John West (abt. 1589 - aft. 1663)

Born about 1589 in England

Descendants

Died after 29 Sep 1663 after about age 74 in Wells, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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John West migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 365) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

John West is one of the earliest settlers of Saco/Biddeford area in what today is Maine. He was married to Edith (Unknown) and had one known child; Mary, wife of Thomas Haley.

John West came to America on the ship The Speedwell, in 1635, which stopped in Virginia and continued on to New England.^[1][2][3] His age of "30" in the ship manifest suggests he was born in 1605, although Davis gives his birth year as 1589 without further explanation, and Anderson uses this as well. The earliest record of him in the colonies is April 4, 1637 in Saco. On July 5, 1653 John is one of the members of Saco to sign the declaration to submit to the government of Massachusetts Bay.^[4]

After his daughter died under somewhat contentious circumstances, John quickly left Saco and moved to Wells. His wife Edith was still living in 1659 when he sold his Saco land holdings as her signature appears on the, but suggest she had passed away by 1661 when he later sold an estate in Wells.^[5]

John died in the fall of 1663, shortly after making an updated will. John's will indicates that he is quite ill at the time, and his goods should be split among his 4 grandchildren, since his daughter had already passed away. He names his grandchildren as "Ann Haly, Lydea Haly, Samell Haly, & Tho Haly", to be equally divided amongst them after 3 years under the care of William Coole. He also explicitly states their "father Thomas Haly shall have nothing to do with it". He also provides for if his oldest daughter Ann should marry before the 3 years have passed, giving a guess for her age.^[6][7][8][9]

Sources

1. ↑ http://www.packrat-pro.com/ships/speedwell.htm
2. ↑ Davis:Pg 17
3. ↑ Somerby: Vol 2, Pg 268
4. ↑ Davis:Pg 17
5. ↑ Davis:Pg 18
6. ↑ ancestry.com Maine Will Abstracts, 1640-1760
7. ↑ Davis:Pg 18-19
8. ↑ https://www.mainegenealogy.net/maine_wills.asp?source=courtrecords&testator=JohnWest
9. ↑ “Maine Wills, 1640-1760”, Sargent, William M., database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89J3-N5K : 5 April 2021), FHL microfilm 007600602, image 51, Portland, Brown Thurstone & Company, 1887, Page 14-15.

• Davis, Walter. The Ancestry of Charity Haley, 1775-1800 (Stanhope Press, Boston, Massachusetts, 1916)

• Somerby, H.G.. Passengers for Virginia, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1847-)

• Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 (Boston, Massachusetts. New England Historic and Genealogical Society. 2015) 365; Unknown; 1636; Saco, Wells [MBCR 1:6, 43; NHPP 40:4; Trelawny 210; Charity Haley Anc 17-19; GDMNH 740]
• MBCR :Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., 5 volumes in 6 (Boston 1853-1854) 1:6, 43
• NHPP: Provincial Papers, Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hamp­shire from 1686 to 1722, 40 volumes, Nathaniel Boulton, ed. (Manchester, N.H., 1867-1943) 40:4
• Trelawny Papers: The Trelawny Papers, James Phinney Baxter, ed., in Collections of the Maine Historical Society, 2nd Series, Volume 3 (Portland, Maine, 1884) 210
• GDMNH: Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, Maine, 1928-1939; rpt. Balti­more 1972)
• The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800 : wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine. Boston, Mass.: Stanhope Press, 1916. 17-19