Notes on the Family of Roger Billings

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay
Surname/tag: Billings

NOTES ON THE FAMILY OF ROGER BILLINGS

Page references in parentheses below are all from Records of the First Church at Dorchester, in New England, 1636-1734, by First Church at Dorchester, G.H. Ellis: Dorchester (Boston, Mass.), 1891; please see: https://archive.org/details/recordsoffirstch00firs/page/n8/mode/1up (title page; insert the selected page number in place of "n8" in the URL to go directly to that page. For other sources, please see the profile of paterfamilias Roger.

1. For Roger's first child, Joseph Billings, no known baptism or birth record exists, but he is mentioned in his father's will. In a land deed dated 1694, his brothers Ebenezer and Roger also conveyed a piece of property to his son Joseph Billings of Boston, taylor – identified as the only son of Joseph Billings, late of Boston, mariner, eldest son of Roger Billings.

2. The first of two daughters named Mary was born 10 July 1643, and died on 4 December 1643. Her date of birth can be found in Dorchester's civil records; unlike the church records for her siblings, it names both parents: "Mary, the daughter of Roger Billing & Mary his wife was born the 10th (5th) 1643; and died the 4th (10th) 1643."

3. Daughter Anna's christening date is found in the church records; she was baptized on 20 October 1644 (see page 157). Her full name is shown as "Anna Billindge." In the record of her 1664/5 marriage to John Penniman, her first name is spelled Hannah.

4. The second daughter Mary was christened 23 November 1645, as "Mary Billindge" (see page 158). She married first, Samuel Belcher, in 1663; widowed, she was remarried to Samuel Niles in 1680, at Braintree. She was admitted to the Dorchester church in 1684: "Some time this year 84 ye wif of one Nile of Brantry ye daughter of Roger Belleng owned ye Covenant" (see page 14).

5. Son Jonathan was christened 25 August 1650, as "Jonathan Billindge" (see page 160).

6. Son Ebenezer was christened 26 October 1651, as "Ebinezer Billindge" (see page 161); he evidently had died when a second Ebenezer was born in early 1665/6.

7. Son Samuel, an apparent twin, was also christened 26 October 1651, as "Samuell Billindge" (see page 161), but he is not mentioned in his father's will or its codicil; he had thus evidently died by 1683.

It has been speculated that Roger's first wife Mary died in giving birth to the apparent twins Ebenezer and Samuel in 1651. This assumption is based on the fact that there is a gap in the births of the Billings offspring from late 1651 to early 1655/6, and the fact that a Hannah Billings, logically Roger's second wife, was admitted to the Dorchester church on 14 October 1655 (page 20; "Hannah Billinge")

Several children can reasonably all be attributed to Roger and Hannah between 1655 and her death on 25 May 25 1662:

8. Son Ebenezer, second of the name, was christened 11 January 1655/6, as "Ebinezer Billindge" (see page 167).

9. Son Roger has both a birth record and a christening record: he was born 18 November 1657, and baptized on 13 December as "Rodger ye sone of Rodger" (see page 168).

10. Daughter Elizabeth also has both a birth record and a christening record: she was born 27 October 1659, and baptized on 27 November as "Elizabeth ye daughter of Rodger Belleng" (see page 170).

11. Last daughter and last child Zipporah, too, has both a birth record and a christening record; she was born 21 May 1662, and baptized on 22 June: "Zipporah ye daughter of Roger Belleng was baptized ye 22 (4) 62 being about a month old: at ye birth of whom her mother dyed" (see page 172). The death of her mother Hannah was in fact recorded as occurring a few days after the birth, on 25 May.

Roger is mentioned in the History of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts Number two, Chapter IX, "Second emigration from England" (see page 110).

According to this source, "Roger Billings joined the church in 1640, and was admitted freeman in 1643. With John Gill he bought a hundred acres of land from the top of Milton Hill ... in 1656. He afterwards removed to Mr. Glover's farm, near Squantum, where he died in 1683. His first wife Mary, and by her he had a daughter, born 10 (5) 1643, and probably a son Joseph, whom he mentions in his will. By his second wife Hannah he had - Mary, baptized 23 (9) 1645, who married Samuel Belcher, 15 (10) 1663; Hannah, married John Penniman, 24 (12) 1664; Ebenezer and Samuel, baptized 26 (8) 1651; Roger, born 18 (9) 1657; Elizabeth, 27 (8) 1659, probably married Nathaniel Wales; Zipora, born 21 (30 1662, died October 8, 1676; Jonathan, died January 14, 1677. His wife Hannah died 25 (3) 1663."

The town of Milton was settled in 1640 as part of Dorchester and was made an independent town in 1662. In a book about the history of Milton, entitled The History of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1887, the last name of "Billings" is mentioned many times, often in relations to Billings Tavern. Sources say it was built prior to 1681 and was the home of Roger in his last years. "Farther south, on Canton avenue, at the top of the hill, and directly in front of the Wainwright mansion, stood the Billings tavern, in the early part of this century, called the 'Blue Hill Tavern,' an ancient hostelry, and a famed resort for fancy dinners and high living....In this house was born Charles Howland Hammatt Billings, the distinguished architect. He was son of Ebenezer Billings. Joseph Billings, son of the Joseph who first kept the tavern, was a leather-dresser." On page 127 of this book, it has the following to say: "John Gill was a member of the Dorchester Church in 1640. He was lessee with Roger Billings of John Glover's 'Newbury farm' at Squantum in 1641. He married Ann Billings, sister of Roger." Squantum was part of Dorchester before joining Quincy when it was incorporated as a town separate from Braintree in 1792.

The History of Milton and the text describing the history of Dorchester may not be in complete agreement on exactly where Roger lived and when, but his name is associated with Dorchester, Milton, and an area that eventually became Quincy. His headstone is in the Hancock Cemetery which is now located in Quincy. His death and his funeral are mentioned in the History of Milton, on page 653.

Hancock Cemetery is a historic cemetery on Hancock Street in Quincy Square, across the street from the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts.

An article about Roger by Harold Ward Dana, "Roger Billings of Milton, Mass., and Some of His Descendants," was published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1938 (with a continuation in 1939). Much more recently, there is the 2012 book, Some Descendants of Roger Billings of Dorchester, Massachusetts, by Helen Schatvet Ullmann (Newbury Street Press, Boston) which has its basis in the article by Dana but corrects errors in that earlier work. Ullman's copyrighted work can be accessed at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, or the library of the New England Historic Genealogy Society in Boston, but unfortunately is not currently (Apr. 2023) accessible online. To highlight a few facts:

1. Helen Schatvet Ullman indicates that while Roger owned land in Milton, he actually lived in Dorchester. Roger's residence was on or near Squantum's Neck, which was part of Dorchester as of 1641 but much later became part of Quincy.

2. Dana omitted Roger's second son named Ebenezer in his 1938 article on the Billings family. This Ebenezer married Hannah Wales.

3. Roger had a sister named Ann, who also emigrated. In her will dated 16 July 1683, she made "my loveing brother Roger Billings Sen of Dorchester" her executor.

4. By 6 April 1653 Roger was living on the Glover Farm (earlier called the Newbury Farm) in what is now North Quincy. Quincy is now part of Norfolk County, which was created in 1793.

5. In January 1656/7? Roger & John Gill purchased 100 acres from the top of Milton Hill.

6. At the time he wrote his will, Roger Billings was living at Glover's Farm. He composed both a will and a codicil, the latter dated 13 November 13 1683. His wife is mentioned in the will, but not by name.

7. The Ullman text refutes the groundless claim – based in the fraudulent work of Horatio Gates Somerby – that Roger was born in Taunton, England, a claim that has unfortunately been perpetuated both on and off the internet.

Roger had eleven children; only three of them survived him: he lived to see the death of eight of his offspring, and two of his three wives. He must have been acquainted with sorrow. The records show that second wife Hannah and last daughter Zipporah died within a few days of each other; so did Roger and son Ebenezer.

Roger's surviving daughter Mary married into the Belcher family. So did his niece, Rebecca Gill.