Welcome! I really enjoy exchanging information with people and love that this blog helps with that. I consider much of my research as a work in progress, so please let me know if you have conflicting information. Some of the surnames I'm researching:

Many old Cape families including Kelley, Eldredge/idge, Howes, Baker, Mayo, Bangs, Snow, Chase, Ryder/Rider, Freeman, Cole, Sears, Wixon, Nickerson.
Many old Plymouth County families including Washburn, Bumpus, Lucas, Cobb, Benson.
Johnson (England to MA)
Corey (Correia?) (Azores to MA)
Booth, Jones, Taylor, Heatherington (N. Ireland to Quebec)
O'Connor (Ireland to MA)
My male Mayflower ancestors (only first two have been submitted/approved by the Mayflower Society):
Francis Cooke, William Brewster, George Soule, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, Richard Warren, Peter Browne, Francis Eaton, Samuel Fuller, James Chilton, John Tilley, Stephen Hopkins, and John Howland.
Female Mayflower ancestors: Mary Norris Allerton, Eleanor Billington, Mary Brewster, Mrs. James Chilton, Sarah Eaton, and Joan Hurst Tilley.
Child Mayflower ancestors: Giles Hopkins, (possibly) Constance Hopkins, Mary Allerton, Francis Billington, Love Brewster, Mary Chilton, Samuel Eaton, and Elizabeth Tilley.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

John Hall born England ca 1611; died 1696 at Dennis, Mass.




John Hall was born about 1611. His English home town has been identified as Coventry, London and Warwickshire, but I haven’t found definitive proof of any of these places. He emigrated about 1630. He was first at Boston then at Charlestown, both in Suffolk County. He was then in Barnstable in 1640, eventually settling in Yarmouth by 1653 (in an area that became Dennis), both towns being in Barnstable County.  He is my 11th great-grandfather on my Grandmother Milly Booth Rollins’ side of the family. There are two John Halls of about the same age during this time, which has caused some confusion and conflicting/incorrect information, including in the works by Savage and Pope.

John married Bethia, whose maiden name is unknown, by 1632. Published books (see those by Deyo and Thacher Reid under Sources) have his first wife’s name was Bethia Farmer and that he married second Elizabeth Larned/Learned, but without sources.

John and Bethiah “Haule” were admitted to the Charlestown church as founding members on 2 November 1632. They had 10 sons:

Samuel about 1636, m. Elizabeth Folland, died without issue
John, baptized Charlestown 13 May 1638, m. Priscilla _____ (possibly Bearse but no strong evidence)
Shebar, baptized Charlestown 9 January 1639/40, no further record
Joseph, baptized Barnstable 3 July 1642, m. Mary Joyce
Benjamin , baptized Barnstable 14 July 1644, buried 23 July 1644
Nathaniel, baptized Barnstable 8 Feb 1645/6, m. Ann Thornton
Gershom, baptized Barnstable 5 March 1647/8, m. 1st Bethia Bangs; 2nd Martha Bramhall
William, baptized Barnstable 8 June 1651, m. Esther _____
Benjamin, baptized Barnstable 29 May 1653, m. Mehitable Matthews
Elisha, b. about 1655, m. Lydia _____


I hope Bethia had some close female family and friends given all those men she in her house! The gap between their marriage and the birth of Samuel (whose baptism isn’t found in Charlestown records) is unusual.  I descend from John 2 Hall.

John appears to be literate as his estate inventory included books.  He served as Barnstable constable, Yarmouth surveyor of highways, on Plymouth grand jury, and on a coroner’s jury. He was in the Barnstable section of the 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms.

Amos Otis wrote that John Hall was eminently distinguished for his moral worth and religious character and it would be difficult to find a more honest and upright man. Not sure if there is truth to this claim, but I like it nonetheless!

He received Charlestown land grants in 1635, 1636, 1637, 1638, becoming a significant land owner. In 1672 bounds of land that John and his sons had acquired at Yarmouth/Dennis over 20 years were recorded. He owned a very large tract of land at Nobscusset (now Dennis) between the homesteads of Thomas Howes and John Crowe. Today it would be between Nobscusset Road and Elm Street.
Hall's home location shown at top of map near Hall Cemetery; source CCGS Bulletin, Spring 2001

John Hall died 23 July 1696 in Yarmouth. He is likely buried at the Hall Burying Ground in Dennis, but without a surviving headstone. He wrote a will on 15 July 1694, which was proved 25 Aug 1696. His will mentions land he already gave to his sons. He gave eldest son Samuel 20 acres, son John 20 acres, son Benjamin 15 acres, son Elisha 12 acres. He gave son John three more acres, son Elisha parcel of marsh or meadow land lying above the beach, sons William and Elisha parcel of meadow and broken marsh below the little beach. Elisha received his dwelling house, out housing, yards, orchard. Sons John, Joseph, William, Nathaniel, Gershom, Benjamin and Elisha to receive residue of moveable estate equally divided. Sons John and Elisha named executors. His inventory was sworn 6 Aug 1696 and was valued at over 66 pounds, not including any real estate.

Bethia Hall is said to have died 1 February 1683 (/4) (according to Ancestry of Thomas Chalmers Brainerd, edited by Donald Lines Jacobus, 1948 and The Hall Family of Yarmouth).


Sources:
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Nancy Thacher Reid, Dennis, Cape Cod: From Firstcomers to Newcomers 1639-1993, 1996

Amos Otis, Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, being a reprint of the Amos Otis Papers, originally published in the Barnstable Patriot, revised by CF Swift, Volume 1 and 2, 1888

Simeon Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1890

CW Swift, Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy, No. 67, The Hall Family of Yarmouth, 1913

4 comments:

  1. Hello Chris, I just found you yesterday and what a treasure you are! I understand the attraction to learning our family history has for you because I caught the bug in the 80”s when my aunt found her late father’s handwritten list of the ancestors he knew about. She found two things I think you'd be interested in reading. One is the Journal Oliver Holmes, wrote about walking from NW New York to Tiverton, R.I. in a blizzard in 1796 when he was 20. The other is a letter from an ancestor who sailed from Boston in 1794 to the Sandwich Islands. He stayed, married King Kamahamaha's niece and became a governor of Hawaii for a while. He sent a letter home via the Robroy in 1821. I love reading about the same relatives you mention: the Sampsons, Chases, Holmes. You can email me at: peggyd123@comcast.net Thanks,
    Peggy Holmes Duncan

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  3. I love all of the anecdotal information you include. I found you while researching my Chase ancestors. I am trying to find the parents of Hannah Baker who married Judah Chase. Could two families be more intertwined? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do to make sure we get accurate info.

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    1. Thank you! The Baker and Chase folks sure liked each other! Unfortunately I don't have Hannah Baker's parents in my database. Was Judah born in Dennis (then Yarmouth)? Maybe look for a Hannah Baker in VR born about the same time? I don't envy you the task of sorting her out! Best of luck, Chris

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I'm now moderating comments on this blog. My apologies for any ensuing delays, but the large number of "spam" comments have made this necessary. ~Chris