleb, born say 1655, m. Elizabeth Wood/Atwood

Nathan, b. say 1657, m. Mercy ____

Benjamin, b. say 1659, did not marry, killed while serving in King Philip’s War in 1676

Most of the births are unrecorded but are proven as children of Katherine and Benjamin from other records, except for Benjamin and Caleb. But since Benjamin was the only man of the name in Sandwich at the time it seems quite certain they were his sons. Also, Caleb had land near his brother Jonathan in Sandwich.

I descend through John as well as Jonathan.

According to a 1667 map, Benjamin lived at the beginning of Spring Hill Road where it meets Rt. 6A. The map shows his mill was on Old County Road between Hoxie and Nye Ponds.  In 1685 he built a second house in that area as well as a fulling mill, giving his Spring Hill house to his son John.  His second home was given to his son, Jonathan, by deed dated 1704 "if he will take care of me and Katherine Nye, my wife."

Source: Sandwich A Cape Cod Town, RA Lovell

The Nye Family Association of America owns the old Nye house (Benjamin’s second home) on Old County Road in Sandwich.

Nye Family Homestead

Fellow Abigail passenger Dennis Geere left Benjamin money in his will, so one would think they were related in some way but no evidence has been found.

Benjamin died between 9 June 1704 when he deeded land to his son Jonathan and 17 May 1707 when he is called deceased when son Jonathan received land.

Katherine Tupper Nye died after 9 June 1704 when she was mentioned in her husband’s deed of land to their son Jonathan. No gravestones for Benjamin and Katherine have survived. 

Photograph I purchased at an estate sale that shows the location of Nye memorial

Sources:

RA Lovell, Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, third edition published by the Sandwich Archives and Historical Center, 1996, first printing 1984

Bernard Peterson , The Nye House at Sandwich, Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy Pamphlet Series, No. 12, 1925

George Washington Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, A Critical Accounting of That War with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, Leominster, MA, 1896

Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, HW Blake & Co., New York, 1890

Ian Hilder, George R. Nye and Jonathan A Shaw, NEHGR Vol 158, October 2004, The Origins of Benjamin 1 Nye: Examining the Sources

George Hyatt Nye and Frank E. Best, Benjamin Nye of Sandwich, Massachusetts, His Ancestors and Descendants, A Genealogy of the Nye Family, 1907