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This John Smith, who was recorded in Sudbury and Lancaster, Massachusetts, has been mistakenly equated with other men of the same name who were among the early settlers of New England. In a 1985 article, Robert Charles Anderson discussed several John Smiths of early Massachusetts, including this man, and showed that John Smith of Lancaster was not the same person as John (Bland) Smith, was not another son of John (Bland) Smith's mother Adrian (unknown birth names; married names Bland, Smith, and Norcross), and was not the husband of Alice Smith who arrived in New England on the Planter in 1635. [1] The 1928 Miner Genealogy[2] stated that Alice Smith, age 40, arrived in America on the Planter on 10 April 1635 with children Mary and Hannah, both age 18, Richard 14, and John 13, and asserted that "the names of her children makes her identification as the first wife of John Smith (of Lancaster) almost positive; Hannah was probably the child later known as Ann." Anderson disputed this. He pointed out that Alice and the four younger Smiths did not appear together on the list of passengers of the Planter. Alice's name was separated from the name of John Smith, 13, by the name of Elizabeth Cooper, aged 24, and the other names (Richard Smith, 14, servant of Martin Saunders, and Hannah and Marie Smith, both age 18) appear on a different list dated 6 April 1635 and are scattered within a list of individuals (not family groups). He concluded "There is no justification for considering these five Smiths to be part of one family unit." He concluded that Alice and John were related, but the others "have all the appearance of being servants, or on their own." He identified Alice as the wife of Francis Smith of Watertown and John as that man's son, born in England in 1621.[1]
The Miner Genealogy inaccurately assigned Mary Smith who married Amos Richardson to this man as a daughter. This mistake presumably arose because the Marie or Mary Smith who traveled on the Planter was mistakenly identified as a child of Alice Smith and John Smith.
One previous version of this man's profile indicated that this John Smith died in Watertown, Massachusetts, on 13 July 1639. That was the date of the burial of Isabel Smith, wife of John (Bland) Smith.
This man's only recorded wife was named Mary; her birth name is not known. A previous version of his profile had him married to "sisters" Mary Tinker and Alice Mary Tinker, supposed daughters of Robert Tinker. Robert Tinker had no such daughters. A previous version of his profile claimed, without source, that he was born in Hampton, Hampshire, England in 1591 and was the son of John Smith and Mary Levett Nelson. That information has been removed and those "parents" have been disconnected.
The first evidence of this John Smith is from 1647, when his sons John and Richard were married in Sudbury, Massachusetts. His daughter Ann married John Moore in Sudbury in 1654. Based on his sons' assumed ages at marriage, Anderson estimated that he was born no later than 1600, presumably in England.[1]
This John Smith married Mary. The will for this John Smith of Lancaster, Massachusetts, dated 12 Apr 1665, mentions sons John & Richard, and daughters Ann Moore and Ales (Alice).
By the mid 1650s, records for these families begin to appear in the records of Lancaster, where the elder John Smith's wife Mary died in 1659.
On the 5th day of the 2d month, 1669 (i.e., 5 April 1669), John Smith transferred all of his estate to John Moore (husband of his daughter Ann), conditioned on John and Ann Moore caring for him in his old age: "Now in my old age I being old and infirme, & not able to improve land, nor to maintayne myself by my labours nor to pay publique charges for my land, therefore in consideration of my foresaid son John Moore & his wife are to keepe mee duringe my naturall life."[3]
The death of John Smith on July 16, 1669, appears in Lancaster, Massachusetts, town records.[4]
John Smith made his will on 12 April 1665. It was proved on 27 September 1669.[5] The will reads:[6][7]
According to Randall Seaver's analysis of the probate file, John Moore appeared in court on 5 October 1669 and renounced his right as executor, but was allowed administration on the estate. He testified that the inventory of the estate of John Smith, deceased, was a true one. The inventory, taken by Jacob Farrer and Ralph Houghton, totaled 4 pounds, 4 shillings. Items in the inventory were:
Presumably the small size of the estate was due to John Smith's action in May 1669 to transfer his property in Lancaster to his son-in-law John Moore.
Immigrant Ancestor of yDNA group NE05 John Smith-70371 (b ENG - 1669 Lancaster, Massachusetts) m Mary Unknown. See SmithConnections Northeastern DNA Project.[8]
See also:
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John is 22 degrees from Zendaya Coleman, 24 degrees from Sting Sumner, 13 degrees from Josh Brolin, 18 degrees from Timothée Chalamet, 16 degrees from José Ferrer, 12 degrees from Frank Herbert, 12 degrees from Richard Jordan, 16 degrees from David Lynch, 15 degrees from Virginia Madsen, 18 degrees from Charlotte Rampling, 26 degrees from Patrick Stewart and 17 degrees from Denis Villeneuve on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
This John Smith happens to be the immigrant ancestor (and the earliest known ancestor) on my paternal Smith line, so I'm very interested in this profile (and I've made extensive edits on some of the profiles that have been merged into this one, but I'm not a profile manager because I never created a duplicate profile for him). I also have at least one line of descent from his daughter Anne (Smith) Moore.
Please can I become a profile manager?
John Smith, who died in Lancaster, Massachusetts, is "origin unknown". I've removed and recharacterized some content that said otherwise.