John Witt (abt. 1617 - 1675)

Born about 1617 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Elizabeth (UNKNOWN) Witt — married about 1638 in England

Husband of Sarah (Rooles) Witt — married about 1640 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 2 Dec 1675 at about age 58 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Richard Draper [send private message] and Barbara M [send private message]

Biography

Editor's Notes

THIS BIOGRAPHY IS NOW (1/26/24) UNDER CONSTRUCTION TO CLEAN UP THE DETAILS. PLEASE DO NOT EDIT UNTIL I HAVE COMPLETED THIS TASK.

Edits so far:

1. Removed Jacob from mother link.

2. Replaced Jonathan with John for first name. No info was provided for his name being Jonathan and this author has not seen any suggestion of that.

3. Reorganizing Biography.

4. Removed last Acknowlegement URL at Ancestry because it no longer works.

5. Added 1650 map for J Witt's home in Lynn, Mass. as Image 1

6. Removed this link
"He died 2 Dec 1675 and was buried in Lynn, Essex Co., Massachusetts. http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Lynn/aDeathsW.shtml" because it no longer works.

7 GETTING CLOSE TO COMPLETION. Still need to evaluates Miscellaneous Info in the sources section below the References. Also there is useful info in the memories that need evaluation.

Sometime in the past, much of the information in this Biography, before I started this edit, was copied from the FindAGrave memorial for John.
Ref 1: ^[1]

Note: This Ref link will be pushed down after the edit.

INCIDENTLY, I AM ALSO THE AUTHOR OF THE FINDAGRAVE MEMORIAL WHICH ALSO NEEDS SOME ATTENTION. I WILL ENDEAVOR TO MAKE SURE THEY COMPARE ACCURATELY.

With Humility,

Don DeWitt

ps. After writing all of this biography I discovered another profile for John Witt written by a cousin. John Witt (abt.1617-abt.1676) We have both spent an enormous amount of time in our research efforts so to satisfy the requirements of WikiTree we will need to "negotiate." You can find this other profile by looking at the merge section of this profile all of the way at the bottom.

Disputed Origins

OVERVIEW

There is considerable debate about John Witt's origins. Claims have been made of England, France, Holland and Massachusetts.

When John Witt arrived in Massachusetts is unclear. He is not listed as a member of one of the Pilgrim ships. Over 250 ships were involved with over 7000 families, but there are several ships about which no passenger list is available.
Ref 1: Pilgrims ^[2]

He emigrated about 1643 according to Torrey's estimate of marriage that year; or 1646 or 1650.
Ref 2: ESTIMATE ^[3]

He most likely arrived before 1650 because the attached map of Lynn, Massachusetts shows the location of his home in 1650.
Ref 3: Home in Lynn ^[4]

Another theory suggests that there were Huguenots in France named DeWitt, who fled to England during the persecution of Huguenots by the Catholic Church in the late 1500s and early 1600s. They changed their name to Witt in England. They then sailed to America in the early 1600s and their descendants changed the family name back to DeWitt in the late 1700-mid 1800s. The attached link provides historical information about the French Huguenots when many migrated to England. No mention of any DeWitt or Witt has been found.
Ref 4: History of Hugenots in England^[5]

Note also, that unlike the Dutch DeWitts of New York, this Witt family includes no descendants with Dutch names.

WRITTEN HISTORIES

1943

One of the most recent but 80 year old descriptions of John Witt and his descendants was published in 1943 by Frank Balcomb. The only information about John Witt's origins is: John Witt, was at Lynn by 1640, died there in Dec.1675.
Ref 5: Balcomb Book ^[6]
Also: Ref 6: ^[7]

I have seen commentaries about the book in recent times that it is not reliable because it has many errors. Let's reflect on the effort. At that time, resources were very difficult to access. Let's appreciate that situation in the wonderful time of internet access to historical records. As a genealogist I have processed every single line of his text and checked it against other sources. I appreciate it for a skeleton upon which one can build a family history. For what it is worth the link is found at the end of the previous paragraph.

1914
In William Cutter's 'New England Families, Vol. III, Genealogies and Memorials' , there is a discussion of the New England Witt family origins. It casts doubt on a Holland origin because there were no Dutch speaking Witts in early New England, so the suggestion is that the Witts came from England. Also it is admitted that Dewitts from Holland perhaps went to England and dropped the De, or that the Witts were simply Witts which is derived from White.
Ref 7: Cutter Volume III ^[8]

1913
Mr. Cutter publish another genealogical book that included information about the Witt Family in 1913.
Ref 8: New ENGLAND FAMILIES VOL III ^[9]

He started out his discussion about the Witt Family:

WITT The surname DeWitt is of Dutch origin and the progenitor of the distinguished family of this name in New York was Tjerck Claezen De Witt, born at Grootholdt in Zunderland, Westphalia, in 1620, settled in New Amsterdam (New York) in 1656, son of Nicholas De Witt. He removed to Esopus, New York, now in Ulster county. It is conjectured that the Witt family of Massachusetts may have assumed that De Witt was the original name of their ancestors, but the tradition that the ancestry was Dutch must have been on fairly convincing grounds or some of the family would not have adopted that spelling. In the early records of Massachusetts, however, the De Witt spelling is not to be found. Moreover, the immigrant, though of Dutch stock, probably came from England, for no Dutch-speaking immigrants were known at Lynn at the time the immigrant came. There was a prominent family named W'ht in Lancashire. England, having this coat-of-arms : Argent a griffin segreant sable. Crest : A dexter hand coupe in fesse apaumee. This is the only Witt coat-of-arms given by Burke. The origin of the English name Witt is given the same as White, from the Anglo-Saxon hwit. The name appears in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Alvin Albus (White of Witt), alias Wit and also Unit and Unite. The name is not uncommon in England. But there is no reason to disbelieve the tradition that the ancestors in England were Dutch and dropped the prefix De.

(I) John Witt, emigrant ancestor, settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, about 1630. He came probably from Holland. He married Sarah ________, and is said to have had two wives. He died at Lynn, December 2, 1675. Children : John ; Jonathan, married, Mary Dimond of Lynn, probably daughter of John Dimond ; Ann, married ________ Barnes ; Elizabeth; Sarah; Mary; Martha, born at Lynn, March 5, 1659; Thomas, born at Lynn, July 25, 1661, married, February 26, 1685, Bethia, daughter of Nicholas Potter; Ebenezer, born April 6, 1665, died young.

Commentary:
Paragraph 1: The conjecture that the Massachusetts 1600s Witt family was of Dutch descent and distantly related to the New York Tjerck DeWitt family has been a common hypothesis. Indeed the author of this biography began his research in the 1980s about the ancestors of his 5th great grandfather John DeWitt 1758-1820 with the hypothesis that we were related to the NY Dutch DeWitts. His research with analyzing his Y-chromosome DNA is described below. The results do NOT support Mr. cutter's conjecture.

Paragraph 2: One can see that this history of John Witt of Lynn Massachusetts has been repeated over and over again. It appears to be incomplete.

1889
Another source of Witt Family information comes from one of the families that interacted with the Witt family in a land sale in Lynn, Massachusetts. In February 1772, Spinster Ruth Driver sold half of her house and land to Thomas Witt who was a grandson of John Witt (1617-1675) The house was formerly owned by her uncle Robert Driver. If you examine the Image 1 map of Lynn, Massachusetts you may notice that R. Driver ( Robert Driver) owned the house just down the road from John Witt in 1650. So the Witts and Drivers were neighbors.
Ref 9: Driver Family: ^[10]

After the death of Ruth Driver, this house, as it descended in the family of Witts, was no longer known as the Driver house, but the Witt house, --- so called to this day, it present number being 20, situated on Shepard Street (Lynn); the name of the street being the same as when it was built in 1635, then named for the fourth minister of Lynn.. (See Image 1)

Ref 10: Driver and Witt Familes: ^[11]

1887
The oldest discussion of the Witt Family has been found in the 1887 issue of "A genealogical register of North Brookfield families, including the records of many early settlers of Brookfield," by Charles Adams, Jr.".
Ref 11: Adams Book. ^[12]

In this book Mr Adams wrote about John Witt:

WITT, John 1, was of Lynn, 1650, where he d. Dec 2, 1675; wife, Sarah. Children John; Jonathan m March 23 1663, Mary Divan; Ann, m. ___ Barney; Elizabeth; Sarah; Mary; Martha, b. Mar. 5, 1659; Thomas, b. July 25, 1661, m. Feb 26, 1685, Beth Potter, daughter of Nicholas; Ebenezer, b apr 6, 1665 d. young.

Nothing new was offered except for the publication date showing the interest in this family since the late 1800s.

John Witt's Family

JOHN'S PARENTS

Some claims hold that the father of John was Jacob Witt born in England in 1586 and passing away in Mass. in 1617 with an unknown mother.
Ref 12: Father of John Witt ^[13]
Other than opinions like the ancestral tree offered in the Reference's website this author has not found any concrete documentation about a father or mother of John Witt.

JOHN'S HOME IN LYNN, ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS

As shown in Image 1 below, his family lived on Shepard St. (See center area below the "Commons".)

Image 1: J Witt and R Driver homes in 1650. Closeup from Image 2: 1829 map of Lynn, Mass.

JOHN'S WIVES AND CHILDREN

It is claimed that John Witt Sr. had two wives:

1. Elizabeth? unknown with a marriage in Massachusetts about 1637-1638 (See her link above.) by whom he had:

Claimed children:

1. 1. Jonathan Witt 1638-1665
   2. Anne Witt (Barney) 1639 – 1702 (See link above.)

2. Sarah Rooles (1616-1680) with a marriage in Massachusetts about 1643. (See her link above.)

Claimed children:

1. 1. Elizabeth Witt, b 1645
   2. Sarah Witt 1647 – 1675
   3. John Witt Jr 1649 – 1710
   4. Joshua Witt c 1650; m. Elizabeth Mansfield 10 Jun 1675
   5. Martha Witt 1658 –
   6. Mary (Marah) Witt (Kimball) 1659 – 1703
   7. Thomas Witt 1661 – 1690 (See link below.)
   8. Ebenezer Witt 1665 – 1665

Commentary: This list was present when the editor began this rewrite. He is now searching for verification of each child. some have been listed by the previous authors discussed above. However, Joshua Witt (bc1650) is a surprise.

In general, many researchers consider John Witt to be the first of this Witt family in North America. However the claim that his father named Jacob died in Massachusetts in the subsection above would then suggest the Jacob was the first Witt in America.

Several of John Witt's descendants changed their name from Witt to DeWitt so many DeWitts may claim him as their most distant known ancestor as well as many Witts.

John Witt's Endings

DEATH

If one reads the estate inventory of John Witt his death date of 2 Dec 1675 is stated. (See below.) If he died in Lynn, Mass in 1675 he may have been buried in the Old Burying Ground in Lynn. Unfortunately, the oldest known grave was from 1698. It should be noted that about 15 of John Witt's descendants ere buried there.

Ref 13: John's Death Date ^[14]

Ref 14: Old Burying Ground: ^[15]

LAST WILL AND ESTATE INVENTORY

Ref 15: John Witt's Last Will ^[16]

Will of John Witt, Sr., of Lynn

"This is the Last will & testament of John witt senior of Lynn in the Countye of Essex written the twelvth daye of September, Ano: Domni 1675: whoe being sicke, & weake of bodye, but good memorye, & understanding.

Imp: I bequeath my bodye to the earth & my spirit to the Lord that have it

It: I give to my daughter Ann Barnitt, five shillings she having received her portion already.

It: I give to my Daughter Elizabeth five shillins shee also having received her portion alreaddye.

It: I give to my daughter Sarah six pounds to bee paid to her with in two years after my deseace-

It: I give unto my daughter Marye twentye pounds to bee paide unto her with in three years after my deseace but in case shee shall marrye, sooner, then it, to bee pd: at her marryage

It: I give unto my daughter Martha, twenye pounds to bee paid, unto her (in) four years after my deseace, but id she shall marrye Sooner, then it to bee paid her, at her marryage.

It: I give unto my son John witt, my now dwelling house & house Lott with all my housing uppon it to him his heires & assignes for ever, with all Comons, Libertyes, & prvilidges what soe ever be Longing there unto (viz) to take posseion until his said mothers death, & then possesse it.

It: I give to my Son Thomas witt, all my Land by the meeting house which I bought of Mr. King with all commons, Livertyes & privlidges that soe be Longing there unto, to him, his heires, & assignes for ever & alsoe ten acres of my marsh ground this being to bee understood that I hereby doe give unto my afforesd son John witt all the rest of my marsh ground & doe refer unto the overseers of this my will the layeing out for my Son Thomas Witt (yt sd) ten acres of my marsh indifferentlye they having an eye to goodnesse & nadnesse of my marsh the convenience & inconveniencye soe yet neither of my sons maye be wronged & hee the said Thomas to have possession of his whole guift both upkand & marsh ground at the death of his now mother.

"It: I give unto my wife Sarah the use of all my affore said houses Lands & marsh ground with all there appurtenances & privilidges as above said to improve her best advantage during all the tyme shee shall remaine my widow.

It: I give unto my affore sd wife all my Catles & Living stocke of all sorts to gether with debts due to mee, & also all my moveable estate both within dored & without to be at her dispose for (her) owne Comfortable Livelyhood during the tyme shee shall remain my widow & if shee shall dye my widow then shee is to dispose of what part of my moveable estate maybe bee then Left to all, my children in general, or (to) which of them she pleases but if she shall marry with any man

Then my will is & I do here by empower my Son John witt to enter possession upon two thirds of my housing Lands & marsh grounds as abodes to be disposed as abused, I hereby giving to my wife one thirst part of ally houses Lands & marsh ground as above said during her natural loge.

Alsoe my will is yet if my wife Sarah shall marrye againe, that before shee doe marrye, she doe devide all my moveable estate as above sd which then may be Left, amongst all my children in general )as shee pleases & doe hereby impower my son John, with the overseers of this my will, to see it be done:

It: I bequeath to my grandchild Hester witt one ewe Lamb.

It: my will is that in Case any of my children shall dye before the tyme the shall received the respective Legacyes as above aid then their Legacyes to bee paid to their brethren or brother aboved if Living.

It: My will is that where as there are severall Legacyes to be paid as aboved & alsoe: ten pounds to be paid by mee to my Grandchild Hester witt, as it being soe willed by her father Jonathan witt: that soe much of it as shall bee due to bee paide during ye tyme my estate in generall shall bee in my wifes hands as aboved, she shall paye it out of the moveable estate but soe much of it as maye not bee due to bee paide whiles the tyme of the deseace or marryage of my wife Sarah with some other man as aforesd My two sons John: & Thomas Witt shall paye it after this proportion to my son: John Thirtye five pounds & my son Thomas fifitenn pounds & that upon this sonderacon yt I have given ym all my housing Lands & marsh ground , as above sd this being to bee understood, that how far short that which my Sons: John & Thomas maye paye of it shall be of fiftye pounds the shall make it up fifitye pounds to be paid to her dispose of.

It: I make my wife Sarah my Lawfull: Executrix Last I doe desire & apoynt my Loveing friends John Burrell, Nathaniel Kertland senior & Matthew Farington to be overseers of this my will.

In: witt whereof I have put my hands this being to be understood to be the meaning of that fiftye in the interline next before where I make my wife executrix that iff my sons shall paye one of ye 10th: nor of the Legacyes absolved then John: shall paye to the assigns or assignee of his mother 35th & Thomas 15th: but if the shall paye ay part of it by soe much the shall deduct & the time of the payment is at their mothers frath."

John (his mark) witt Senior

Witness: Andrew Mansfield, Joseph Mansfield, Deborah (her mark) Mansfield.

Proved in Ipswich court 28 March 1676 by Andrew and Joseph Mansfield.

Estate Inventory of John, Witt, Sr., of Lynn

Inventory of the estate of John Witt, Sr. of Lynn, deceased 2 December 1675. Taken 14 December 1675 by John Fuller and Andrew Mansfield:

• weareing Apparill, Lyning & woolen 2 li. 15s;
• Bed Coverings, 2 li. 2 s;
• five pare of sheets, 5 li. 10s;
• fether Bed, 1 boulster, 3 pilloes, 6 li.;
• fether bed with other Bedding, 8 li. 1 s;
• more Bedding 1 li., 4s;
• Bedsetead 1 li. 10 s;
• Table Carpitt, Table lining 3 li., 2 s;
• Lining Cloth 4 li., 1s;
• woolen Cloth 3 li. 17 s 6 6d;
• Flax , woole, 3 li. 12 s;
• Puter &Tinn ware 3 li., 11 s 2 d;
• Iron & Brass potts & kettles pestile & morter & posnets 2 li. 1s. 6d.;
• Fryeing pan 2 Hakes. 1 Grid iron, 1 spit, 1 pr, tongs, 2 li. 4s.;
• 1 spade, 3 aces, 1 Hamer, 1 hooe, Mattake, 1 Hetchell & haye Hooke, 1 li. 3s. 6d:
• Armes & ammunition 1 li. 10 s;
• chest, Boxres, cheres & Fann,, 1 li., 16 s;
• Bookes, 1 li.;
• English & Indian Corne, 14 li. 6s;
• Neate catle & sheep, 57 li. 12s;
• swine Flesh, 11 li. 2s;
• Tobaccoe, 2 li.;
• Carts, plows, chains, yoks & Apurtenances 4 li. 12 s;
• Butter, cheese & Beefe, 3 li., 10 s;
• spinning wheels, woole cards, smoothing iron, 12 s 6 d.;
• Syder, chee press, chese fats 3 li., 6s 6d;
• Pailes, Doe tub & some Lumber 18 s.;
• 1 Horse, 2 li.;
• A Loom for to eave in, slead & Harniss & C., 5 li.;
• grinfle stone syths & sickels. 1 li.;
• moneys 1 li. 4s;
• The house lott, 6 acres in estimation with ye housing & orchard upon it. 160 li.;
• 5 acres by the meeting house with the orchard upon it 21 li.;
• marsh ground, 115li;
• total 472 li. 7s,
• Due to the estate in moneys, 5 li.
• Debts due from the estate 2 li. 6s.

Attested in Ipswich court 28 March 1676 by Sarah Witt widow and executrix

Ref 16: Probate Records of Essex County, MA ^[17]

DNA Efforts

1. Y-CHROMOSOME DNA RESEARCH

For the last 10 years, a Y-chromosome DNA analysis project has been ongoing at FamilyTreeDNA that has been attempting to determine if several DeWitt families are related to this Witt family.

In the Y-chromosome DNA Witt / DeWitt Project we have discovered that:

A. MIS-MATCHES

The 12 members do not match those many other men who descend from New York or South Carolina DeWitts. They do not match with Whitt descendants either.

As shown above William Richard Cutter in 1913 (See Ref 8) put forth the idea that John Witt descended from Dutch DeWitts who migrated from Holland to England, and then changed their name to Witt.

An evaluation of this idea was undertaken by this author in 2016. Beyond the 111 STR test, he paid for a deep analysis via the so-called Big Y 700 marker test. His results can be compared to members of the New York Dutch DeWitts. We do not share a common ancestor for over 500 years.
Ref 17: Did We Match the Dutch? ^[18]

B. MATCHES

In summary, (See Image 3 below.) 12 living male Witt (2) or DeWitt (10) descendants have been found who match Y-DNA STR markers close enough to be considered to share a common ancestor of John Witt (1617-1675). This is because several of the men including one Witt descendant have been shown historically to descend from John Witt. The other Witt matches the rest of the group but does not know how their family connects to John Witt. Two families have historical evidence that their ancestor left British America for Canada.

Image 3: Witt/DeWitt Y-DNA Research Group Summary

Public data is shown at the John Witt Group (half way down the page with green header: Witt_John 1612-1675 (MA Witt/DeWitts)):

Ref 18: Y-STR Matches with Witts and DeWitts ^[19]

If a reader is interested in this project please contact this author who is the FTDNA DeWitt/Witt Research Group Coordinator at Don DeWitt.

2. AUTOSOMAL-CHROMOSOME DNA RESEARCH

The evaluation of Y-chromsome DNA allows a male to trace back through his father's name for 100s of years. The sequence of DNA does not get diluted by contribution from the mother and is therefore the best technique to trace paternal genetics. Only males carry the Y-chromosome so maternal ancestry cannot be evaluated. The only changes that occur are due to mutations that occur slowly over time. So someone who matches another person 109 out of 111 markers probably shares a recent common ancestor. A match of 100 / 111 suggests a common ancestor 100s of years ago.

Autosomal DNA (aDNA) evaluates DNA from all 23 human chromosomes. It is only good for about 7 generations back, so it is not useful in comparing two John Witt (1617-1675) descendants who are 9-10th great-grand children. This is the type of DNA analysis offered by 23andME or Ancestry.com.

For instance:

A living person shares

- 50% of their DNA with their mother.

- 25% of their DNA with their grandmother.

- 12.5% of their DNA with their great-grandmother.

- 6.25% of their DNA with their 2X great-grandmother.

- 3.125% of their DNA with their 3X great-grandmother.

- 1.56% of their DNA with their 4X great-grandmother.

- 0.78% of their DNA with their 5X great-grandmother.

So two people whose common ancestor was a 6X great-grandmother would not show up as matches in a comparison of their autosomal DNA samples.

Therefore this technique is useful for more recent ancestral generation evaluations. We have used it successfully to compare donors who apparently shared a common ancestor who lived in the 1750s.

For instance:

A descendant donor A knows that he descends from John Witt via genealogical research. He finds an Ancestry.com aDNA match with donor B who does not know her deep ancestry Then donor B has new evidence that she also descends from John Witt. We have had several instances of this type of event.

Sources

1. ↑ FindAGrave for John Witt: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/3455697/person/6933886313/facts
2. ↑ Pilgrims : NEEDS WORK
3. ↑ Torrey: http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=pili354&h=1308738&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt US & Canada Passenger and Immigration List Index
4. ↑ Home in Lynn: (SEE IMAGES 1 and 2): This is a magnification of the original 1829 map in the "downtown" area around the Commons. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3764l.la002058 at the Lib of Congress. Note the J Witt residence (as of 1650) on Shepard St near the south side of the Commons.
5. ↑ History of Hugenots in England: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/France_Huguenots
6. ↑ Frank W. Balcomb, The Witt Genealogy, Peabody, Mass.: Fraedy Press, c1943; https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:The_Witt_Genealogy
7. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/27233/?o_lid=0004026539&o_sch=Affiliate+External&o_xid=0004026539&ranEAID=4026539&ranMID=50138&ranSiteID=Xib7NfnK11s-cFwnaOX8l81r3KCZYwb4mA
8. ↑ William Richard Cutter: 'New England families, genealogical and memorial : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation' See pages 1156-7. Publ 1914
   https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili031847/mode/2up
9. ↑ "New England families, genealogical and memorial; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation; by Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed., Publication date 1913. New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company Witt Family: pg 1157-8 https://archive.org/details/newenglandfamili03cutt_0/page/n7/mode/2up
10. ↑ The DRIVER FAMILY: A Genealogical Memoir of the Descendants of ROBERT AND PHEBE DRIVER. By Harriet Ruth (Waters) Cooke, New York, Printed For The Author by John Wilson and Son, University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1889. pg 66 https://archive.org/details/driverfamilyage00cookgoog/page/66/mode/2up
11. ↑ Driver and Witt Familes: pg 67 https://archive.org/details/driverfamilyage00cookgoog/page/66/mode/2up
12. ↑ A genealogical register of North Brookfield families, including the records of many early settlers of Brookfield. by Charles Adams, Jr, published by the Town of North Brookfield. 1887. Pg 788-790 https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthbr87temp/page/788/mode/2up
13. ↑ Father of John Witt: See Kelli Crnkovich's website: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~kelliesconnections/genealogy/Descendants%20of%20Jacob%20Witt.html
14. ↑ John's Death Date in "The Driver family: a genealogical memoir of the descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver, of Lynn, Mass. With an appendix, containing twenty-three allied families. 1592-1887" by Cooke, Harriet Ruth Waters, 1841- Publication date 1889 See page
15. ↑ Old Burying Ground: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/essex//cemeteries/oldburying.txt
16. ↑ John's Will in "The Driver family: a genealogical memoir of the descendants of Robert and Phebe Driver, of Lynn, Mass. With an appendix, containing twenty-three allied families. 1592-1887" by Cooke, Harriet Ruth Waters, 1841- Publication date 1889 See pages 67-68 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:The_Driver_Family%2C_A_Genealogical_Memoir_of_the_Descendants_of_Robert_and_Phebe_Driver%2C_of_Lynn%2C_Mass.
17. ↑ Probate Records of Essex County, MA: 1675- 1681, Massachusetts Probate Court (Essex County), George Francis Dow, Essex institute:Docket 30, 221
    Also: Printed version found in Driver Family Genealogy: NEEDS WORK
18. ↑ DID WE MATCH THE DUTCH?: NEEDS WORK
19. ↑ Y-STR Matches with Witts and DeWitts: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/dewittfamilydna?iframe=ycolorized

Miscellaneous: THESE NEED TO BE EVALUATED

• Lynn Genealogy (in Essex County, MA)
  https://ldsgenealogy.com/MA/Lynn.htm

• Don DeWitts Family Tree at Ancestry.com that includes many Witt and DeWitt descendants of John Witt: http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=genealogy-glh38301594&h=5&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

• Torrey's New England Marriages Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Did he marry 14 Jun 1676 in Lynn Elizabeth Baker?http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=mamarriages_ga&h=805974&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850]

• "Genealogical Gleanings relative to Lynn, MA," in NEHGR, 5(1851):342-3

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 29 January 2017, 17:32), entry for Jonathan Witt(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:K67G-M1H); contributed by various users.

• "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3NG4-TLZ : accessed 4 November 2018), entry for Ira B Barney, cites sources; "Lyons/Harding Family Tree" file (2:2:2:MM6Z-9YC), submitted 3 April 2018 by smlyons77 [identity withheld for privacy].

• "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:37BC-S88 : accessed 4 November 2018), entry for Daniel /Barney/; file (2:2:2:MMD6-FCC), submitted 12 February 2015.

• New England Families, genealogical and memorial, Vol. 3, William Richard Cutter

• Find A Grave Memorial# 114614031

• Manuscript, [ Hugh D. Miller, comp. ], Genealogy: Ethel P. Miller/Hugh D. Miller, 1985, copy in possession of Barbara M

• A Genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England showing 3 generations of those who came before May 1962 on the basis of Farmer's Register by Savage, James: https://archive.org/details/agenealogicaldi00unkngoog/page/n142

Also there is useful info in the memories that need evaluation.

Acknowledgements

• K Bris
• Paula Marksman
• Johanna Amnelin
• Roger Travis
• Andrew White

EDITOR Does anyone know why these people have been acknowledged?