John Presbury (abt. 1616 - bef. 1648)

Born about 1616 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Catherine (Unknown) Chadwell — married about 1639 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 19 May 1648 before about age 32 in Sandwich, Plymouth Colony

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John Presbury migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 272) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Parentage; Date and Place of Birth

The parentage and date and place of birth of John Presbury of Sandwich is unknown. Some family trees show that he was the son of a John and Francis Presbury and born in Gloucester, England. Others say John's parents were John Presbury and Agnes Kylverd or Knowles. However, no reliable sources have been forwarded that support those propositions.

Based on his estimated date of marriage in 1639 and the fact that the average age of a man at the time of marriage was about 23, his date of birth is estimated as about 1616. It is reasonable to assume that he was born someplace in England.

There was a John Presbury baptized by his father John Presbury on December 25, 1610 in Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucester, England. However, he died on November 27 1622. Source: ["England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3D1-M58 : accessed 31 May 2016), John Presbury, 25 Dec 1610; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 91,545.] Once again, there was a John Prebury baptized by the same father, same place in February 1623, just a few years too late to be our John Presbury. Source: ["England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N5ML-16X : accessed 31 May 2016), John Presbury in entry for John Presbury, Feb 1623; citing WESTBURY ON SEVERN,GLOUCESTER,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 91,545.]

Records of Residency and Activities

John Presbury was included in a 1643 list of men between the age of 16 and 60 who were able to perform military duty.^[1]

A June 5, 1644 record states that "Peter Hambrow, for stealing a shirt of John Presbury's, is censured to be whipped at the post, which was accordingly done."^[2]

(Note: the sentence in the Presbrey Genealogy that states that "He is mentioned as being a shipwright in Saugus, Mass., in 1636, a witness in the Salem court in 1637, as a proprietor in Sandwich, April 3, 1637, and concerned in a lawsuit in 1641"^[3] is based on Pope^[4] and relates Richard Chadwell (the second husband of John Presbury's widow) not to John Presbury.)

Marriage

John married a woman whose first name was Catherine or Katherine about 1639.^[5][6][7] Some family trees show that her maiden name was Babcock, but no reliable sources have been found that support that assertion.

Children

John and Catherine had at least two children:

1. John, b. probably about 1639 in Sandwich, m. about 1663 Dorcas Bessey in Sandwich, d. before March 5, 1679 in Saco, Maine. No birth record has been found for this child. Evidence that John of Saco was the son of this profile's John of Sandwich is based a record indicating that Deborah Bessey of Sandwich married a Presbury about 1663, records of a John Presbury in Saco, Maine, and records of a grandson, Stephen Presbury in Saco and Sandwich. See, generally, the profile for John Presbury of Saco.
2. Mary/Mercy, b. the 10th day of the 3d month of 1641 in Sandwich^[8][9] (which translates to May 10, 1645 in the New Style calendar), m. December 1664 Lodovic Hoxey in Sandwich^[10]

There is some uncertainty relating to the birth records for Mary. The birth record included in "Vital Records of the Towns of Barnstable and Sandwich" reads as follows:

Meary presbury Daftar of John presbury was Boarne the 10 . Day . 3 . mo. 1664^[8]

But there is also the following birth record included in Ancestry's "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records":

Mary Presbury daughter of John Presbury was born the 10th day of 3d month 1641.^[11]

However, this latter birth record also contains annotations where (i) the name "Mary" was lightly crossed out and above it the word "Mercy" was written and (ii) next to 1641 was written "1644. See 'm.' O.R." The annotations seem to be in different handwriting than the original entry and in different handwriting from each other. Based on the unusual spelling, capitalization and punctuation of the entry in "Vital Records of the Towns of Barnstable and Sandwich," it appears if that copy was an attempt to make an accurate transcription from the original birth record. The entry in "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records", however, appears to be someone's attempt to interpret and clean up the original birth record and the annotations indicate that others disagreed with some of those interpretations.

Perhaps based on these different birth records, one secondary source states that John Presbury had two daughters: (i) Mary, b. 1641.5.10, m. Lodowick Hoxie, and (ii) Mercy, b. 1644.5.10.^[2] Given the similarity of the two birth records, the nature of the differences, and the annotations to the latter record, however, it appears more likely that both the record in "Vital Records of the Towns of Barnstable and Sandwich" and the record in "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records" relate to a single original birth record. Since later records show a Mary Presbury, "Meary" was probably "Mary" and not "Mercy" and, based on the annotation to the "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records" record and the apparent effort that the transcriber of the "Vital Records of the Towns of Barnstable and Sandwich" record made to accurately copy the original birth record (odd spellings, punctuation and all), it is likely that the birth date in the original record was 1644.

Death

According to Pope and others, John Presbury was buried on May 19, 1648,^[7][2] which means he probably died within a few days before that date.

^{[9] [1] [2] [3] [4] [6] [5] [7] [8] [10] [11]}

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, "Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Volume VIII, Miscellaneous Records, 1633-1689," William White, 1857, p 192
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} John Osborne Austin, "One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families," The Salem Press, 1893, p 202
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Rev. Joseph Waite Presby, "William Presbrey of London, England, Taunton, Mass. and his Descendants, 1690-1918," Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont, 1981, pp 125-126
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Charles Henry Pope, "The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1900, p 91
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Ancestry.com. U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (database on-line). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2012.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Charles Edward Banks, "The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume III," The Dukes County Historical Society, 1966, p 410
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Charles Henry Pope, "The Pioneers of Massachusetts, 1900, p 372
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} "Vital Records of the Towns of Barnstable and Sandwich," Genealogical Publishing Co, 1976, p 169
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29L-R5X3 : 3 November 2017), John Presbury in entry for Mercy Presbury, 10 May 1641; citing Birth, Sandwich, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 775,836.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Leslie Ray Hoxie, "The Hoxie Family: Three Centuries in America," 1950, p 4
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook)