John Homer (1665 - 1717)

Born 20 Mar 1665 in Staffordshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Margery (Stevens) Homer — married 13 Jul 1693 in Boston, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 1 Nov 1717 at age 52 in Boston, Suffolk, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

John Homer was born and baptized 20 March 1657 to Edward Homer and Anne Gibbons in Staffordshire, England.^[1]

John Homer^[2] immigrated to Boston c.1672 and was master and probably part owner of a ship trading between London and Boston. He had six sons and two daughters.^[3] He settled in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, around 1690.

He married Margery Stephens on 13 Jul 1693 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.^[4][2][3]

Child: John Homer

Child: Mary Homer

Child: Benjamin Homer

Child: Thomas Homer

He died 1 Nov 1717 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts.^[3]

Research Notes

JOHN (Captain), bapt. Mar. 20, 1665. Ancestor of the American branch, of whom hereafter.

Captain JOHN HOMER, eldest son of Edward Homer (JI.) of Ettingshall, who was baptized March 20, 1665,and who appears to have resigned his right of succession to his younger brother, probably however for an equivalent, as he was owner or part owner of the vessel he commanded.

The term "Captain" by which he was called, is used throughout to distinguish this John as the founder of the American branch.

Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary, considers it doubtful that he was a son of Edward, but although the Ettingshall family were very careless about their records still they had preserved some memory of their ancestors, and about the year 1855, Mr. Benjamin Homer of Bilston, already referred to, said there was a Captain John Homer who emigrated to Boston and a few years afterward returned home and paid a long visit to his family, and that he was a son of Edward Homer of Ettingshall. He said moreover that his own father and gTandfather, and if my memory serves me, his great-grandfather also, were all named Benjamin, and that his only son, likewise a Benjamin, died a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and it will be noticed that commencing with the Benjamin born in Iti82, and his American nephew born in 1698. there were five Benjamins in the Boston branch, showing this was a favorite name in the family.

At this time the Parish Register had not been examined and I was not aware of the existence of Benjamin, step brother of Captain John, nor of his (Benjamin's) son Benjamin, who were undoubtedly the one's referred to by old Mr. Homer. There were then five of that Christian name in direct succession in his line.

The Hon. Jarnes Savage quotes Somerby, the Genealogist, as his authority, but the latter made the inquiries for me. He had not time to go to Bilston but wrote to Mr. Homer and some days after, that gentleman who had come up to London to consult an occulist called on him to apologize for his neglect in not replying, and Mr. Somerby wrote me a fall account of the interview.

Until then I did not know who was the father of Captain John, and several years after desiring to confirm the statement wrote to the Parish Clerk who sent me a very few names, but there was neither a John nor a Benjamin among them. He professed to have examined the Register carefully, but either he could not decipher the crabbed writing or was too careless to do so. Lately however Mr. F. A. Homer had the Parish Register brought to his own house and carefully examined, with the result not only of discovering the one important entry, but also a great many more which the parish clerk had overlooked.

I may add that Mr. B. Homer of Bilston, was born about seventy years after Captain John's death, which is not long for a tradition, besides which the connexionship between the English and American lines had not been entirely lost until recently as about the year 1818 two Boston gentlemen connected on the mother's side with our family, Mr. Joseph Joy, of Beacon St., and Mr. Samuel Cobb, paid a visit to their Staffordshire cousins by whom they were very hospitably received. Mr. B. P. Homer of Boston, who died in 1838, knew all about this, but his three surviving children had forgotten the particulars.

Captain John Homer emigrated to Boston, circa 1690, and m. July 13, 1693, Margery Stevens. They had issue six sons and two daus. viz :

1. John, b. Aug. 8, 1694. According to a Mss. of the Rev. Jonathan Homer, he died young. Savage however, says administration of a John Homer was given to Mary Homer, Dec. 19, 1738.
2. Mary, 6.1696, d. young.
3. BENJAMIN, b. in Boston, May 8, 1698. He removed to Yarmouth, Mass., where he bought a house and farm, which house was standing about the year 1850, and was still a good one. It was two stories high and at the time it was built must have been one of the best houses in the town. He m. there, Elizabeth Crowe or Crowell, dau. of John Crowe and Bethia Sears, his wife, and granddaughter of John Crowe, one of the three original grantees of Yarmouth, Representative to the General Court and Magistrate. Mr. Homer d. in Yarmouth, Oct. 24, 1776, @ 78.

Benjamin Homer (I.) had issue, six sons and three daughters, viz.,

1. Bethia, b. March 18, 1722, m. Benjamin Cobb, of Boston.

2. JOHN, b. Sept. 28, 1724, m. Sept. 28, 1749, Abigail Osborn of Nantucket,

JOHN HOMER, removed to Boston and was a merchant and ship owner. He was also one of the "Sons of Liberty,"" an association of fifteen gentlemen formed about 1768, who were in the habit (for there were no clubs in those days), of meeting at the old Green Dragon tavern, in Hanover street.

During the year 1768, the Massachusetts Assembly voted to raise a Committee of Correspondence with her sister colonies, upon their mutual grievances, which alarmed the British Ministry who gave instructions to Governor Bernard to express to the House their disapprobation of the Act and to demand its repeal. This led to a warm debate which resulted in a vote " Not to Rescind '

The Sons of Liberty, in order to commemorate this event had a massive silver punch bowl made, on which was engraved, together with several emblematical devices,the following inscription :' To the memory of the glorious ninety-two Members of the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay, who, undaunted by the insolent menaces of villains in power from a strict regard to conscience and the liberties of their constituents on the 30th of June 1768 voted ' Not to rescind.'" On the reverse side are " 45" " Wilkes and Liberty" and along the edge are the names of the " Sons " in the following order :

John Homer, William Bowers, Peter Boyer, Benjamin Cobb. William Mackay, John Marston, Caleb Hopkins, Nathaniel Barber, John White, Daniel Malcolm, Benjamin Goodwin, John Welsh, Fortesque Vernon, Daniel Parker, Ichabod Jones, all of whom belonged to Boston. The fourth, Benjamin Cobb, was brother-in-law to John Homer, having married his sister Bethia.

Although a " Son of Liberty" in 1768, John Homer was a loyalist a few years later and accompanied the Royal army to Nova Scotia in 1776, and thereby lost a great deal of shipping and also landed property which was confiscated.

He settled at Barrington, N. S., and was father of Joseph Homer, J. P., Collector of Customs, who had issue (I.) John, member of Provincial Assembly, d. 1846, and was sue. as member by his son John W. ; and (II.) Joseph, father of J. A. R. Homer, M. P. of New Westminster, B. C., who was member of the first Legislative Assembly in British Columbia, and member Dominion Parliament, d. 1846. The family in Nova Scotia still treasure up some silver plate and choice old furniture which John the loyalist brought from Boston.

3. Margery, b. June 13, 1727, m. Jan. 3, 1765, William Sears of Harwich.

4. William, b. July 14, 1729. A Loyalist. Removed to Barrington, N. S., and d. a bachelor on voyage from Barbadoes to Boston.

5. BENJAMIN II, b.Aug. 5, 1731 in Yarmouth, , removed to Boston and m. Oct. 23, 1759, Mary Perrott, dau. of Bryant Perrott and Ruth Wadsworth his wife. Mr. Homer was killed at Farmington, Conn., while returning home from Montreal on horseback, the only way of travelling then, by a slide of earth falling upon him, March 30, 1776. He was buried there and his epitaph says he was " A Kind Husband, a Tender Father, a Faithful Master, a Pleasant Friend and a Zealous Patriot." His widow survived him but a few years, dying of a broken heart, March 4, 1779, ae. 39.

Benjamin Homer (II) was a merchant and ship owner in partnership with his brother John, and the firm owned several vessels. Unfortunately however, he was accidentally killed in 1776, and his brother, as already stated, left the country, and all their vessels were seized and confiscated during the Revolutionary War. He resided in Cross street, North End, then the best part of town, and owned negro slaves (house servants), for slavery was not then abolished in Massachusetts, and to give some idea of the times, his son Mr. Benj. Ferrott Homer, told me when I was a boy that he,wheii of the same age, had a negro boy to attend to himself alone ; that he then wore breeches* with little gold knee and shoe buckles, carried a little gold headed cane, and his negro attended him to school and followed him everywhere. He had one son and four daughters, viz.,

BENJAMIN PERROTT HOMER, b.June 30,1761 in Boston, was baptized Benjamin, but, afterwards assumed the additional name of his mothers family which was then become extinct by the decease in 1784, of the only son (Bryant Perrott) of his mother's only brother. He m. in Gloucester, Mass., April 1, 1790, Abigail, dau. of David Pearce of Gloucester, and Bethia Ingersoll, his wife. She d. Jan. 11, 1811, ae. 37.

Benj. P. Homer was an East India merchant and private underwriter, but retired from business about 1815, when he built the house No. 38 Beacon street corner of Walnut street where he resided until his death in 1837, when it fell to his only son as part of his share,and was sold at his decease (without ihe stable which was sold separately) for seventy thousand dollars.

Mr. Homer met with some heavy losses in the financial crisis of 1836-37. By one bank alone he lost exactly ninety-five thousand dollars, equal to twice or thrice that sum now, and his iron chest was robbed of over that sum in bonds payable to bearer, which were never recovered. Gentlemen then had so called strong boxes with locks that a modern burglar would laugh at.

He d. April 4, 1838, ae. 76, having had issue nine children, six of whom predeceased him without issue, viz :

Benjamin Perrott, d. an infant.

Benjamin Pearce, d. young.

Mary Bethia, b. June 7, 1702, in. 1818, Thomas Dixon, Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion and of the Order of the Lily," and had issue with one son who d. unm.

Benjamin Homer Dixon, K. N. L., Consul General of the Netherlands in Canada, of Toronto, who m. first Kate McGill, dau. of the Hon. Chief Justice Sir James B. Macaulay, C. B., and secondly Frances Caroline, dau. of William B. Heward, Esq.

Fitz Eugene Dixon, who m.Catherine Chew, dau. of the Hon. George M. Dallas, Vice President of the U. S. A., son of the Hon. Alexander James Dallas, Secretary of the Treasury of the U. S. A , and d. 1880. (3). Harriet E. M , HI. first William Henry Boulton, Esq.,of Toronto, M. P. P., of the Boultons of Moulton, County Lincoln, Eng., and secondly Professor Goldwin Smith, D. C. L., of Oxford and Toronto. Of the Smiths of Hough, Co. Chester, and in the fourteenth century of Peel House, Co. Lancaster, one branch of which was baroneted.

. Eliza, (/. unm.

FITZHENRY HOMER, b. in Boston in 1799, m. Nancy Bradford, dan. of the Hon. James D'Wolf, of Bristol, E. L, U. S. Senator, by his wife Nancy, dan. of the Hon. William Bradford, Lieut. -Governor of Rhode Island, who was fourth in descent from Governor William Bradford who came over in the Mayflower in 1620, and had issue :

Josephine Maria, b. 1830, m. Henry Bedlow, Secretary of the Legation of the U. S. A., to Naples, and afterwards mayor of Newport, K. I.'

Isabel, b. 1843, m. John Combe Pegram, Midshipman,U. S. Navy, and now Barrister at-Law,Bristol, R. I.

By the death of Fitzhenry Homer, in Boston, in 1856,without male issue, this branch of the family became extinct.

6. Harriet Paine, d. unm.

7. Samuel Cobb, d. young.

8. Georgiana Albertina, b. 1809, m. Philo Strong Shelton, Esq , of Boston, fourth in descent from Daniel Shelton of Deptford, Co., York, Eng. who settled at Stratford, Conn., where he in. in 1692, Elizabeth, clau. of Hon. Samuel Welles, son of Hon. Thomas Welles, Governor of Connecticut,and has surviving issue as follows:

Philo Strong ;

Charles Parkman ;

Benjamin Homer ;

Albertina, m. Frederick R. Sears, son of the Hon. David Sears, a descendant of Richard Sears, the pilgrim, heretofore referred to. (5.) Helen Eugenia, m. Capt. Richard G.Gary, son of the Hon. Thomas G. Gary. He was shot during the last war on the very day his commission as Lieut-Colonel was signed. i'

Harriet Homer, m. Charles J. Randall, son of the Hon. Judge Randall and brother of the Right Rev. Bishop Randall.

Ruth, m. Mons. Pierre Remi Arsonneau, a French gentleman, and d. a widow, s. p.

Elizabeth, m. Judge Amasa Paine, of Troy, N. Y., brother of Judge Elijah Paine, father of Hon.Charles Paine, Governor of Vermont,

Mary, m. Hon. Lot. Hall, of Westminster, Vt.,Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont

Bethia Cobb, m. Col. Oliver Gallup, A. D. C. of Governor Chittenden.

6. Stephen, b. April 15, 1734, m. Elizabeth Chapman of Yarmouth.

7. Thomas, b. March 21, 1736, m. Nov. 21, 1765, Elizabeth Sears and removed to Vermont.

8. Elizabeth, b. Nov. 18, 1738, m. David Knowles of Eastham.

9. Robert, b. Jan. 28, 1742, m. first, Jerusha Sears, and secondly the widow of John Thacher.

4. William, b. June 29, 1701.

5. Michael, b. Sep. 26, 1703, m. and had fo:.r sons, of whom the eldest, William Homer, b. 1727, was father of Joseph Warren Homer, father of the late Peter Thacher Homer of Boston. The second son, Michael Homer, was father of the Rev. Jonathan Homer of Newton, Mass., S. T. D., S. H. S., who d. s. p. in 18-43.

6 Robert, b. May 29, 1706. Merchant at Honduras, Central America. He sent his sons to Boston for their education and afterwards converted his property into Spanish doubloons and he and his wife, dividing the gold, embarked in two different ships, both of which were supposed to have been captured by buccaneers. One of his sons was ancestor of Charles Homer of Boston, who m. a dau.of Horatio Sprague, U. S. Consul at Gibraltar,and had children :

7. Thomas, b. 1707.

8. Mary, b. 1708.

There was a Michael Homer residing in Boston in J 676, when he petitioned for release from impressment for the war, saying he had had one servant killed. He was probably a relation of Captain John, as he was married on the same day with him, July 13, 1693, to Mary Burrows.

In 1679, a Roger Homer commanded the ship Mallagoe Merchant, bound from Barbadoes to New York. Captain John Homer d. Nov. 1, 1717, ae. 52. His widow d. in Yarmouth, Mass., in 1762, ae. circa 96 or 98.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5LW-ZV3 : 6 December 2014), John Homer, 20 Mar 1657; citing SEDGLEY,STAFFORD,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 873,645.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Clemens, William Montgomery, American Marriages Before 1699 (Pompton Lakes, NJ, USA: Biblio Co., 1926) Marriage: 13 July 1693 Boston, Mass.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Bridgman, Thomas. Memorials of the Dead in Boston (Benjamin B. Mussey & Co., Boston, 1853) Page 200
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHQQ-H8Q : 13 July 2016), John Homer and Margery Stephens, 13 Jul 1693; citing Marriage, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 818,09