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Joseph Lewes (abt. 1647 - 1675)

Joseph Lewes aka Lewis
Born about in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap [uncertain]
Husband of — married 13 Jun 1671 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusettsmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 28 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusettsmap
Profile last modified | Created 1 Jun 2011
This page has been accessed 801 times.

Contents

Biography

Marriage

Joseph Lewis was mareyed unto Mary 6. Jones on the 13 of June 1671. [1]

Joseph married Mary Jones 1671, and had children, Joseph born 1672, Sybil 1674. The next year he was killed at Swansey by the Indians.[2]

Death

Joseph was killed on June 24, 1675 in one of the first actions of the “King Phillips War,” when a group of six to nine Swansea residents, returning home from church were killed and decapitated by followers of “King Phillip.” [3] On 24 June ,1675, the following nine burials are recorded at Swansea: Gershom Cobb, Joseph Lewis, John Salisbury, John Jones, John Fall, Nehemiah Allen, Robert Jones, William Lohun and William Salisbury.[4][5]

His inventory is recorded at Plymouth but not dated.[6]

Research Notes

There is no primary documentation of Joseph's birth in the vital records of Lynn, Massachusetts. Joseph is suggested as the brother of Nathaniel and Thomas Lewes/Lewis, sons of Edmond Lewes of Lynn, by George Harlan Lewis, based on Swansea, Massachusetts public records.[7]

However, other researchers claim that Joseph, Nathaniel and Thomas Lewis were sons of George Lewis of Scituate and Barnstable:

GEORGE LEWIS (clothier) was one of those dismissed from Plymouth Church in 1634, "in case they join in a body at Scituate." He had lands here in 1633. His house lot was on Kent street, the first south of Meeting-house lane. He came from East Greenwich in Kent. He married Sarah Jenkins in England, sister of Edward Jenkins. There is no regular record of his children : some having been born in England, others in Plymouth, others in Scituate, and two in Barnstable. They were Mary, born as early as 1623, (married John Bryant of Scituate, 1643), Thomas, George, James, John 1637, Ephraim* 1641, Sarah 1643, Nathaniel 1645, Joseph 1647. The last four born at Barnstable, whither George Lewis removed in 1640. He died intestate, 1662. Probate Record.

Samuel Deane finds that Thomas, Nathaniel and Joseph were sons of George Lewes of Scituate and Barnstable.[8]

Finally, and definitively, Amos Otis finds that Deane is in error, based on Barnstable vital records, and that Thomas, Joseph and Nathaniel of Swansea are all sons of Edmund Lewes of Lynn.[9]

Mr. Deane says George Lewis had sons Nathaniel, 1645, and Joseph, 1647, born in Barnstable. These names do not occur in the town or church records, nor in the will of Goodman Lewes, though he names all his other children. He also says that Thomas, son of George, removed from Barnstable to Swansey, and there had Samuel 1672, and Hepsibah 1674, and that Joseph of Hingham was son of George. These errors have been copied and perpetuated by the many who have undertaken to write the genealogy of the Lewis family.

The identity of the names in the family of George Lewes of Barnstable and Edmund Lewes of Lynn, misled Mr. Deane; and, subsequent writers, with the exception of Mr. Savage, adopted his errors, without critical examination. However careful a writer may be, mistakes cannot always be avoided. The records are imperfect, and the entries are not always reliable, and in every generation there will be some Sarahs and some Methuselahs who set at defiance the general laws of life. For assistance in correcting the errors of Mr. Deane, I am largely indebted to Hon. Solomon Lincoln of Hingham, and to Hon. James Savage of Boston, to the latter for facts obtained by him since the publication of his Dictionary.

*It is not easy to establish a negative proposition; but he that carefully compares the genealogy of the families of Edmund Lewes of Lynn, and of George Lewes of Barnstable, will be satisfied that Mr. Deane erred in the particulars I have referred to.

In the investigation of the history of Thomas Lewes, I have been aided by Thomas Lewis, Jr., Esq., and S. P. Bourne, Esq., of Falmouth. The colonial records, the town and church of Barnstable and of Falmouth, the Probate and the records of the proprietors of Suckenesett have been carefully examined. The result of the investigation is this, he was the son or George Lewes, married and lived in Barnstable as stated, and died in Falmouth after 1702, but these records fail to show where he resided from 1670 to 1677. This gap covers the period when Mr. Deane says he was at Swansea, was Selectman, &c., and had by wife Hannah, Samuel, 23d April 1673, and Hepsibah 15th Nov. 1674, Mr. Deane's statement of his removal to Swansea is apparently right; but there are other records and conflicting facts. Thomas Lewis of Lynn, son of Edmund, whose wife was Hannah Baker, removed to Swansea about 1670. I have not space to state all the facts. The evidence in my judgement is conclusive, that Thomas Lewis of Swansea was a son of Edmund of Lynn. The subsequent history of the family is known - he was not a son of George of Barnstable.

_The Millenium file says this Joseph was the son of Edmond Lewes_

So, Joseph Lewis, who married Mary Jones, is either the son of George Lewis or Edmond Lewes (documentation for both). If the father is George Lewis, Joseph's mother is either Sarah Jenkins, b. 1603 in Kent, or Mary Doggett, b. 1600 in Kent. There is documentation for both.

Information about Joseph Lewes's surname, origin and descendants is from the genealogical research of Michael A. Lewis, 11th generation lineal male descendant of Edmond Lewes of Lynn, Massachusetts, detailed in Descendants of Edmond Lewes of Lynn, Massachusetts, Arana Gulch Press, 2011.


Sources

  1. Records of the Town of Swansea. 1662 TO 1705. ALVERDO HAYWARD MASON, 1900 https://archive.org/details/bookarecordsofto00swan/page/n35/mode/2up
  2. "History of Scituate, Massachusetts," From its First Settlement to 1831, by Samuel Deane, Boston: James Loring, 132 Washington Street; 1831 pp.303-304 https://archive.org/details/historyofscituat00dean/page/n3/mode/2up?q=Lewis
  3. Dr. Douglas E. Leach, Flintlock and Tomahawk, 1992
  4. Richard LeBaron Bowen, Early Rehoboth, Vol.3, 1945 https://archive.org/details/earlyrehobothdoc03bowe/page/64/mode/2up
  5. “Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England: Miscellaneous Records [Including Births, Marriages, Deaths and Burials; Treasury Accounts, and Lists of Freemen and Others] 1633-1689,” (Google Books. Harvard University, December 11, 2007.), 61. Google Books.
  6. "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L97D-V3G8 : 12 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 429 of 616; State Archives, Boston.
  7. Edmund Lewis of Lynn, Massachusetts and some of his Descendants, by George Harlan Lewis, 1908 https://archive.org/details/edmundlewisoflyn00lewi2
  8. History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first Settlement to 1831, Samuel Deane, Boston: James Loring, 132 Washington Street, 1831
  9. Genealogical Notes of Barnstable Families, Being a Report of the Amos Otis Papers, Originally Published in The Barnstable Patriot. Revised and compiled by C. F. Swift, Largely from Notes Made by the Author. Vol. II. Barnstable Mass.: F. B. & F. P. Goss, Publishers and Printers, [The "Patriot Press" Press.] 1890. pp. 115-147

See also:

  • North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 states this Joseph Lewis, b. 1647 in Lynn, MA (later moved to Swansea), who married Mary Jones, was the son of George Lewis and Sarah Jenkins. See Lewes-62
  • Yarmouth Nova Scotia Genealogies, p. 489 states this Joseph, b. 1647 in Lynn, MA, married Mary Jones, was the son of George Lewis and "Mary___". This George, Joseph's father, was married to Sarah Jenkins, but she died by 1635, and George then married Mary in 1635. See Lewes-62

Acknowledgments

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Added links to the available sources archive.org
posted by Brad Stauf

L  >  Lewes  >  Joseph Lewes

Categories: King Philip's War | Killed in Action, King Philip's War