Clement Briggs Sr. (abt. 1600 - 1648)

Born about 1600 in Southwark, Surrey, England

Husband of Joan (Allen) Briggs — married before 1 Mar 1630 in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Husband of Elizabeth (UNKNOWN) Briggs — married before 1640 in Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 23 Dec 1648 at about age 48 in Weymouth, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message] and Edna Wood [send private message]

Clement Briggs Sr. migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 1, p. 234) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disputed Origins

There is no known evidence from any primary sources to identify the parents of Clement Briggs.

Disputed Wife

According to Torrey and Anderson, Clement married an Elizabeth whose maiden name is unknown. Torrey shows a different Clement Briggs of North Purchas, vitals and relationship to this Clement unknown (but not son Clement), marrying Elizabeth Field 3 Nov 1697 at Bridgewater/Easton, MA. ^[1]

Disputed Child

John Briggs was previously attached as a child, without any supporting source. Aside from the lack of any reliable source for the claim, his profile indicates he was born in abt 1614, which was more than 15 years earlier than Clement's first known marriage.

Biography

Clement Briggs Sr. (abt.1600-1648) Clement Briggs was born about 1600 (a 1638 deposition implies that in 1616 he had already been a servant to Mr. Samuel Latham for a few years).

A clue to his possible origins is found in the same 1638 deposition, in which he said "about two and twenty years since[,] this deponent the dwelling with one Mr. Samuel Lathame in Barumndsey Street in Southwarke..."^[2]

He worked as an apprentice tanner, or "fels monger", and migrated as a single man to Massachusetts on the Fortune, the first ship after the Mayflower, arriving at Plymouth in November 1621.

Clement moved to Dorchester, Mass between 1627 and 1630, where he met and was married to Joan Allen in 1631 by Rev Thomas Stoughton. Joan was mother of his son Jonathan, b. Weymouth, 1635. He later suffered the first divorce in the English colonies when he separated from Joan, who had been ordered by the court to not visit another man, Arthur Warren. [There is no evidence of legal separation or divorce; see comments further below.] Clement married next Elizabeth Field c. 1639/40; she died between 11 Nov 1685 (date of codicil) and 11 Aug 1691 (when will probated), probably at Weymouth.

Clement Briggs entertained an Indian "without leave" of the Court, for which he was fined 10 shillings, 04 September 1634 (Records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1:132).

Clement's will was dated 1648; his inventory was taken 23 Feb 1648/9; the will was proven Oct 4, 1650; he died in Weymouth, Mass.

Children

By first wife:

1. Thomas, b 14 Jun 1633 [NEHGR 8:348]; m. Ann _____ [BrPR 2:65]
2. Jonathan, b 14 Jun 1635 [NEHGR 8:348]; m by 1664 Experience _______ [TAG 33:83-86]

By second wife:

1. David b 23 Aug 1650 [NEHGR 8:348]; d btw 13 Nov 1683 (when mentioned in mother's will) and 11 Nov 1685 (codicil to that will), apparently without issue.
2. Clement, b 1 Jan 1642/3 [NEHGR 8:348]; m by 1669 Hannah Packard [SPR 7:1-2]
3. Remember, b abt 1645; m by 1686 Mary _____ (their eldest child was born Weymouth 4 Nov 1686).
4. John, b abt 1647; "named in father's will; no further record. Not named in will of Elizabeth Briggs, which might be evidence that he was not her son, but he almost certainly dead before she wrote her will; if he had been a son of Clement Briggs by his first wife, he should have appeared in the Weymouth vital records for the 1630s and early 1640s. there is no evidence that he is any one of the men by the name of John Briggs later appearing in New England."

Research Notes

"In 1966 Edna Anne Hannibal, with the assistance of Claude W. Barlow, published a solid genealogy of the descendants of Clement Briggs, as part of a series on Briggs families of New England [Clement Briggs of Plymouth Colony and His Descendants, 1621-1965 (n.p., 1966). This volume presence evidence supporting the interesting hypothesis that the widow of Clement Briggs was the "widow Briggs" residing in the early 1650s at Southampton [p. 4]."^[3]

FindAGrave gives an exact birth date (without source): 21 Apr 1600.

Sources

1. ↑ Bridgewater. Henry Edwards Scott, ed. Vital Records of Bridgewater Massachusetts to the Year 1850, volume 2: Marriages and Deaths. (Boston: NEHGS, 1916). Page 63. Internet Archive
2. ↑ "Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89Z7-5CTT : 22 May 2014), Plymouth > Deeds 1620-1651 vol 1 > image 60 of 239; county courthouses and offices, Massachusetts.
3. ↑ Robert Charles Anderson, Great Migration Begins, Boston, MA: NEHGS, 1995; p 237

• The Family Of Brice and Cathy Alvord, By Brice AlvordThe Family Of Brice and Cathy Alvord, By Brice Alvord..[1]

• PlymouthAncestors.org, A Geanlogical Profile of Clement Briggs (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date 07 Jun 2017.)

• Torrey, Clarence Almon. Torrey’s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1985)

• New World Immigrants, Vol. I

• American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Godfrey Memorial Library, Middletown, CT, USA

• Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s (Gale Research, Farmington Hills, MI, USA, 2012)

• Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England 1620 - 1650" by Charles Edwards Banks, Edited and Indexed by Elijah Ellsworth Brownell, Southern Book Company, Baltimore, 1957 (Lady Anne's Library) Manifest

• Find A Grave: Memorial #34834586
• Wikipedia: Fortune_(Plymouth_Colony_ship)
• Wikipedia: Passengers_of_1621_Fortune_voyage
• Hotten, John Camden, The Original Lists Of Persons Of Quality (John Camden Hotten, 1874) Page xxviii

See also:

• "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FHR4-CNB : 13 July 2016), Clement Briggs in entry for John Briggs, 02 Jan 1726; citing Death, Easton, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 1,059,951.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCQY-N85 : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for David Briggs, 23 Aug 1640; citing WEYMOUTH,NORFOLK,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm unknown.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCQT-2XH : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for Clement Briggs, 01 Jan 1642; citing WEYMOUTH,NORFOLK,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm unknown.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4P8-NY7 : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for Jonathan Briggs, 14 Jun 1635; citing Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, pg 34; FHL microfilm 2,031,513.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4P8-NY3 : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for Thomas Briggs, 14 Jun 1633; citing Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, pg 34; FHL microfilm 2,031,513.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCQT-2XH : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for Clement Briggs, 01 Jan 1642; citing WEYMOUTH,NORFOLK,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm unknown.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FCQY-N85 : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for David Briggs, 23 Aug 1640; citing WEYMOUTH,NORFOLK,MASSACHUSETTS, ; FHL microfilm unknown.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4P8-NY4 : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for David Briggs, 23 Aug 1640; citing Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, pg 34; FHL microfilm 2,031,513.

• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4P8-NYC : 4 December 2014), Clement Briggs in entry for Clement Briggs, 01 Jan 1642; citing Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, pg 34; FHL microfilm 2,031,513.