John Marchant born ca 1625, was of Yarmouth and died before 1693 at Edgartown, Mass.

I know maddeningly little about John Marchant. He lived in Yarmouth where the town books were destroyed by fire in 1674 and in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard where there was a lack of records from the early days. To make matters worse, some early Barnstable County land and probate records were destroyed by fire. The lack of solid information has lead to many theories about this family, so most of what is written here does not meet the genealogical proof standard but represents my best-guess research to date. 

John was likely born in England about 1625, possibly to John and Sarah  (——) Marchant, although the surname does sound French. He likely migrated as a child with his parents to New England, living at Newport (1638), Braintree (1638), Watertown, (1642), and Yarmouth (1648). Their last name is sometimes seen as Merchant. 

The two John Marchants are sometimes conflated. Some researchers have just one John who married twice, to Sarah and to another unknown woman. I believe there are two Johns—father and son. The older John would have been old enough to have been married with children when his wife Sarah died in December 1638. The older John would have been too old in 1664 to be starting a military career 26 years later when named an Ensign in the militia. It makes sense that John, son of John, would be the one with a military career at that time. The elder John who was admitted a freeman in Newport, Rhode Island in June 1638 and was at Braintree that same year where his wife Sarah died. 

John the younger is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandmother Milly (Booth) Rollins’ side of the family.

Before 1648 John married a woman whose name is not known and they had seven children [only births of first two recorded Yarmouth but historian Charles Banks wrote they were all  “undoubtedly” his children, likely because there wasn’t another Marchant candidate in Yarmouth and Edgartown to be their father]:

1. Mary born 20 May 1648 (Yarmouth VR to 1850 p 841]
2. Abishai born Yarmouth 10 Jan 1650/51 [Yarmouth VR p 842]; m. Mary Taylor 
3. John born about 1653; buried 19 June 1672 as “John, Junior”
4. Charles born about 1655; of Nantucket in 1679
5. Christopher born about 1658; living at Edgartown in 1685 when he witnessed a deed
6. Sarah born about 1661; married 1st Richard Arey of Edgartown; 2nd Thomas Harlock
7. Joseph born about 1666; living in Edgartown in 1711; m. Ann ——

I descend from John’s son Abishai. I wrote about him here.

John Marchant was made a freeman at Yarmouth on 3 June 1652.

I would imagine it was the younger John Marchant was in court in 1653, accused of trying to seduce another man’s wife: “Wheras wee haue enformacion of John Marchant, of Yarmouth, his attempting the chastety of Annis,  the wife of Thomas Phillips, of the said towne, but haue not as yett oath of it, wee leaue it to the next jury to enquire after.”[Plymouth Colony Records, June 9, 1653, PCR 3:36] 

There seems to be a pattern in my Marchant family of not adhering to social mores! John’s son Abishai was brought to court for fornication and adultery. John’s granddaughter Hannah Marchant (daughter of Abishai) had two children out of wedlock by two different men, not marrying either man.

John Marchant was appointed in 1664 by the court to be Ensign of the Yarmouth Military Company. In 1670 John Marchant Senior was promoted to rank of Lieutenant, so it would seem likely his father has died before this time for him to be referred to as senior. 

In 1676 John Marchant of Yarmouth was taxed 2 pounds 11 shillings towards expenses from King Philip’s War. 

Despite having such a strong, long-term connection to the town of Yarmouth, John removed to Edgartown on the island of Martha’s Vineyard where he was granted 10 acres of land in 1682. The land was “on the right hand of Sanchacantucket cart path, near the cart path that goes to Mortall’s Neck.” [Edgartown Records I:31] Sometimes colonists were granted land but never settled on them, but Banks believes John did remove to Edgartown or he would have forfeited the land for non-residence. There were later Marchant descendants on the island and some of John’s children lived there.

Banks wrote John died before 1693 at Edgartown, but here is no solid reason given for this date. 

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Charles Swift, History of Old Yarmouth Comprising the Present Towns of Yarmouth and Dennis, 1884

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700

Charles Edward Banks, History of Martha's Vineyard, Vol II and  Vol III, 1966