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Benjamin Ashby (bef.1653-bef.1713)
Bibliographic Notes
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Undocumented and/or disputed origins
(a) No historical record of Benjamin Ashby's birth or baptism has been located, nor has a record as yet been identified that calls out his age.[1] No historical records about Benjamin are known to mention the names his parents or siblings. Records reporting the births and or ages of his first wife and older children have been elusive to researchers--only their baptismal dates and locations are known--serving to further complicate notions of Benjamin's early life and origins. Likely as such, well-intended descendants' research and entries concerning his birth have long varied considerably--saying he was born in first half of the 1600s, or in the 1650s, 1660s,[2] 1670s, or as late as or close to the 1680s.
Historians noticed Benjamin Ashby of Salem in 1674,[3] surely based on the purchase of a property there by Benjamin Ashby, sawyer, from John Rusk, merchant.[4] If Benjamin Ashby was at least 21[5] at the time of that purchase, then his birth may be estimated as say before 1653.
The property acquired by deed dated 11 November 1674 was described as below:
- ... sixty or seventy poale or rod of ground … butted & bounded as … sittuate & lying in Salem … bounded southerly with som land of John Pickering & easterly with the land of Eleazer Gedney, northerly with the land of ye sd John Ruck, & westerly with the land ptly of John Pickering & ptly upon the common land, to say fifty foot against ye common … sd p'cell of land on the westerne side runing ye sd fifty foot northerly, beyond the corner of John Pickerings fence, to the land of ye sd Ruck & from that northwest corner bounds it runs downe easterly upon a strait line, to a place marked in the fence of the sd Eleazer Gedney.
(b) Although more recently questioned and challenged by some descendants, the "Benjamin Ashby ... sawyer" who acquired the Salem property in 1674 is likely the man by that name who died there in 1713. His inventory included "a few old torn Books," and "one dwelling hous & about three quarter of an Acre of Land belonging unto it, part of it an orcherd,"[6] and by his will, the man left legacies to his sons including:[7]
- "my great Steel Saw wth ye ?Set belonging to its to my son Jonathan"
- "my ?neat Steel Saw to my Son Benjamin"
- "my Two Iron Saws I give to my Son John"
(c) Despite long-held beliefs, widely-reported, suggesting Benjamin Ashby was the son of Abigail Hutchinson by her marriage to Anthony Ashby, this is surely not the case.
To the extent that well-intended, especially early accounts about Anthony Ashby and his wife, Abigail Hutchinson been surveyed, many report they had a son Benjamin but generally fail to recognize and/or reasonably reconcile Abigail Hutchinson's first marriage[8] at Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts, 14 May 1662 to John Lambert.[9] Of Abigail's first marriage, two Lambert children were recorded born at Rowley in 1664 and 1665 (Gershom,[10] and Abigail[11]), and then the husband/father, John Lambert, was buried there 6 November 1667.[12] Thus Anthony and Abigail almost certainly did not marry until after John Lambert's death and probably not until after 15 November 1668 (writ filed against "widow Abygaill Lambert"[13]). Their Ashby children were likely born still later, probably after the baptism of Abigail's two Lambert children at Salem in 1670.[14]
(d) Errors or notable oversights in print--Savage (1860)
Some or much of the confusion regarding Benjamin Ashby and his parentage can be traced to early entries (1860) by Savage, widely circulated.[15] The entries confuse the children of and contain errors in print about both Benjamin Ashby (d. 1713) and his oft' purported father, Anthony Ashby. Savage wrote,
- ASHBY, ANTHONY, Salem 1665, m. Abigail, d. of Richard Hutchinson,
- had Gershom, and Abigail, both bapt. 12 June 1670; and perhaps Benj-
- amin, and Eliz. June 1684; had license to sell beer and cider, 1670,
- Felt, I. 418. 2 Mass.Hist. Coll. VIII. 106. The name is there kept up,
- and Edward Ashber, Beverly, freem. 1683, may be descend. ANTHONY,
- New London 1688, prob. s. of the preced. tho. Caulkins, 351, considers
- him the same, had Anthony, and two ds. Mary, and Hannah, old eno. to
- join the ch. Feb. 1694. There, too, descend. were seen. BENJAMIN, Salem
- 1674, s. perhaps of Anthony the first, by w. Hannah had John, bapt. June
- 1693; Jonathan, 23 Sept. 1694; and prob. others. He was a shipbuild.
- EDWARD, Beverly, freem. 1683, perhaps s. of the first Anthony. Felt.
- THOMAS, New Haven, whose goods were order. to be apprais. 3 Apr.
- 1640, as he was lately drown. in co. with Thomas Johnson. Sometimes,
- perhaps, the first Anthony may be print. Ashley.
- ASHBY, ANTHONY, Salem 1665, m. Abigail, d. of Richard Hutchinson,
(i) Of the first four children Savage associated (directly or "perhaps") with Anthony, none are reasonably known to have been his children. The four baptisms are shown in the published records of First Church in Salem (1865) as follows.
- 1670: June 12. Gershom & Abigail of Mrs. Ashby.[16]
- 1684: June 15. Benjamin, Elizabeth of s[ister] Jon. Ashby.[17]
As is often problematic, these baptisms were recorded by the church under the mothers' names. The children's heritage becomes apparent when information from additional historical record collections is also considered. For example
- In the 1670 record, Abigail (Hutchinson) (Lambert) Ashby was baptizing Gershom Lambert and Abigail Lambert who were both born to the mother's first marriage to John Lambert. (Both births were recorded at Rowley, Massachusetts--Gershom in 1664,[18] and Abigail in 1665.[19])
- In 1684, Benjamin Ashby's first wife, Johanna Hill, was baptizing her two children, Benjamin Ashby and Elizabeth Ashby. These are surely the two Ashby children later referred to as "my grandchildren" in the will of Zebulon Hill dated 1699.[20]
(ii) Savage expressed conflicts about the identities he had reported for Anthony Ashby and his son, Anthony, but seems to have been unaware that the identities of Benjamin and his son Benjamin had also been confused. For example
- As above, Savage associated the Benjamin Ashby baptized in 1684 as "perhaps" the son of Anthony Ashby and then referred to the man noticed in 1674 using the same expression ("perhaps s. of Anthony")--but these were more likely two different Benjamins--the son (1684) and his father (1674) of the same name.
- Savage identified the Benjamin Ashby whose children were baptized in the 1690s as a "shipbuilder," but this is not shown in the records. He was more likely the "sawyer" who acquired land at Salem in 1674 and died there, 1713, calling out sons Jonathan, Benjamin and John--surely the children born/baptized 1694, 1684 and 1693, respectively. It was the sawyer's son, Benjamin Ashby, Jr.--married Salem, 27 December 1700 (27: 10 mo: 1700), to Elizabeth Priest[21] and died in 1718[22] leaving no children--who is commonly shown in the records to have been a shipwright.
(e) Errors or notable oversights in print--Perley (1900)
(f) Errors or notable oversights in print--Perley (1926)
As to the early family, Sidney Perley seems to have mostly relied upon the earlier work of James Savage. In History of Salem, Perley repeats what seems the most serious of Savage's flaws, reporting that Anthony Ashby (m. Abigail Hutchinson) was the father of the four children baptized at Salem in 1670 and 1684. Perley's entry is void of references to other children, including Anthony Ashby, Jr., and it makes no mention of either Connecticut or Connecticut records.
(g) Errors or notable oversights in print--Robert L. Ashby (1941) (1955)
In the preface to his 1955 work, Ashby and Badger Ancestry, Robert L. Ashby wrote,
- "… it is the hope that this work will be a torch or an incentive for others to continue the work and make the record more complete." And also,
- "The records given here show the facts as far as my efforts have revealed them. Let me state that there is no such thing as a perfect Genealogical record. In my research I have found many discrepancies. Do not look for perfection here. It is my hope and prayer that this record maybe of help to all who are truly a interested in their ancestors."
Much remains to be learned about the Ashby, Hill and other interconnected families. As with all genealogical work, findings such as those expressed here are subject to review and update based on improved historical discovery and insight.
Sources
- ↑ In particular, court records often contain such details. Only those records for Essex County, Massachusetts, and published as "Records and Files" are known to have been surveyed.
- ↑ Some logic is seen for claims Benjamin was born in the 1660s, but these entries generally assume he was born to a marriage on "14 May 1662" of Abigail Hutchinson and Anthony Ashby--a marriage date almost certainly in error.
- ↑ James Savage, 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, 4 vols (1860-62);1 (1860):67-68, "Ashby" entries: digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013).
- ↑ "Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986", images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-36328-23085-49?cc=2106411&wc=M9QJ-N48:1380339250 : accessed 10 Aug 2014), Essex > Deeds 1673-1681 vol 4-5 > image 149 of 711 [Essex (Massachusetts) Deeds 4:93]. The deed was signed and sealed by John Ruck and Elizabeth Ruck; witnessed by John Norman and Halliard Veren, saying, "signed, sealed & delivered in the presence of us with the interlining & severall words blotted out, & the adition about the main-taining the p'tition fence, as it underneath expressed, before sighing and sealing."
- ↑ Massachusetts Bay Colony was then governed by English law, by which those underage could not be held accountable for contracts. Thus it was most unusual for those under the age of full majority to independently contract to purchase land. Separately, see Blackstone, Commentaries on the laws of England, 4 vols (1765-1769), volume 1, chapter 17; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013).
- ↑ "Estate & goods of Benamin Ashby Late of Salem Decest," representing the inventory taken by Peter Osgood and James Rusk in "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1840," Benjamin Ashby, file 888 (5 pp.), 1713, and in particular, filmed page 2 (of 5); database and digital image by subscription, AmericanAncestors (accessed 2013)].
- ↑ "The Last Will & Testamt of Benjamin Ashby," dated 13 August 1713 (proved 14 September 1713) in "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1840," Benjamin Ashby, file 888 (5 pp.), 1713, and in particular, filmed page 4 (of 5); database and digital image by subscription, AmericanAncestors (accessed 2013)].
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 338 for Lambert-Hutchinson (1662); transcriptions from digital images,Massachusetts Vital Records Project (WaybackMachine). Entry reads, "[LAMBERT], John and Abigall Hutchinson, May 14, 1662" (with intention). See also Walter Goodwin Davis, The ancestry of Sarah Johnson, 1775-1824, wife of Joseph Neal of Litchfield, Maine (1960); digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013), 63-68 for "Hutchinson, of Salem"; in particular, p. 65 for Abigail Hutchinson, as dau. of Richard (1) Hutchinson.
- ↑ Citing "pedigree charts and family group sheets" from more than 60 submitters, Ancestral File 229K-LK reports that on 14 May 1662, Abigail Hutchinson married both John Lambert and Anthony Ashby. See "Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/M7KR-7HY : accessed 2014), entry for Abigail HUTCHINSON.
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 126; digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013). Entry reads "[LAMBERT,] Gershom, s. John, July 29, 1664.
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 126; digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013). Entry reads "[LAMBERT.] Abigaill, d. John and Abigaill, 9: 10m: 1665."
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 488 for John Lambert, buried 1677; digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013).
- ↑ Abygaill Lambert, widow (1668), Records and files of the Quarterly courts of Essex county, Massachusetts, 9 vols (1911-1975); 4 (1914):50-51; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013), John Morgan v John Hutcheson, especially associated footnote on p. 50. "Writ: Mr. Oliver Purchase, attorney to John Morgan of Bristoll v. John Huchenson and widow Abygaill Lambert, his sister; .... dated 15 7 : 1668..."
- ↑ The eldest of their children may have been the daughter Sarah, whose birth was recorded Bradford, see Vital Records of Bradford, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1907), 11 for Sarah Ashby (b. 1672); digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013), citing "CT.R." [in turn given as "court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court."] Record reads, "[ASHBY,] Sarah, d. Anthony, Dec. 15, 1672. CT.R." In 1674, the birth of another daughter Ashby to Anthony was also recorded Bradford, see Vital Records of Bradford, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1907), 11 for ____ Ashbie (b. 1674); digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013), citing "CT.R." [in turn given as "court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court."] Record reads, "[ASHBIE,] ____, d. Anthony, Dec. 20, 1674. CT.R."
- ↑ James Savage, 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, 4 vols (1860-62);1 (1860):67-68, "Ashby" entries: digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013).
- ↑ "Baptisms of the First Church in Salem," Henry Wheatland, ed., Essex Institute Historical Collections 7 (1865): 16; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013), for entry of 1670, June 12.
- ↑ "Baptisms of the First Church in Salem," Henry Wheatland, ed., Essex Institute Historical Collections 7 (1865): 124; digital images, Hathi Trust (accessed 2013), for entry of 1684, June 15.
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 126 for Abigaill Lambert (1665); digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013). Record reads, "LAMBERT, Gershom, s. John, July 29, 1664."
- ↑ Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 (1928), 126 for Abigaill Lambert (1665); digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013). Record reads, "LAMBERT, Abigaill, d. John and Abigaill, 9: 10m: 1665."
- ↑ "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1840," database and digital images, AmericanAncestors.org (accessed 2013), entry for Zebulon Hill, file 13310 (7 pp.); 1699[/1700]; in particular, indexed page "13310-2." Will dated 29 March 1699 (proved 11 March 1699/[1700]).
- ↑ Vital records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, 6 vols (1916-1925), 3:61, for Ashby-Priest (1700); digital images, Massachusetts Vital Records Project (accessed 2013). Entry reads, "[ASHBY,] Benjamin, and Elizabeth Priest, 27: 10 m: 1700. CT. R." citing "court records, Essex Co. Quarterly Court."
- ↑ "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1840," database and digital images, AmericanAncestors.org (accessed 2013), entry for Benjamin Ashby, file 889 (7 pp.); 1718. Includes his will dated 31 March 1718, proved 16 April 1718.
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