Robert (Parish) Parris (abt. 1635 - bef. 1709)

Born about 1635 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Husband of Seaborne (Bachelor) Paris — married 22 May 1663 (to 28 Sep 1664) in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Husband of Mercy (Crisp) Paris — married 11 Apr 1667 (to before 1685) in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died before 5 Sep 1709 before about age 74 in Chelsea, Suffolk County, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Robert Parris (or Parish) was probably born about 1636 or earlier. Robert married 22 May 1663 to Seaborne (Bachelder) Cromwell or Cromell, daughter of William and Jane (Cowper) Bachelder and was the widow of John Cromwell. They had one child recorded in Groton. "Seaborne the wife of Robert Parris being by her own confession convicted of fornification before marriage and being a second offense of this kind, the Court sentenced her to be openly whipped 15 stripes on her naked body." "Roberd Paris and Seaborne Cromwell" were married at Chelmsford on 22 May 1663 and their son Thomas was born there on 23 July 1663, thus providing evidence for the charge of "fornification before marriage."^[1][2] His second wife was Marcy Crispe whom he married 16 Apr 1667.^[3] They had five children recorded in Groton and one in Dunstable. His third wife was Elizabeth Blanchard, marrying about 1685, who was the daughter of Dea. John and Hannah (Hills) Blanchard of Dunstable.^[4] After Robert's death in 1709, Elizabeth married in 1710, as her second husband, Deacon Thomas Burrage.
He resided in Groton in the Mass. Bay Colony from 1663-1676. He served under Capt. Samuel Mosely as a soldier during King Philip's War in 1676, and afterwards moved to Dunstable where he owned a large amount of property. He was frequently a selectman for the town, on various committees and involved in the local government. He moved to Chelsea around 1705, and died there in 1709.
In his will was dated 21 Aug, proved 5 Sep. 1709, he calls himself formerly of Dunstable, now living in Rumney Marsh. He made bequests to his daughters Mary Richardson and Hannah Goff, and his wife Elizabeth was to be his executrix. No other children were mentioned in his will. There is mention of "fifty acres of land which my father John Blanchard gave to my wife in his will" which went to "Hezikah Usher" and "fifty acres of land that her grandfather Hills gave to her in his will."^[5]

CHILDREN:
i. THOMAS, died April 18,1668.
ii. MERCY, born January 5, 1667-8.
iii. ANNA, born April 2, 1669; died June 8, 1671.
iv. ROBERT, born November 20, 1670, Not named in the will of his father, probably died young.
v. ANNA, born September 10, 1672; died young.
vi. MARY, born September 8, 1674; named in her father's will as Mary Richardson in 1709.
vii. HANNAH, born in Dunstable, 1679; married in Chelmsford, (date omitted in record) John Goffe, born in Boston, September 18, 1679, son of John and Hannah (Sumner) Goffe. They removed from Boston to Londonderry, 1719. He died Sep 18, 1748. Four children.

--The [false] story of the massacre of Robert Parris and his wife and daughter and the miraculous escape of two little daughters by an ingenious concealment in the cellar has been given in several publications. The event is not mentioned by Penhallow or by Pike. The story of the massacre was first published, 1823, in Farmer and Moore's Collections., Vol. II, page 306. It has been refreshed and enlarged by Fox and Nason. The record [of probate] proves that Robert Parris died in Chelsea and that his wife survived him. One of the little girls said to have been concealed in the cellar on the date of the assumed attack, was a wife and mother of several children and was safely living in Chelmsford; the other was married and living in Boston.^[6]

-- Not the son of Thomas Parish and Mary Danforth^[7]

Name

Name: Robert /Parris/

Given Name: Robert

Surname: Parris^[8]

Birth

1635

Place: Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA^{[9][10][11][12]}

{His birth is not recorded in Cambridge.}

Marriage

First marriage:
"Paris, Roberd, and Seaborne Cromell."^[13]

Husband: Robert Parris

Wife: Seaborne Cromell

Marriage:

Date: 22 MAY 1663

Place: Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA^[14]

Second marriage:
"Paris, Roberd, and Marcy Crispe, Apr 11, 1667."

Husband: Robert Parris

Wife: Mary Crispe

Child: Mercy Parris

Marriage:

Date: 11 APR 1667

Place: Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA^[15][16]

Third marriage:

Husband: Robert Parris

Wife: Elizabeth Blanchard

Marriage:

Date: BEF 1685

[Robert Parish married] "third, about 1685, Elizabeth Blanchard, daughter of Dea. John and Hannah (Hills) Blanchard of Dunstable. Elizabeth, widow of Robert Parris, married, second, 1710, Dea. Thomas Burrage, born May 26, 1663, son of John and Joanna (Stower) Burrage of Lynn. This was his second marriage; his first wife was Elizabeth Breed. Dea. Burrage was a prominent citizen of Lynn, where he died march 11, 1717-8."^[17]

Death

BEF 05 SEP 1709

Place: Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA^[18]

Event

:: Type: Civil

Date: 1709

Place: Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA^[19]

Event:

Type: Arrival

Date: 1669

Place: Maryland, USA^[20]

Sources

1. ↑ Great Migration Newsletter, V.1-20.(Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015), Vol. 18:6.
2. ↑ Source: #S272 p. 56
3. ↑ Essex Institute, compiler, Vital Records of Chelmsford, MA, to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1914), p.282. "Paris, Roberd, and Marcy Crispe, Apr 11, 1667."
4. ↑ Source: #S272 p. 56
5. ↑ Will of Robert Parris, Middlesex Co., MA, Probate File Papers, 1648-1871, packet #16950 (1709) (which can be viewed by subscription at this link on New England Ancestors.org)
6. ↑ Ezra Scollay Stearns, Early Generations of the Founders of Old Dunstable Thirty Families, (Boston, MA: George E. Littlefield, 1911), pp. 56-57
7. ↑ Anderson, Robert C. Thomas Parish in: Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume Vol. V: M-P, NEHGS, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007 p. 357-60 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010.)
8. ↑ Source: #S241 p. 282
9. ↑ Source: #S942
10. ↑ Source: #S796 Page: Source number: 307.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: JPL
11. ↑ Source: #S892 Page: Birth year: 1635; Birth city: Cambridge; Birth state: MA
12. ↑ Source: #S820
13. ↑ Source: #S241 p. 282
14. ↑ Source: #S272 p. 56
15. ↑ Source: #S225 p. 363-366
16. ↑ Source: #S241 p. 282
17. ↑ Source: #S272 p. 56
18. ↑ Source: #S272 p. 56
19. ↑ Source: #S926
20. ↑ Source: #S849 Maryland; Year: 1669; P. 350

• Source: S241 Essex Institute, compiler, Vital Records of Chelmsford, MA, to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1914)

• Source: S272 Ezra Scollay Stearns, Early Generations of the Founders of Old Dunstable Thirty Families, (Boston, MA: George E. Littlefield, 1911)

• Source: S5584 Ancestry.com The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1847-2011, (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011)

• Source: S796 Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2004)

• Source: S820 Godfrey Memorial Library, comp., American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI), (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 1999)

• Source: S849 Gale Research, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010)

• Source: S865 Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research, comp., Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850 (Provo, UT, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2005)

• Source: S892 Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Births (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com 2000)

• Source: S926 James Flint, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Probate Index, 1648-1870 (Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000)

• Source: S942 Edmund West, comp., Family Data Collection - Births (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com 2001)

Acknowledgments

Contributors: Bobbie Hall, Jonathon Dale Walter Myers, Joe Lehnerz.