William Gray 1650-1723 and His Wife Rebecca Dillingham of Yarmouth and Harwich, Massachusetts

William Gray was born 5 October 1650 at Yarmouth, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, to John and Hannah (Lumpkin) Gray.

William married Rebecca Dillingham about 1690. They are my 8^th great-grandparents on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family. Rebecca was born about 1652, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Feake) Dillingham of Sandwich, later Harwich (now Brewster), Massachusetts. William and Rebecca are my 8^th great-grandparents on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family. John Dillingham was a Quaker and one of the wealthiest men in the area. I wrote about John and Elizabeth here.  Rebecca is mentioned in her father’s 15 Nov 1707 will as Rebecka Gray, who upon her mother’s death was to split two-thirds of the estate with her sister Hannah and the children of her sister Sarah. Rebecka was also to receive 40 pounds from the estate, a significant sum at the time. I find John Dillingham’s will so refreshing because frequently you see the male heir receiving most of the estate, with females receiving some household goods or a few shillings.

William and Rebecca raised their family in Harwich. They had six daughters and one son, order uncertain, likely born Harwich:

Rebecca b. about 1691

William who married Deborah Sears

Hannah who married William Penney

Dorothy who married Josiah Swift

Sarah who married Eldad Atwood

Mehitable who married Isaac Atwood

Thankful who married John Atwood

I descend from Rebecca who married Samuel Berry. I wrote about that couple here.

William Gray had the unenviable job in 1706/7 of being the receiver of crows heads, as each homeowner was obliged to kill 6 blackbirds or 4 crows because they were damaging crops. The heads were handed in as proof they were meeting their individual quota.

William served in King Philip’s War under Captain Gorham. In 1675 he received 7 pounds, 13 shillings for her service. In the second expedition against the Narragansett, Sergeant William Gray was paid 6 pounds 12 shillings for his service. In 1676 at the end of the war, his taxable property was 13 shillings, 9 pence.

source: kpwar.org

I have not found death records for William and Rebecca. William died at Harwich between 22 May 1723, when he wrote his will, and 18 July 1723, when the will was proved. He names his children in his will (Barnstable County Probate Records 4:128): William, Hannah, Dorothy, Sarah, Mehitable, and Rebecca. His daughter Thankful had already passed. I haven’t read the will myself, so I don’t know if his wife Rebecca is named in the will. If anyone has a transcription of William’s will, please let me know!

Sources:

Josiah Paine, History of Harwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, 1620-1800, 1937

CW Swift publisher, Dillingham Family, Library of Cape Cod History & Genealogy, No. 95, 1912

Charles Swift, History of Old Yarmouth, 1884

CW Swift publisher, The Yarmouth Family of Gray, Cape Cod Library of History and Genealogy, No 58

George Madison 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, 1896

 Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700