John Tobey ca 1660 to 1738 and wife Jane of Sandwich, Massachusetts

John Tobey was born Sandwich on Cape Cod about 1660, based on his being enrolled as a townsman of the age to vote in 1681. [Crapo] He was the son of Thomas and Martha (Knott) Tobey. [Barclay] His last name is sometimes spelled Toby or Tobie. He is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.

About 1683/84 (first child born 1685), John married a woman named Jane whose maiden name is unrecorded. They had seven children born Sandwich [Sandwich Vital Records in Mayflower Descendant 29:47]:

1. Mary born March 1684/5; married John Clarke of Rochester 2 November 1709 at Sandwich [Rochester VR 2:305]
2. John born February 1686/7; married Mary Jennings at Bridgewater [Bridgewater VR 2:371]
3. Martha born January 1688[/89]; married Richard Garret in Sandwich 10 September 1712 [Scituate VR 2:293]; died Sandwich probably in or just after childbirth about January 1721/22 [Tobey]
4. Thomas born August 1690; married Mary Damon 12 July 1711 [First Church of Scituate records in Mayflower Descendant 11:45]; lived in area of Scituate that became Hanover
5. Ebenezer born Sept 1692; married Mercy/Marcy Hatch 30 June 1715 at Falmouth where he removed [Falmouth VR 1:214]
6. Reliance born March 1695[/96]; married Thomas Ewer 10 June 1718 [Sandwich VR 1:108]
7. Eleazer/Eliezer born 2 January 1699/1700; married first Martha —?—; second Margaret Fish on 14 June 1733 [Sandwich VR 1:142]

I descend from Thomas whom I wrote about here.

John Tobey was enrolled as one of “the townsmen to vote for officers” at the 27 June 1681 at Sandwich Town Meeting. [Deyo] He was chosen to see to the observance of the law relating to horses on 22 March 1693-4. [Tobey]

John Tobey Senr and his sons John Tobey Junr and Eleezir Tobey were on Rev. Fessenden’s March 1730 list of heads of families in Sandwich. [Locke] 

In his 29 March 1709/10 will, his father Thomas Tobey bequeathed him a “Lott of upland which I formerly Gave to him Lying near ye now Dwelling house of Joseph Foster in Sandwich…” [Tobey]

The earliest grants in the Heritage Plantation area of Sandwich were made in the 1680s and were granted to John Tobey, Daniel Wing Junior and John Abbott. In the 1667 property survey, Daniel Wing lived in this area at what is now 8 Morse Road. John’s land was 40 to 50 acres on the north shore of Peter’s Pond. The family compound remained in the Tobey family for another 200 years. [Lovell] The pond is about 136 acres and is in the Forestdale Village of Sandwich. 

Peter's Pond, Sandwich

Map showing location of Peter's Pond

While John’s father Thomas was very active in Sandwich town affairs, I have not found anything indicating John shared that passion. 

John Tobey wrote his will 9 July 1733 at Sandwich. [Barnstable County Probate Records 5:356] He is called John Tobey “Sen’r” and left the following bequests:

• Beloved wife Jane use of all my personal estate or movables that not otherwise disposed of in my will to use during her widowhood or natural life
• Son Thomas “all my Cloaths or Wearing apparell”
• Son John five shillings
• Son Ebenr five shillings
• Son Eleazer five shillings
• Son-in-law Richard Garret five shillings 
• The “residue of my estate that shall remain after my wives decease that it be equally divided between my two Daughters Mary Clark and Reliance Ewer or their heirs that they share & share alike in all the said Moveable or Personal Estate.”

He named son John and son-in-law Thomas Ewer executors. John Tobey signed with his mark and seal in the presence of Benjamin Fessenden, Ebenezer Perry and Rebecca Fessenden.

The will was proved more than four years later, in February 1738[/39], with John Tobey declining his executorship and Thomas Ewer making oath to the estate. The day is hard to decipher but appears to be the tenth.

Since John’s will does not include real estate, he would have deeded land to his sons, as we know his homestead and land stayed in the family. Many Barnstable deeds were lost in a fire. 

“John Toby Sen” died 26 December 1738 at Sandwich. [Sandwich VR 1:149] He was about 84 years old.

Jane’s death is not recorded in Sandwich but we know from her being named in John’s will that it was after July 1733. A findagrave.com profile for Jane (Memorial ID 237213845) assigns her the maiden name of Loring with a 9 August 1663 Hingham birth date and a November 1744 death date, but I have not seen a source for these claims. 

There are no surviving gravestones for John and Joan in Sandwich but it is possible they were buried at Old Town Cemetery. There is a Tobey Cemetery near Peter’s Pond, but surviving stones there date from about 1789 but it’s possible there are earlier burials.

Sources:

Rufus Babcock Tobey and Charles Henry Pope, Tobey (Tobie, Toby) Genealogy: Thomas of Sandwich, James of Kittery, and Their Descendants, 1905

RA Lovell, Sandwich: A Cape Cod Town, 1984

Mrs. John Barclay, The American Genealogist, “Hannah (Swift) Tobey, Daughter of William2 Swift, and the Family of Ambrose2 Fish, of Sandwich, Mass.,” 35:40 (1959)

Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700, 3:1526

Henry Howland Crapo, Certain Comeoverers, 1912

John G. Locke, communicated by, NEHGS Register, “Extracts from Rev. B Fessenden’s Manuscript,” 13:30

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