Benjamin Phillips (b ca 1658) of Marshfield, Mass., and His Wife Sarah Thomas (born 1662)

Benjamin Phillips was baptized 15 August 1658 in Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, the son of John and Grace Phillips. [American Ancestors, “Massachusetts Vital Records 1621-1850,” online database] Although he was baptized in Scituate, his family lived in Marshfield. I wrote about John and Grace Phillips here.He is my 7th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family. 

He may be the Benjamin Phillips who served in King Philip’s War under Capt. John Holbrook, paid 1 pound, 10 shillings, 10 pence on 23 September 1676.  [NEHGS Register, “Soldiers In King Philip’s War,” 42:99 (1888)]  His brother Joseph did serve, dying in the fight at Rehoboth in 1676. 

Benjamin and his family experienced a great deal of sorrow. When he was a baby, his half-brother John Phillips died when struck by lightning inside a home where he took refuge while he was out haying when a storm hit. Eight years later, in 1666, the family home was struck by lightning and his mother Grace, his half-brother Jeremiah, and a neighbor staying with the family were killed. In 1677 his only full-sibling, Joseph, died violently during King Philips War. I wrote more on these losses in a sketch about his parents. 

Benjamin’s life turned out much differently than his ill-fated family members. He grew up nd married Sarah Thomas on 12 January 1681[?/82] in Marshfield. [MD 3:43/Marshfield VR 1:16] Sarah was born Marshfield in September1662, the daughter of John and Sarah (Pitney) Thomas.

Sarah and Benjamin had a large family of at least ten children, all born Marshfield [my research on the children is work in progress]:

i.John Phillips born 13 December 1682 [MD 2:251]; married Patience Stevens; died Marshfield 25 Feb 1738 at age 56

ii.Joseph Phillips born 29 March 1685 [Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Ancestry database]; married Mercy Eames; died Marshfield 13 June 1767 at age 82

iii.Benjamin Phillips born 20 May 1687 [MD 3:187]; married  1) Eleanor Baker, 2) Desire Sherman; died Marshfield 10 May 1750 at age 62

iv.Sarah Phillips born 29 June 1689 [MD 3:187]; married 1) Thomas Doggett 2) Joseph Ford; I’ve seen her death year as 1750 but without a source; if that is accurate she would have been about age 60

v.Thomas Phillips born 17 Jan 1691 [Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Ancestry database]; married Mary Eames; died Bridgewater August 1781 at age 89

vi.Hannah Phillips born 25 December 1693 [MD 5:234]; married Josiah Eames; died 10 January 1767 at age 73

vii.Jeremiah Phillips born 19 Aug 1697 [MD 5:187]

viii.Abigail Phillips born 29 October 1699  [MD 6:18]; married John Washburn; died Plymouth 24 Sept 1782 at age 82

ix.Isaac Phillips, born 5 March 1702 [Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Ancestry database]; married Sarah White; died Marshfield 18 Sep 1787 at age 84

x.Bethiah Phillips, born 27 Feb 1704 [Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Ancestry database]; married Ichabod Washburn; died 25 Jan 1789 at age 84 in Norton, Mass.

I’ve also seen a son James given to this couple, but need to find a source. I descend from Abigail whom I wrote about here.

On 22 Oct 1727 Benjamin Phillips was baptized as an adult in Marshfield with his three sons Jeremiah, Benjamin and John. [Entry by Rev James Gardner published in The Mayflower Descendant, "Records of the First Church in Marshfield,” 31:167 (1933)]

I have come across a few mundane records pertaining to Benjamin, but they show where he was living, that he was a trusted member of the community, and that he was a land owner.

Benjamin Freeman is on the list of townsmen of Marshfield in 1684. [Ancestry, “Massachusetts Town and Vital Records 1620-1988]

The estate of William Sherman, Jr., of Marshfield who died in 1685 was indebted 3 shillings to Benjamine Phillips. [MD 4:173]

The will of Edward Stephens of Marshfield, dated 2 November 1689, proved third Tuesday of March 1689/90, was witnessed by Benjamin Phillips, John Sherman and John Barker. [Genealogical Advertiser, “Plymouth County Probate Records,” 1:114]

Land of Benjamin Phillips is mentioned in the settlement of the estate of Isaac Little of Marshfield in 1700. Son Isaac Little was to have land at Marshfield: “that tract of land lying between ye lands of Benjamin Phillips & ye lands sold by Thomas Little to John Jones and Gilbert Winslow.” [MD 24:1]

Benjamin Phillips served on a petit jury in 1699 [Plymouth Court of Common Pleas, 6:156-7, began 19 December 1699]

At the Plymouth Court of Common Pleas held the first Tuesday in March 1703/04, Nathaniel Thomas Esq, Joseph Waterman, Benjamin Phillips, and Peter Indian (all of Marshfield) v Daniel Mory (Boston Wharfinger) Case on account. Deft pleaded in bar “that the Test of the Writs was not According to law,” the second JP added to the writ and the first left out Continued to June court, where defts did not appear. Costs taxed at 29s 6 p. I wish I knew what this is referring to. There are other court records for Benjamin Phillips Jr., husbandman, likely his son.

Plymouth Court General Sessions 9:35-36, begun the third Tuesday of December 1731: James Colman (Scituate) breach of peace viz for striking one Robert Barker in the summer last past. Witnesses: John Phillips and Benjamin Phillips.

Benjamin was mentioned in the 1691 will of his father John Phillips of Marshfield. He was to receive all of his father’s houses and land at Marshfield and elsewhere and the rest of his goods, but was to provide care for his sister Mary Phillips who had a weakness of reason and understanding and was incapable of providing for herself. Benjamin was named executor. Benjamin’s son John was to receive his grandfather’s gun or fowling piece. The rest of Benjamin’s children, unnamed, were to receive 5 shillings each. Son Benjamin presented the inventory at court on 16 May 1692. I do hope he followed his father’s wishes and provided care for his sister.

I have not found Benjamin or Sarah’s death records. I expect they are buried in Marshfield but without a surviving gravestone. Benjamin died before 4 September 1751 when his son is appointed administrator of his estate. A standardized form with details added by hand, Bond of Administration on Benjamin Phillips Estate, probate file no. 15842, 1750: Benjamin Phillips is appointed administrator on the estate of his father Benjamin Phillips of Marshfield, deceased. He is to exhibit the inventory by the 4th of September 1751. Witnessed by Edward Winslow and Uriah Samson. Signed by Benjamin Phillips, Isaac Phillips and Kenelm Baker. [Ancestry, “Massachusetts Wills and Probate Records 1635-1991”]

Note: Multiple trees on Ancestry and Findagrave (Memorial ID 21658843) have him erroneously dying Boston 27 April 1746 and buried Granary Burying Ground, but that Benjamin is a 6 year-old child.

Sources Not Included Above:

Harriet W. Hodge, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Five, Edward Winslow and John Billington, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1997

Genealogical Advertiser, “Plymouth County Probate Records,” 3:28

Axel Ames, The Family and Vicissitudes of John Phillips Senior of Duxbury and Marshfield, 1903

George Bonham (ca 1609-1704) and Sarah Morton (ca 1620-1694)

George Bonham (also spelled Bonum and Bonam) was born about 1609 [based on age at death], probably in England, to parents who are unknown. He migrated to Plymouth Colony where he purchased a house and land in 1640. He married Sarah Morton on 20 Dec 1644 at Plymouth. (PCR 2:79) She was daughter of George Morton and Juliana Carpenter, born say 1620 at Leiden, Holland.  It is possible Sarah was his second wife as single men weren’t often allowed to buy property at Plymouth.

Sarah and George are my 10th great-grandparents on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

Children

Sarah and George had six children, likely all born Plymouth:

1. Ruth born about 1646, married Robert Barrow/Barrows 28 Nov 1666

2. Sarah born Plymouth 4 December 1649 [MD 16:121]; she died that same month [no day is given for her death recorded in 1649 at Plymouth] 

3. Sarah born Plymouth 12 January 1650[/51] [MD 16:235]; died young

4. Sarah born 10 December 1653 [MD 17:70]; she likely married John Bryant of Plympton (now Carver) and died 10 Jan 1742 in her 89th year [TAG 35:146]

5. Patience, shown to be daughter from deed of land from her father to her daughter; she married first Richard Willis in 1670 who died in 1678; married second John Holmes

6. George born about 1657, married Sarah Jenney 

I descend through Ruth.

Civic Involvement

George Bonham was on the 1643 list of Men Able to Bear Arms, took the Oath of Fidelity at Plymouth in 1657, and appears on the list of Freeman of New Plymouth in 1683 recorded by Nathaniel Morton [his brother-in-law].  George was a Deacon in the Church. He often witnessed wills and other deeds, using his signature. He was called on to measure land boundaries. In 1658 he served on a grand jury. [PCR 3:137]

George was a surety for Thomas Lucas twice and John Dunham the younger once. I find George’s support of Thomas, who is my 9th great-grandfather, to be endearing. Thomas had a great issue with alcohol and was frequently bought to court and fined for drunkenness. 

Land Transactions

George Bonham must have been a man of means as he acquired a good deal of land in the colony.  It appears he lived in the Chiltonville area of town and also downtown Plymouth.

On 29 August 1640 Thomas Pope sold to George Bonam  “all that his house and land thereto belonging containing five acres and the enlargement since and all the fence in and about the same.” [PCR 12:61]

On 13 February 1640[/1]  “Richard Willis” sold to “Georg Bonume…all that his house and lands lying at the fishing point upon the Eele River…which said house and lands the said Richard Willis lately purchased of Willm Dennis.” There is a notation in the margin that states “This debt was paid be Gorge Bonham to John Barns as the assignee of Richard Williams and is cleared by an acquittance under the said John Barns his hand dated the 16th of April 1649 which is also entered in this book.” [PCR 12:69-70, 166]

On 1 November 1647 George Bonum sold to John Faunce “that lot of land that lyeth next me at the Eel River with the housing and fencings thereabouts.” Manasseh and Jane Kempton witnessed the deed. [PCLR 2:1:161]

Eel River, Plymouth

On 30 October 1652 Thomas Pope of New Plymouth, cooper, acquitted George Bonum of all debts owed to Pope. [PCLR 2:1:13]

On 24 May 1653, “Mr. Willam Paddy of the town of Plymouth…merchant,” sold to Gorge Bonum of the town aforesaid…planter,  a parcel of upland ground lying near the town of Plymouth aforesaid being about ten acres…with all the meadow in and about the said upland.” [PCLR 2:1:53]

On 21 Nov 1656, John Rickard of Plymouth for three pounds ten shillings paid by Gorge Bonum of Plymouth, husbandman, sold a parcel of land at Fresh Lake in Plymouth on the south side of the brook running out of the lake, containing 25 acres of upland. [Note that Fresh Pond is in the Manomet section of Plymouth.]

On 22 November 1656, Richard Sparrow of Eastham sold to George Bonum, husbandman of Plymouth, for eight pounds “all that his house and garden plot on which the house stands being scituate in Plymouth aforesaid in the South Street near the mill together with six acres of upland…in the new field.” [PCLR 2:1:69] [Note that his location is downtown Plymouth and that the house built in 1640; the mill referred to would be the grist mill owned by John Jenney where there is a reproduction mill today.]

Sparrow house original section built 1640

On 17 June 1649 Nathaniel Masterson made over to Gorge Bonum of Plymouth all right and title unto all lands bought from Elder Cushman in the New Field at Plymouth. 

On 9 July 1660, at the request of “Gorge Bonum” regarding their portions in the South Meadow, “Edward Banges, Nicholas Snow and Josias Cooke do upon our certain knowledge affirm that Josias Cooke had the first option laid out to him by lot namely ten acres” [PCLR 2:2:42] 

On 3 June 1662 George was on the list of ancient freeman and others to get land at Taunton. [PCR 4:20]

Gorg Bonum was one of 25 men who was granted land on the west side of Nemasket River on 15 November 1665. George received lot 24. [MD 36:38] [The river is in current day Middleborough.]

On 5 April 1666 Samuel Hicks of Dartmouth sold to Gorge Bonum of Plymouth, planter, for 14 pounds his six acres of land lying at Brickill Field and marsh meadow called the High Pines. [MD 43:68]

On 2 July 1666 John Barnes of Plymouth for 5 pounds 16 shillings old to Gorge Bonum of Plymouth, husbandman, five acres of land meadow in the upper south meadow of Plymouth below Barnes Bridge. [MD 43:68]

On 16 May 1670 Edward Gray of Plymouth sold 50 acres for ten pounds to George Bonum of Plymouth a parcel of upland meadow that lies on both sides of Jones River from a white oak to an island abutting Thomas Prence’s land and a spruce abutting Francis Cooke’s land. [MD 37:120] [Jones River is located in what is now Kingston.]

On 3 November 1675, George Bonum of Plymouth, planter sold land to Thomas Clarke, on Eel River in Plymouth which had had bought of Thomas Pope, Richard Willis, and Mark Mendum. It was bounded by Eel River to the Northeast, land of Robert Finney that was formerly Stephen Hopkins’s on the northwest side, and southeast by lands of Thomas Clarke. Also one acre of meadow at Eel River bounded by Thomas Faunce’s meadow on one side and Thomas Clarke’s meadow on the other side. Acknowledged by George Bonum 13 November 1675; recorded 2 Feb 1694/5. [MD 41:70]

On 15 Feb 1683 “Gorge Bonum senr of…Plymouth…laborer…in consideration of the Naturall affection…I Beare unto my granddaughter Ruhamah Willis the Daughter of Richard Willis of Plymouth aforesaid Deceased and other good Considerations” conveyed to the said Ruhamah Willis all that his share lot or portion of meadow granted unto by the town of Plymouth containing six acres in the lower south meadows so called…my six acres thereof is bounded on the Northerly neared with the meadow land of Nathaniel Morton senr of Plymouth aforesaid running over “thawrt” the meadow from upland to upland over the river that runneth through the said meadow. 

Wintesses: Baruch Jourdaine and Nathaniel Morton Jr.

George Bonum acknowledged the deed “”As alsoe Sarah his wife Gave her free Consent,” on 20 Feb 1683 before William Bradford, Deputy Governor.

On 23 Jan 1687 George Bonum sold for 4 pounds to William Harlow half of his marsh that he formerly bought of Samuel Hicks at High Pines. 

Occupation

George is listed as a husbandman/planter in most records, indicating he was a farmer. Most farmers of this time also had a side job and perhaps that was the case with George as he was sometimes owed money from other townspeople.

Gorge Bonum was owed 5 shillings from Jacob Cooke’s estate, from inventory taken 18 December 1675. He was owed 6 shillings/6 pence from the estate of Gov. Thomas Prence, from inventory taken 23 April 1673.

Court Disputes

On 5 Jan 1640/41 a dispute between Bonham and George Bower was sent to arbitration, with Manasseh Kempton and James Hurst on Bonham’s side and John Winslow and William Paddy on Bower’s side. [PCR 2:6]

In 1659 the court found Bonham’s charges that John Smith had made opprobrious speeches against him to be frivolous, and ordered the two men to choose some of their neighbors to hear the controversy and make an end to it. [PCR 3:169]

Deaths

Sarah Morton Bonham died in 1694 at Plymouth. She was 76. George outlived her by ten years.

George Bonan Senior died 28 April 1704 at Plymouth at an incredible 95 years of age. [Plymouth Church Records, Volume 1, Part 3]

It seems likely George and Sarah would have been buried at Burial Hill in Plymouth but there is no surviving headstone or records proving this.

On 26 Feb 1696/7 John Barrows of Plymouth sold for 8 pounds to his brother Samuel Barrows land that belong to his grandfather George Bonum of Plymouth who gave it by deed on 21 Feb 1679 to John’s father and mother, Robert and Ruth Barrow. The parcel was at New Field in Plymouth bounded by land of John Rainor and Andrew Ring.  He also sold six acres of George Bonum’s bounded by land of Sarah Atwood and the Town Common and four acres near the brook where Southern Marsh lies. 

Plymouth Court of Common Pleas in March 1739/40, George Holmes v Nathaniel Jackson, ejectment of 1 1/4 acres in Plymouth. George Holmes said that in 1704 his grandfather George Bonum died seized of land and that it descended to his only son George, Patience who was the plaintiff’s mother, and to George’s daughters Ruth and Sarah. Patience died in 1730 leaving seven heirs so that George Holmes was to receive 1/7th part.

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995

Bertha Clark, The American Genealogist, “John Holmes’s Two Wives Patience, 38:235 (1962)

Savage

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony: It’s History & People 1620-1691, 1986

Thomas Lewis (1633-1709) of Lynn, Northampton, Swansea & Mendon, Mass., and Bristol, RI and His Wife Hannah Baker

Thomas Lewis/Lewes was born about July 1633 in England. As an infant  “aged three quarters” of a year, he migrated with his parents Edmund and Mary Lewis of Ipswich and his 3 year old brother John on board the ship Elizabeth. The ship left Ipswich, Suffolk on 10 April 1634 bound for New England during the Puritan Great Migration. 

A Wikitree page forThomas has his baptism as 27 May 1633 at St. Mary at the Elms, Ipswich, Suffolk, England, son of Edmond and Mary Lewes, citing the church register. I have not seen this record myself. The family was first at Watertown and then Lynn where they lived by the sea. 

Thomas married “Hanna” Baker 11: 9 m: 1659 [11 November 1659] at Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts (Lynn Vital Records, 2:231]. Hannah was born about 1638, probably at Lynn, the daughter of Edward and Joan Baker. Hannah and Thomas are my 11th great-grandparents on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

Thomas was named in his father Edmond Lewis’ 1650/51 will. 

Thomas and Hannah had at least eleven children: 

i. Edward born 28 July 1660 [Lynn VR 1;237]; d 15 July 1662 [Northampton MA Vital Records in the Register, 3:176]

ii.Mary born 20 July 1663 [Northampton VR 1:5]; died 26 March 1686 [Rhode Island VR index 6:1-144]

iii.Hester/Esther born 9 Sep 1665 [Northampton VR 1:84]; married Jeremiah Finney at Bristol in 1684

iv.Thomas born 25 December 1666 [Northampton VR 1:7];  died 11 Jan 1666[/67] [Northampton VR 1:104]

v. Thomas born 29 April 1668 at Lynn

vi.Elizabeth born 7 Dec 1669 [Swansea VR 1:4]

vii.Persithe/Persis born 15 Jan 167[/72] [Swansea VR 1:16]

viii.Samuel Lewes born 28 April 1673 [Swansea VR 1:18]

ix.Hepsebah [I haven’t found her birth record but she is mentioned in deed from her father and in his will]; she married James Thurber at Bristol in 1706; died Bristol 11 Nov 1753

x.Joseph born 13 May 1677 [Swansea VR 1:9]

xi.Deborah born 19 March 1679 [Swansea VR 1:3]

George Lewis also gives them a daughter Hannah who married George Morey, but I need to find primary documentation to support this. I descend through Persis who married Robert Cushman.

Thomas moved around quite a bit within Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Perhaps it was to work on a variety of construction projects.

In 1661/2 Thomas and Hannah moved to Northampton, Hampshire County, where he had a four acre lot. Northampton is in Western Massachusetts, quite a distance from Lynn. He was chosen to assist in building a mill for the town in 1666. In 1667 he sold his homestead and land to Matthew Clesson and moved to Swansea in Bristol County.

At the 1 December 1669 town meeting held at Swansea, Thomas Lewis was admitted an inhabitant and member of the township and was to have a 12 acre lot. On 9 Feb 1670 Thomas was granted two acres in a land division, assigned to the second of three ranks. His brothers Nathaniel and Joseph also settled Swansea and were in the same 1670 land division, both in the third rank which received one acre. 

Thomas’s brother Joseph was killed at Swansea in 1675 during an attack by Indians on townspeople walking home from church. Some historians state he was the first white man killed in King Philip’s War. He was about 29 and left a wife and two young children. Perhaps this is what led Thomas to leave Swansea.

Thomas was active in Swansea town affairs. He was elected selectman in 1672 but was on the move again as he is mentioned in Bristol, Rhode Island records as early as 1681. Then he was at Mendon, Worcester County, Mass., where he was taxed in 1691 through 1693. In 1693 he was elected a Mendon selectman but declined the position. 

In 1692 Thomas Lewis of Bristol sold land at Swansea to Captain John Andrews. He again sold land there in 1701 [Book of Possessions of Swansea, p 9]. It seems his living in Mendon and Swansea overlap.

On 9 Jan 1695/6, Thomas Lewis was involved in a peaceful resolution of a land dispute. He refers to himself as from Bristol and the dispute is about meadow he owned at Mendon with Abraham Staples and gave permission to others to settle the issue. [Annals of Mendon, p 129]

On 23 Dec 1704 Thomas and his wife Hannah executed a deed of gift for “good will and affection” to daughter Hepzebah Lewes, giving her the north part of their dwelling house in Bristol. (Bristol Co Deeds vol 4, p 319)

The will of Thomas Lewes of Bristol [Bristol Co Probate Records 2:257]:

"In the name of God, Amen, I Thomas Lewis of Bristol in ye County of Bristol in New England, being aged and very Infirm, and not knowing when or how soon I may be Removed out of a Chaingable world, to prevent Jarrs & Contentions after my Decease do make constitute and ordaine this to be my last Will & Testament in manner and form following ; that is to say, I commend my Soul into ye hands of God and body to ye earth to be decently buried at the Discrefion of my friends, and as to my temporal estate which it hath pleased God of his mercy to lend me, I give bequeath and bestow in the following manner, Viz :

After my ffuneral Charges and Just Debts are payed and sattisfyed by my Executrix hereafter mentioned, give and bequeath unto my aged and beloved wife all my whole estate both Reall and personal after my decease During her natural Life with full power and Authority by Virtue of these presents to make sale of ye whole my Two acre lott in Bristol with the Dwelling house thereon except what I have before given by deed of Gift to my Daughter Hepzebath or any part or parsell of my said lott to such person or persons who shall appear to purchass the same hereby Impowering of my said wife Hannah Lewis to make, sign, seal and fully to Execute a good and sufficient Deed and Legall Convayance of the said two acre lott or any part or parcell thereof so sold as aforesaid for her necessary & Comfortable livelyhood.

During her natural life and after her Decease what shall be Remaining of my estate to be Derided to and among my Children in as Just and equal proportion as may be according to the direction of the law in such case made and provided, having a regard allwayes to what any of my Sons or Daughters have had formerly of my estate before my decease.

And of this my Last Will & Testament I constitute and ordain my Beloved wife Hannah Lewis my sole Executrix Hereby making null & voydd all other and former Wills Legacies or Executors by me in any wise before this time named willed or bequeathed and in Testimony hereof I Thomas Lewis have hereunto sett my hand and fixed my seal the Eleventh day of August, A. D. 1708. Thomas Lewis [Seal]"

Proved 6 July 1709 when it was presented and sworn to by his widow Hannah Lewis. 

Thomas died 26 April 1709, aged about 76 years, in Bristol [Rhode Island VR index 6:1-144].

On 22 April 1710, widow Hannah Lewis sold one half of the two acre lot of Bristol land with her dwelling house and barn to Nathaniel Byfield. It was bounded east on High Street, South on Queen Street, and West by the land of Thomas Lewis, being the other half, and northerly by the land of Nathaniel Byfield.

Hannah Baker Lewis died [17] January 1717 in Bristol. [Rhode Island Vital Records index 6:1-144]

Sources Not Listed Above:

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 2005 

Nelson Baker (based on research of) The Essex Genealogist, “The Lynn Descendants of Edward Baker,” 18:148

George Harlan Lewis. Edmund Lewis and Some of his Descendants, Essex Institute: Salem Massachusetts, 1908