John Pease 1608 to about 1675 and His Wife Lucy of Salem and Martha’s Vineyard

John Pease was baptized at St. Mary’s Church at Great Baddow Essex on 20 Nov 1608, the son of Robert Pease, a locksmith  His mother was Margaret whose maiden name is not known. I have not yet done research on his parents. He is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

St. Mary's at Great Baddow

On 30 April 1634 “John Pease” aged 27, with three children under his care, “Fayth Clearke,” aged 15, “Robert Pease,” aged 3, and “Darcas Greene,’ aged 15, was enrolled at Ipswich as a passenger for New England on the Francis.  I’m not sure who these children are—perhaps Robert is his nephew as his brother Robert was on board the same ship.

On 4 Feb 1634, Henry Dade wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury that the ships Francis and Elizabeth with 60 men in each set sail for New England and he supposes they are debtors or persons disaffected with the established church. [Calendars of State Papers, American and Colonial Series, 1574-1660]

There is a great deal of conflicting information on John Pease, about whether he was the same man who was at Salem, Connecticut, and Martha’s Vineyard and if so, in which order he lived at each place. In this sketch, my main reference on the sticky points is Robert Charles Anderson’s work. Anderson does not mention his living in Connecticut, although John did own a house and land in New London, Connecticut, at the time of his death which his son John inherited. I believe that if he did move to Connecticut, he returned to Edgartown. 

John Pease was first at Salem, where his brother Robert and his mother Margaret also lived. In the 1636 Salem land grant John Pease received 20 acres in the non-freeman’s section of the list [Salem Town Records/STR 1:24]. In the 25 Dec 1637 grant of undivided meadow, “Jo[hn] Pease” was granted half an acre for a household of two [STR 1:103]. On 23 April 1638 the town of Salem granted to “John Pease five acres of land next adjoining to Samuell Corninge near unto the watermill.” [STR 1:69] On an unknown date, Robert Goodale had purchased 30 acres from “Robert Pease & his brother.” [STR 1:171]

On 25 June 1639 the Salem court reported that “Mr. Gervas Garford hired a cow of John Pease for a year; Pease being then absent, Garford was ordered to keep the cow till Pease returned. [Essex Quarterly Court records/EQC 1:11] This seems to indicate a long absence by Pease from Salem—perhaps he was a mariner or was already scoping out a move to Martha’s Vineyard.

There are two more court records that mention John. On 25 Jan 1641[/2], “Elias Stilton Sr” sued “John Pease” for an unknown cause [EQC 1:30]. On 26 Dec 1643, “John Pease” sued “Thom[a]s Trusler” for trespass [EQC 1:56]. 

By about 1637, likely at Salem, John married a woman named Lucy whose maiden name is unknown. Charles Banks identified her as Lucy Weston, daughter of Francis but Anderson believes her maiden name is unknown. The Massachusetts Bay Court ordered on 3 Nov 1635 “that John Pease shall be whipped, & bound to his good behavior, for striking his mother, Mrs. Weston, & deriding of her, & for diverse other misdemeanors, & other evil carriages.” [Mass Bay Court Records 1:155] Banks must have assumed that that Mrs. Weston, the wife of Francis Weston, was John’s mother-in-law, hence identifying Lucy’s maiden name as Weston.  

I hope John was a kinder husband and father than he was a son.

To make things more confusing, I found a will that fits to be that of John’s mother Margaret, but her last name is Pease, not Weston. It was written 1 September 1644 and proved February 1644/45. She owned property in Salem. It does not mention a son John. It does mention son Robert, and sons of her son Robert, John and Robert. [Office of the Clerk of Courts in Salem, book 1, leaf 35] 

Despite accumulating quite a lot of land at Salem, John started over by moving to Martha’s Vineyard where he was one of the earliest white settlers. On 18 June 1644 “John Pease hath sold unto Ingersell one house & 75 acres of land adjoining to the farm wherein the said Richard dwelleth.” [SLR 1:53] 

An undated document records the Martha’s Vineyard lands of “John Pease the elder” as “one house and household of ten acres of upland and 2 acres of meadow lying at the norther[n]most end of the town Great Harbor”; “a dividend lying from beyond the plain containing twenty-five acres…called Mashakett, in the cove of thence”; “a little neck of land containing five acres of land…lying towards Sanchacontackett”; “[note: there is a Sengekontacket Pond, a vast saltwater pond that spans the towns of Edgartown and Oak Bluffs and borders Nantucket Sound on the north] “a lot of land upon Chapequideck Neck lying upon the higher land there, from water to water, cross the neck”; “a small parcel of meadow [at] Sangacontacett in the last division there”; and “a share of Mechem’s Field being 21st lot” [Martha’s Vineyard Hist 2:Edgartown:101, transcription of a document in private hands].  A street to the south of his land is called Peases Point Way.

Children with Lucy:

i.James Pease born 15 March 1637[/8?]; m (1) Elizabeth Norton daughter of Nicholas Norton; m (2) 22 April 1706 Abigail (Travis) Covell 

ii.John Pease born say 1640; received land at New London by his father’s will and resided there in 1672 [New London Court Records 3:47]; no evidence he ever married

I descend from James and his first wife Elizabeth Norton.

On 17 Oct 1643 “Luce Pease, the wife of [blank] Pease, appearing, & professing that she doth abhor & renounce Gorton’s opinions, & confessing her fault in blotting out some things in the book which she brought, & in showing the same before she had delivered it, & professing she was sorry for it, she was dismissed for the present, to appear when she shall be called for.” [MBCR 2:50] 

This court case is referring to Samuel Gorton who had strong religious beliefs which differed from Puritan theology and was very outspoken, and he became the leader of a small sect known as Gortonians/Gortonists/Gortonites. As a result, he was frequently in trouble with the civil and church authorities in New England. He was incredibly intelligent and published books in which he was harshly critical of the magistrates and ministers who filled positions he considered meaningless. 

I am impressed that Lucy had been taught to read and was reading work by a religious dissenter! Perhaps John shared Lucy’s beliefs and they moved to Martha’s Vineyard to practice religion without interference. Other’s that believe Lucy was the daughter of Francis Weston state that he was a religious non-conformist and that John and Lucy moved to Martha’s Vineyard to distance themselves from him. 

Capt. Valentine Pease of Edgartown, who was upwards of 80 years of age in 1849, has heard his father and grandfather say that the two eldest sons of John Pease landed at Martha’s Vineyard, removed from there to Salem, and that their names were James and John.

Among a large number of persons of Salem, owning estates there “before 1661” are the names of Nathaniel and Isaac Pease. [Rev. David Pease]

Another account printed in the Nantucket Gazette and the Albany Journal in 1838: “In the fall of 1632, or a year or two later, a vessel bound from England to South Virginia, fell in with the south shoal of Nantucket, came up through the Vineyard sound and anchored off Cape Page on account of a distemper, which, like a plague, raged among the passengers and crew, twenty-five of whom died.”

Another account, states the cause was scarcity of provisions, so four men and their families went ashore, preferring to take their chances with the natives. “They landed at the spot since called Pease’s Point or Edgartown. Their names were John Pease, Thomas Vincent, ——Trapp, and ——Browning or Norton. A red coat, presented on landing, by Pease to the Chief or Sachem, secured at once the good offices of the tree and they were treated with hospitality.”

According to WikiTree, on 23 March 1647 John Pease sold a parcel of land of 10 acres of land and 2 acres of meadow at Mattakeeset to Mr John Bland and moved to Norwich CT. He purchased land there that he retained until his death. In 1650 he was still in New London but before 5 March 1653 he had moved back to Edgartown where he was involved in a land suit.

Lucy died before about 1657, the approximate year John married, second, Mary whose maiden name is also unknown.

Children with Mary:

iii.Thomas born say 1657; m by 1685 Bathsheba Merry daughter of Joseph Merry 

iv.Abigail born say 1659; named in father’s will of 4 March 1674[/75?]

v.Mary born say 1661; named in father’s will 

vi.Rebecca born say 1663; named in father’s will 

vii.Sarah born say 1665; perhaps m by 1686 John Doggett

viii.Jonathan born say 1667; named in father’s will 

ix.Samuel born say 1669; named in father’s will

x.David born say 1671; named in father’s will

Unfortunately there is a lack of records on the island for these early European settlers, but John does mention his children by name in his will. Their estimated births are from Robert Charles Anderson, who calls the information available on them extremely unsatisfactory.

John had some education as he signed his will. He is called husbandman in records. He was appointed Edgartown constable on 7 Nov 1653. David Pease wrote that he was often styled “Captain” in records and took that to mean he was a mariner although that could also refer to military service. 

From Jane Carpineto's On the Vineyard: A Year in the Life of an Island, she quotes an islander, Mark Lovewall: "First came the Mayhews," he explained. "They spread across the island, converted the Indians to Christianity, and stole their land. Next came my maternal ancestors, the Peases. They weren't so virtuous. They didn’t bother with religion. They just stole the land and settled Edgartown." 

In 1673 John and nineteen other Martha’s Vineyard men signed the appeal to Massachusetts for annexation and joined in the “Dutch Rebellion.” “John Peas being by the Govournour by his officer warned to appear to answer his misdemeanor for committing a riott at Edgartown the Marshall returners answer that the warrant was by the said Peas his wife taken him and therefore he cannot return his warrant; the said Peas appearing before the Govournour in both person and estate bound to answer at the next sessions of traill held upon the Duke his highness province and Territories for the said riott committed and his wife for forcibly taking the warrant off the Marshalls hands.” 

“John Peas” wrote his will, dated 4 March 1674[?/5] which was proved on an unknown date.  [Dukes LR 1;340]  John Peas, husbandman and inhabitant upon Martin’s Vineyard in the town called Edgartown…in some measure of good health and perfect understanding and memory though I am stricken in years. Mentions having had two wives, and two sons surviving from his first wife, James Peas, & John Peas. God had blessed James, the elder,  “in his labors & endeavors and I have been helpful to him so that he is very well to pass in his estate far beyond myself, I do therefore…give to my eldest son James Peas twelve pence.’ To second son John Peas “I have already given unto and do hereby give unto him all that was given unto me at Mohegan [New London], with that frame of a house I set up upon some part of that land.” With his living wife Mary Peas, he had four sons Thomas Pease, Jonathan, Samuell, and David and four daughters Abygaill Peas, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah Peas. To them “I do give all my lands and housing that I have upon this island Martin’s Vineyard to be either equally divided or valued or sold or exchanged and the price thereof equally divided to everyone of them alike and this to be performed at convenient age of them.” Mary to be Executrix and to receive “all my cattle of every sort with all my household goods…for her use and comfort and helpfulness in bringing up my children.”

John Peas signed his will and then added: to my second son John Peas twelve pence

Witnesses: Thomas Birchard, Kathrin Birchart, Thomas Trappe

John died after September 1677 when he served on a Martha’s Vineyard jury. His widow Mary then married a man named Creber, possibly Thomas and moved with him to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

On 3 June 1688, “Marie Creber, late wife of John Peas late of Edgartown deceased and executrix to said John Peas,” deeded to “Thomas Peas of the said town…all that parcel and tract of lands and meadow which lyeth in or adjoining to the houselot of the said John Peas deceased…together with all other the lands and divisions of lands, meadows, and marshes and all estate real which in the said town I lying and being, which was the estate of John Peas at the time of his death.” [Dukes County Land Records 1:99] On 3 June 1695 “Mary Creber of Edgartown of Martha’s Vineyard, widow,” deeded to “Jonathan Peas son of the said Mary of the same town…a certain parcel of land lying in said town..being about ten acres, together with a frame of an house now being on said land.” [Dukes LR 2:309]

Sources Not Listed Above:

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 2007

Charles Edward Banks, The Planters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1620-1640, Boston, 1930

Charles Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol III: contains Pease’s English origin; biographical sketch is in Vol 1 pg. 95 and Vol II page 91-103

Jane Carpineto, On the Vineyard A Year in the Life of an Island, c. 1998, page 237

Rev. David Pease, compiled by, A Genealogical and Historical Record of the Descendants of John Pease, Sen. Last of Enfield, Conn.” 1869 

Frederick S. Pease, NEHGS Register, “The Pease Family,” 3:27-31 (1849)

Ian Watson, The American Genealogist, “The Three Mary Peases of Salem, Massachusetts,” 70:205-8 (1995)