Benjamin (Crispe) Crisp (abt. 1611 - aft. 1683)

Born about 1611 in England

Husband of Bridget (UNKNOWN) Crispe — married before 1636 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Husband of Joanna (Goffe) Crispe — married after 29 Nov 1680 in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died after 5 Nov 1683 after about age 72 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Benjamin (Crispe) Crisp migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 1, p. 493) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Benjamin Crispe was born about 1610, his origins are unknown.^[1]

A previous version of this profile claimed, without source that his parents were Richard Crispe and Dorathie Thomson. They've been detached.

Emigration: 1631^[1]

In 1631 he was a servant with Major Edward Gibbons who was one of the men with a John Crispe that attemped to settle on the south side of the river in the Sagadanock lands. Another source gives his arrival as 1629.^[2] Anderson notes that a "Mr. Crispe" came on the Plough in 1631 and settled briefly at Watertown, the same year and place where Benjamin Crisp is first see and says this is suggestive, but may be mere coincidence. Gibbons rose very high in the Puritan government of Massachusetts Bay although he was considered quite evil by the Pilgrims.

He was a proprietor in 1636/7 at Watertown. He was granted 20 acres in the Great Dividend 25 July 1636 and 3 acres in Beaverbrook Plowlands on 28 February 1636/7. On 26 June 1637 he received 3 acres in Remote Meadows and finally on 10 May 1642 received a 64 acre farm. In the Watertown Inventory of Grants he was credited with 6 parcels of land: 7 acre homestall, 20 acres of upland in Great Dividend, 9 acres of upland beyond the Further Plain, 1 acre of meadow at Beaver Brook, 4 acres of Remote Meadow, and 3 acres of plowland in the Hither Plain [Beaverbrook Plowlands]. In the Composite Inventory he held 4 parcels: 7 acre homestall, 20 acres of upland in Great Dividend, 9 acres of upland beyond the Further Plain, and 64 acre farm.

On 25 September 1666 "Benjamin Crispe of Watertown, a mason", joined by "Bridget Crispe his wife" for a valuable sum of money sold to Thomas Boyden of Groton 4 parcels of land in Watertown: 7 acres of upland and buildings, 20 acres of Great Dividend, 12 acres in Lieu of Township, and a 53 acre farm. [Lieu of Township land was the same as land beyond the Further Plain, and since the farms, as finally surveyed, were somewhat smaller than originally granted, these 4 parcels are the same as the holdings more than 20 years earlier in the Composite Inventory.] He owned land on Common Street.

He was admitted freeman on 6 May 1646. This meant that he was a church member prior to this time. It should be noted that he had some education as he was able to sign his name on a deed of 25 September 1666. He moved to Groton in 1666 but returned to Watertown by 1681 (probably came during King Philip's War when all residents of Groton left after the raid.

On 13 April 1681 the Watertown selectmen ordered that "Benjamin Crispe" have "the charge of the meeting house committed to him to sweep and ring the bell and what else is needful to be done to fasten the doors and windows when the exercise is done." For this he was paid £4-10-0. He was also keeper of the pound.

Around 1666 he moved to Groton. On 25 September 1666 Benjamin Crispe sold to Thomas Boyden of "Grotton" yeoman, several pieces of property [MIddlesex Deeds 3:173]. Since this also included Benjamin's home, it was probably made in anticipation of the move. He was a selectman in Groton in 1668. He returned to Watertown when Groton was destroyed by the Indians in 1676.

In 1646 he was in a dispute with John Wincoll over the title of a piece of land in Watertown, the case being referred to arbitrators. He and his wife seem to have cared for the widow Brabrook and there are credits given him therefor in the town accounts in 1657 and 1658.

Benjamin was recorded once in 1636 as living in Misticke (Medford) and it is probably there that he met his wife Bridget.

He died in Watertown between 5 November 1683 and 21 December 1683.^[3] Image

Children by first wife Bridget:^[1]

1. Elizabeth CRISPE b: 08 JAN 1636/37 in Watertown
2. Mary CRISPE b: 20 MAY 1638 in Watertown
3. Jonathan CRISPE b: 29 JAN 1639/40 in Watertown
4. Eleazer CRISPE b: 14 JAN 1641/42 in Watertown
5. Zachariah CRISPE b: ABT 1644 in Watertown
6. Mehitable CRISPE b: 21 JAN 1645/46 in Watertown
7. Mercy CRISPE b: ABT 1648 in Watertown
8. Deliverance CRISPE b: ABT 1650 in Watertown

Marriage Joanna (GOFF?) Longley: AFT 29 NOV 1680 in Watertown

She was the widow of William Longley whom she had married around 1640. William Longley was the father of the husband of his daughter Mercy. According to Bent^[2] she and Benjmain were married around 1683.

Birth

Date: ABT 1610

When deposed in 1656 he was 45, in 1662 he was 52 and in 1683 he was said to be 77.

Marriage

Husband: Benjamin Crispe

Wife: Bridget Unknown

Marriage: BEF 1636^[4]

Husband: Benjamin Crispe

Wife: Joanna Goffe

Marriage: AFT 29 NOV 1680

or about 1683 ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995), p. 494. Image
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Bent, Gilbert Oscar. Who Begot Thee? Some Genealogical and Historical Notes Made in an Effort to Trace the American Progenitors of One Individual Living in America in 1903. Boston, Printed for private distribution [Press of D. Clapp & son], 1903. Page 41.
3. ↑ Anderson, Great Migration Begins, p. 494, citing Frederick C. Warner, "because on the latter date Crisp was replaced in his duties about the meetinhouse, but on the former date at a town meeting no mention was made of the need for such a replacement [WaTR 2:15]; certainly he is seen in no record after 31 October 1682 when he sold his son Jonathan's property [MLR 8:227]."
4. ↑ Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, Url: Ancestry.com Abbreviation: MA Town Records 1620-1988 : Boston, Transcript of County Records, 1643-1660, Vol. 1 Births, Marriages Deaths from 1630-1666, p. 129

See also:

• Cigrand, B. J., History of the Crispe family (Chicago, Ill.: Published by the author, 1901), pp. 174-5.

• Savage, James, A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England, showing three generations of those who came before May, 1692, on the basis of Farmer's Register .. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1860) Volume 1, p. 474

• Bond, Henry, Genealogies of the families and descendants of the early settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, ..." (Boston: NEHGS, 1860) pp. 188-9.

• Sanborn, Melinde Lutz, comp., Middlesex County, Massachusetts Deponents, 1649-1700 Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data - Index to the Deponent Records of the County of Middlesex, Massachusetts. Columbia Point, MA, USA: Massachusetts Archives, 1930.

• Paige, Lucius R., "Massachusetts Applications of Freemen, 1630-91" The New England historical and genealogical register Vol. 3(1849):191.

• Gale Research, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010. Original data - Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.

• Miner, Mark. "Benjamin Crispe." Miner Descent (blog), June 23, 2010. (Accessed 18 Jun 2022.)