George Martain (abt. 1650 - aft. 1690)

Descendants

Died after 1690 after about age 40 in Massachusetts

Biography

George Martin (Martyn, Martain) was born about 1650, possibly in 1648 if he is George Martin born in that year in Salisbury, Mass., to George Martin Sr. and Susanna North. If so, he may have left Salisbury about 1666 at age 18, and worked for one of the other families (such as Macy, Codman, Cottle) who moved from Salisbury to Martha's Vineyard. And in 1669 there was a writ against a man in Salisbury who said that George Martin Jr. was a bastard, so rumors that led to that case may have convinced George Jr. to leave Salisbury between 1666 and 1669. And 1669 was apparently also the first year that Susanna (North) Martin was accused of witchcraft.

Edgartown Records (I:30) for 14 April 1681, show that George Martin was granted "ten acres of land between the line of the ten-acre lots.... with the privilege of firewood and to Live thereon four years." On 15 December 1685, he was ordered to take into his possession all goods "belonging to Marget lord alias Rainer late desesed," as administrator (Court Records--Volume I). She is almost certainly Margaret Lord (b. 1660), daughter of William Lord Jr. of Salem, Massachusetts. She had been a thief and trouble-maker from a young age.

On 23 January 1683/84, this Margaret Lord had conveyed property in Salem to her brother-in-law (William Godsoe), and this William Godsoe and wife Elizabeth Lord were convicted of robbery later in 1684. Since the January 1683/84 record is the last concerning Margaret in Salem, she presumably then moved to Edgartown, apparently married a Mr. Rainer, and then died in late 1685. Since Margaret had a sister named Abigail, it seems possible that George's wife Abigail was this sister, thus explaining the Lord connection. Perhaps both Abigail and Margaret fled from Salem in the spring of 1684 if they (like their sister Elizabeth and their parents) were implicated in the Corwin robbery.

On 28 April 1687, the town of Edgartown agreed with George Martin as to the keeping of "Widow" Jones, the widow of Thomas Jones. According to Banks, this transaction may have been without significance of relationship, a "farming out" of the town's poor. On 18 September 1690, George Martin of Newport made a deposition relative to certain facts in a case then pending, together with one on the same subject by Abigail Martin of Newport (Duke Deeds III:126 and Court Records, Volume I). On 03 November 1690, George and wife Abigail of Newport sold the house lot that had been granted to him in 1681. No further information on George and Abigail is presently available, except that at least two of their children returned to Edgartown, their son Thomas and their daughter Sarah (who married Thomas Vincent Jr. in 1710). Whether George and Abigail had other children has not yet been ascertained. George is said to have died before 04 July 1722 (Edgartown Proprietors Records, vol. A, p 33).

Besides daughter Sarah, George and Abigail also had two sons: (1) Thomas Martin (born ca. 1690; died before 17 July 1738. Married 22 December or 22 October 1715 to Amy Daggett. (2) Joseph Martin resident of Chilmark in 1727 (blacksmith).

Sources

• The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts: Town annals. (Charles Edward Banks), pages 127-129.
• Edgartown Records, Volume I.
• Duke Deeds, Volume III, page 126.

Acknowledgments

• This person was created through the import of Shortened files.ged on 30 December 2010.