| Francis Austin migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Francis Austin was born in England about 1594. It is unknown when he migrated to the colonies; but he had purchased land in Dedham, Massachusetts before 1640. Regarding Isabella Bland, whom he took for his wife, the following was said: "How she met Francis Austin, who witnessed the will of Henry Chickering in Ringsfield, near Beccles, almost 50 miles to the north, we shall probably never know."[1]
Isabella, of Hampton (originally from Colchester, England), was the daughter of John Bland.[2] The Bland connection was said to be a 'distinguished one,' as her father was an early and prominent settler of Martha's Vineyard. Francis married Miss Isabella Bland on the 2nd of October 1632.[3] Francis stayed in Hampton, New Hampshire with his wife Isabella.[4]
Francis was considered one of the earliest settlers and proprietors Hampton.[5] Property was granted to him on the 30th of June 1640, in Hampton. By that time he had sold the property in Dedham to a Francis Chickering.[6]
Children:
Francis wound up with little precious time to spend with his daughters, as he died before his fiftieth birthday.[6]On the 13th of July 1642, a grant was made to "Widow Asten."[6]
After Francis' death, his widow married Thomas Leavitt and lived on the Asten homestead that she inherited.[7][8] She and Thomas were the parents of four more children (Aretas, Hezron, John, and James Leavitt).
Also see:
1. This Francis Austin was not the son of Richard Austin.
2. The following children are said to be issues of Francis, but sources have not yet been supplied:
While it is possible; there is no proof that Francis had children in England before he traveled to Massachusetts. His presence in Massachusetts in the 1630's makes Samuel's birth to this Francis improbable. Joseph, born 1620, would have been before Francis married Isabella. Joseph and Sophia are not listed in the Hampton records - where Francis and Isabella had their children.
The Frances Austen/Austin born 16 Feb 1602, that also migrated to New England, was the son of John Austen. He may have been the father of some of these children.
3. There is a forum post about the marriage of Isabella and Francis on Genealogy.com that states:
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Francis is 18 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 21 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 19 degrees from Maggie Beer, 42 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 25 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 30 degrees from Michael Chow, 20 degrees from Ree Drummond, 21 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 19 degrees from Matty Matheson, 20 degrees from Martha Stewart, 28 degrees from Danny Trejo and 22 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
His daughter has an interesting bio (persecuted for witchcraft) found here: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=98895384