Amy (Unknown) Harris (abt. 1635 - 1734)

Born about 1635 in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Wife of John Harris — married 1656 in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Conor McAvity [send private message]

Research Notes

I have not had an opportunity to research this lady, and was unaware of a time constraint. The profile sat here forever with no manager, no one working on it. The day after I adopted the profile, immediately folks show up. I don't understand that, and I would remove myself but it makes me sad when people are just dumped. Why was there no effort to find her parents, instead of only making it very clear that the creator of the profile had her with the wrong parents? I do hope there's more out there for her than books and websites I'm not familiar with yet. Apparently, "NEHGR" means "New England Historical Genealogical Register. I think. No one would help me, but Bing was great as always.

Biography

Amy was the wife of John Harris of Charlestown.^[1] She is not Amy Hills, daughter of Joseph Hills, as is often said? Where? ^[1] This is an error which has been traced back to Wyman's Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and repeated in many other places. Joseph Hills had no daughter Amy. The error was apparently caused by a confusion with a completely different Harris family.^[2][1]

Her name was sometimes written as Ame [where?] and sometimes misinterpreted as Anne in the records [again, what records]

Amy first occurs in the records [this is ridiculously vague, "the records"?] when she was admitted to the First Church of Charlestown as Amy Harris on 9 August 1656. Due to a gap in the records [This needs to be written in such a way that a reader new to this lady's life will not feel that he or she forgot to read the first fifty pages of a book], it is believed [by whom?] that Amy was the second wife of John Harris of Charlestown though it is possible that she was also the mother of his first child Elizabeth [this makes no sense, she may have been his wife or she may be the mother] (born c. 1649). John and Amy Harris had a total of

five children, and she was named in the baptism record of four of them [is this sourced?]. Their first child was born in May 1658.

Marriage and Children

Married: John Harris of Charlestown before 1656.

Child of John Harris and his unknown first wife:

1. Elizabeth Harris. Born say 1649 (based on marriage). She married Zachariah Sawtell on 13 April 1669 in Charlestown, and had four children.^[3] Elizabeth died of smallpox in 1677-78.^[4]

Children of John and Amy Harris:

1. Samuel Harris. Born on10 May 1658 in Charlestown. He married, "as son of John of Charlestown," Agnes Way on 14 May 1679 in New London, Connecticut. Samuel died less than one month later on 7 June 1679. He had no children.
2. John Harris. Baptized on 17 February 1660/1 in Charlestown.^[5] He removed to Rhode Island where he was a weaver. He had no known wife or children. John died before 26 September 1730 when he was noted as deceased in a land transaction of his brother Joseph Harris.^[6]
3. Thomas Harris. Born on 26 August 1662 in Charlestown.^[7] Thomas died on 18 March 1662/3.^[8]
4. Thomas Harris. Born on 18 March 1663/4 in Charlestown. He married 1st Hepzibah Crosswell, then 2nd Eleanor Miller, and finally 3rd Mary Dana. Thomas died 5 October 1747.
5. Joseph Harris. Born on 17 November 1665 in Charlestown.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Harris, Gale Ion. "John¹ Harris of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and North Yarmouth, Maine", (part 1) in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 170. (Spring 2016): pages 152-59.
2. ↑ NEHGR Vol. 120, (January1966): Page 74.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1K-FMXT), Zachariah Sawtell and Elizabeth Harris.
4. ↑ Wyman. Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, vol. 2. (1879): pages 848.
5. ↑ Hunnewell]. First Church in Charlestown. (1880): page 52.
6. ↑ Massachusetts Land Records, 1620-1986; Middlesex; Deeds 1732-1734 vol 34-35. (FamilySearch.org online database). Image 77 of 618.
7. ↑ Joslyn.Vital Records of Charlestown, vol. 1 (1984): page 40.
8. ↑ Joslyn.Vital Records of Charlestown, vol. 1 (1984): page 42.

• Harris, Gale Ion. "John¹ Harris of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and North Yarmouth, Maine", (part 1) in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 170. (Spring 2016): pages 152-59.

• NEHGR Vol. 152, (July 1998): Page 344.

• NEHGR Vol. 120, (January1966): Page 74.

• New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Originally compiled by Clarence Almon Torrey. This edition edited by Elizabeth Petty Bentley, 1985, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore.

Online books and whatever americanancestors. org is...