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Robert Smith (abt. 1626 - abt. 1693)

Robert Smith
Born about in Englandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married before 26 Mar 1656 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 67 in Boxford, Essex, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
Profile last modified | Created 21 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 5,409 times.
Easily Confused:
  • Robert Smith (1611-1706), of Exeter and Hampton, New Hampshire
  • Robert Smith (abt.1626-abt.1693), servant of John Whittingham
See the text for details.
The Puritan Great Migration.
Robert Smith migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 312)
Join: Puritan Great Migration Project
Discuss: pgm

Contents

Biography

Disputed Parental Origins

At least a couple of parents have been attached as parents of Robert Smith over the years. Since no reliable source has been located, they have been removed. Please do not make significant changes to this profile without consulting with the profile managers through the comment section below. Thank you.

Origin

Robert was born about 1626, possibly at Kirton, Lincolnshire, England.[1] This is based on the presumption that he was about 12 when he came to New England as an indentured servant in 1638 with John Whittingham of Boston, Lincolnshire, England.[2] Kirton, which is near Boston, is the only parish with extant records in which a likely Robert Smith was baptized. However, no clear evidence associates him with Robert Smith, the immigrant. Also, a DNA study implies that his paternal line is Irish.[3] It should be considered that Robert might not have been born in Lincolnshire, but was perhaps an Irish orphan in Boston available to be indentured.

Immigration

Robert emigrated about 1638, aged about 12, as the indentured servant of John Whittingham.[2]

Marriage and Children

Robert married by 26 March 1656 to Mary French, daughter of Thomas French.[4] On this date she testified in a court case as the wife of Robert.

Children of Robert and Mary (French) Smith:[5]

  1. Thomas, b. abt. 1656.
  2. Mary, b. abt. 1658; mar John Towne, 2 Feb 1680/1
  3. Phebe, b. 26 Aug 1661; mar Jacob Towne 24 June 1684
  4. Ephraim, b. 29 Oct 1663; mar Mary Ramsdell
  5. Samuel, b. 1666; mar Rebecca Curtis
  6. Amye, b. 16 Aug 1668; mar Joseph Towne
  7. Sarah, b. 25 Jun 1670, died 28 Aug 1673
  8. Nathaniel, b. 7 Sep 1672
  9. Jacob, b. 29 Jan 1674/5, m. Rebecca Symonds
  10. Mariah, b. 18 Dec 1677; mar Peter Shumway 11 Feb 1700/1

Property and Positions

At Boxford, Robert was known as a tailor.[citation needed]

Death and Legacy

According to his estate inventory, Robert died on 30 August 1693 and is described as being of Boxford, Essex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay.[6]

Will: written 7 August 1693, probated 26 September 1693.[7]

(note: the following paragraph is a cut and paste from Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (see "See also" section) and should be paraphrased).

Robert Smith made his will on August 7, 1693, and it was probated on September 26. His property was left to his wife Mary, his sons Samuel, Ephraim and Jacob, and his daughters Mary Towne, Phebe Towne, “Emey” Towne and “Meriah” Smith. His son Samuel was left in charge of his brother Nathaniel, who was an invalid, and his son Thomas, who lived with “his grandfather ffrainch" received no legacy.

Research Notes

Disambiguation: There is no credible evidence that he was the same Robert Smith (1611-1706) who lived in Exeter or Hampton, New Hampshire, which is claimed in some publications.

DNA

Space:SmithConnection.com_DNA_Project

Immigrant Ancestor of yDNA group NE53 Robert Smith-2681 (c1625-1693 MA) m Mary French-361. See SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project.[8]

Sources

  1. Elaine C. Nichols, "Corrections to Joseph Smith’s English Ancestry: The Parentage of Robert Smith of Boxford, Massachusetts" Genealogical Journal 19 (Utah Genealogical Association, 1991), 138-143 [1].
  2. 2.0 2.1 Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts vol. 1 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1911), 381 [https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/Essex/vol1/images/essex381.html.
  3. Ugo Perego, "English or Irish?: A Smith Family DNA Case Study" [2].
  4. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts , vol. 1 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1911), 139 [3]. Walter Goodwin and Richard C. Anderson erroneously say 1657, Goodwin probably misinterpreting the original record date and Anderson citing a secondary source. The date of the deposition is "26:1:1656" (26 March 1656). Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966), vol. 3, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1996), 323 $ [4].
  5. Vital records of Topsfield, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (Topsfield, MA: Topsfield Historical Society, 1903), 94-6 [5].
  6. Essex Co., MA, probate file 25792 [6]. Be aware that the images of Essex Co. probate file documents at Familysearch.org aren't sequential. The can also be found at Americanancestors.org $.
  7. Essex Co., MA, probate file 25792 [7] [8].
  8. SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project, haplogroup Rb1 NE53 Robert Smith.

See also

Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966), vol. 3, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1996), 323 $ [9].





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Robert by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Robert:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments: 12

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Restored the profile, reverting change made to add a suffix "Jr." and birth place as Kirton, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom. Both were made without adding reliable sources and related analysis, collaboration.

Association of father as Robert Smith was severed a year ago as unsourced, not supported. The profile reports he "may have been born at Kirton, Lincolnshire, England.

posted by GeneJ X
As he is my ancestor, I started researching him to narrow down possibilities for his parents. Assuming he is the Robert Smith, 12 year old indentured servant (more likely apprentice) of John Whittingham of Ipswich, Essex, MBC we can be pretty confident he was from Lincolnshire as John Whittingham's origin is known to be Boston, Lincolnshire. Boston was the largest town in that region of Lincolnshire and the most likely place to seek an apprenticeship. Robert was a tailor by trade and would have needed an apprenticeship to learn the trade. So far I have not found proof John Whittingham was also a tailor but if so, that strengthens the argument for Robert being his apprentice.

We have two records for Robert being born in 1626 or 1625 and those are his age at immigration and the deposition of 1659 where his age is 33. Searching for baptisms in Lincolnshire for 1625 and 1626 I found 8 records. One is immediately ruled out as that Robert died at a very young age. The most likely would appear to be the 30 Apr 1626 baptism in Kirton a mere 3 miles from Boston. Others, while possible, are less likely as the villages are a considerable distance from Boston and some are nearer to another town of similar size to Boston where a young man could seek an apprenticeship.

If the record of the indenture of john Whittingham's apprentice Robert Smith exists and can be found, we might learn his origin.

posted by Mike Dobson
edited by Mike Dobson
parents detached by the other PM, disputed parental origins paragraph, PPPd to protect the relationships
As near as I can tell the parents on this profile are unsourced.

Additionally both Jillaine & Anne B have made changes to the birth place, (England only), and another person has come back and added a specific place. As well, there are two sets of parents suggested in the opening of the biography; and they are both unsourced.

Tomorrow I'm planning to remove parents, put notes on profiles and PPP this profile, unless I hear from someone in the PGM small group who is familiar with this profile and believes the parents should remain.

Per WikiTree standards I have restored this profile to the previous version as the changes were unsourced.
posted by Jo (Rorabacher) Hollingsworth
edited by Jo (Rorabacher) Hollingsworth
a mother and father were recently added to this profile. Did you use this source: http://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_(1626-1693) that you added to the biography? It looks like a personal genealogy site. Where is the proof that the parents were Margaret (Frowe) Dean Smith and Robert Smith?
posted by Cheryl (Aldrich) Skordahl
edited by Cheryl (Aldrich) Skordahl
It may be that parents were added using DNA. DNA is not capable of tracing parentage relationships this many generations back according to this g2g: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1073361/autosomal-confirm-parents-migration-ancestors-confirmed?show=1073361#q1073361
The parents have been attached to this profile since 2016 according to the change log. I haven't done a comprehensive review of this profile in quite a while, but if the parents are unsourced they should be removed per WikiTree Standards.
Jo - reviewing change log - the father was added Sept. 7, 2020. unsourced.
You're right. I've done a full review of the Change Log and have found that the parents were originally imported with one or more of the original versions of this profile in 2013 (quite a few were merged together), then removed in 2016 (not added in 2016) due to lack of sourcing in accordance with WikiTree Standards. It looks like Patricia Kent added the mother and the father back in on Sept. 7, 2020, both unsourced. I'll remove them now.
posted by Jo (Rorabacher) Hollingsworth
edited by Jo (Rorabacher) Hollingsworth
Smith-125489 and Smith-2681 appear to represent the same person because: both have daughters born Amy Smith and married a Towne
posted by Robin Lee
It does not seem likely that Robert b. 1626 and Mary b. 1635 in Boston could have married in London and emigrated together by 1638. Both profiles also give a marriage date in 1656/7. Did a bad merge happen?
posted by Cheryl Hammond

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Categories: Smith Name Study | Boxford, Massachusetts | Puritan Great Migration