John White (bef. 1602 - 1673)

Born before 7 Mar 1602 in South Petherton, Somerset, England

Ancestors

Husband of Joane (West) White — married 28 May 1627 in St Catherine, Drayton, Somerset, England

Descendants

Died Mar 1673 after age 70 in Lancaster, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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John White migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 369) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Disambiguation: Please note that this profile is not for the John White who was a founder of Hartford Connecticut, and married Mary Levett.

Biography

(The following includes a compilation of research and notes from various sources including the Genealogy of the Descendants of John White, and various records from Lancaster Co. Note: Wenham is just north of Salem. Not to be confused with Wrentham, MA.)

John White was baptized at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, South Petherton, Somerset, England on 7 March 1601/2 ("Martii 7 baptisatus fuit Johanes filius Roberti Whitt," in a chronological list of 1601 baptisms showing it was at the end of the Julian year)^[1]. Robert, father of John, was guardian and church warden at South Petherton, Somerset, as far back as 1578. This fits with the following: Oct 28 1784, Col. Jonathan White of Leominster, told his son James White of Heath, Mass, (who made a note of it with the date in his account book) that his great grandfather came from the west part of England, that he had two sons Thomas, who settled in Wenham, and Josiah, who settled on his father's estate in Lancaster.The note is signed James White and he adds, "This account, I had from my father this day." It was copied from Deacon James White's account book by F.W. White in 1848.

John's marriage is in the parish register for St. Catherine's Church, Drayton, Somerset ("John White & Joane West weare marryed the 28th of May").^[2]

Joan was the dau of Richard and Maudlin (Staple-Cooke) West, and was baptized in Drayton, Apr. 16, 1606. The Whites lived in Drayton, where their two oldest sons were baptised. John also owned a home in Southarpe in the parish of South Petherton, which he sold to his brother before coming to New England with his young family (including their 5 oldest children.)

It is believed the family arrived in Salem, MA in 1639 when John is said to have been "received as an inhabitant of Salem and granted 60 acres of land near Mr. Smith's Farm." Salem, at that time, included the town of Wenham where White's land was located. Joan joined the church in Salem in 1643 though it appears that John did not.

John returned to England in 1648 because of a property dispute with his brother. He sued Robert, claiming that his sibling had appropriated all the monies from properties their father owned, but never given him his fair share. A few years after his return in 1651 [1 May 1653], he went with his family to Lancaster, MA, leaving his son Thomas on the home farm in Wenham. He had at that time 380.06 Pounds, so it appears that the Chancery Proceedings were in his favor.

He is first mentioned in Lancaster in May of 1653 when he had 20 acres of land allotted to him on the "Neck". The house he built was first burned by Indians in 1675, and upon being rebuilt, burned by accident,

Joan died a year after they arrived in Lancaster, in 1654, leaving John a widower for another nineteen years.

In 1662, "aged John White was relieved of military training on account of advanced years." It was said of John, "Goodman White fears not to speak his own cause."

The Will of John White: "These present witnesseth the Last will and testament of John White of Lancaster in the countie of Middlesex in New England yeoman, being under the sensible decayes of nature and weake and low in Respect of the outward man, and the sensible symptoms of an aproaching change (togather with the advise of frends) hath moved therunto to the setting  his house in order to the dispossing of those outward blessings the Lord in mercy hath betrusted him with amongst his surviving children, for ye mutial Good & future peace.

"And first in order to this his last will he hath & hereby doth commit & commend his soul to Almighty God that gave it him & his body to the common burying place here in Lancaster & after his body being ordly and decently interred and the charge thereof defrayed togather with all due debts as also the following legasies which are to be discharged out of the movable Estate; -first, it is his will that his daughter Hanna have one hundred acres of his second devision of upland and part of it lying neare Ealsabet River, and all that part of his second devision of meadow that lyeth at Wataquadoke, togather with commons and common Right due to one hundred pound Estate on the Town booke. And the house and barne and other out housing togather with all the Rest of the lands, meadows commons and common Rights within the bounds of Lancaster, both first and second devision aforementioned to be as aforesaid to his son Josiah, and his daughter Hanna, their heires and assignes forever.

"And in Reference to his farm at Wenham, it is his Will hereby declared that his daughter-in-law Ruth White sometime wife to his late deseased son Thomas White, shall have and enjoy the said farme during the time of her natural life (one half of it) and the other halfe until her son Thomas White com to the age of twentie on years, and then he to enter possession of one halfe, and at the death of the said widow, the two daughters are to enter possession of the other half, to be to the said widow her son and daughters as afresaid, theire heires and assignes forever. Provided always that if the said Widow change her condition by marriage, then the said farme to be the said childrens in proportion as aforesaid- And in Reference to his daughters Joan, Elizabeth, Marie and Sara, who are disposed of by marriage, and have Received protions: -Yet notwithstanding it is his will hereby declared that they have everie one twentie shillings;-

"Hanna, his youngest daughter who hath lived with him from her childhood, and been a nurse to him in his old age, it is hereby declared to be his will that she have the bed shee useth, togather with all the furniture belonging to it.

"The debts and Legasies afresaid being fully discharged out of the movables estate as aforesaid by the aforesaid Josiah White, who is hereby willed and declared to be sole Executor, of this last will of his aforesaid father, to see this his said Father's will truly & faithfully performed in all due parts of it, the remainder of the afores'd moveables to be the s'd Josiah's.The fores'd John White, notwithstanding his great weakness, yet being of a copentent measure of understanding & sound memory doesth hereby declare this to be his last will and Testament. And in witness hereof hath herunto put his hand & seale this tenth day of March one thousand six hundred seventie two-three."   JOHN WHITE (signed with his "marke" X & seale                                                                                   Sealed signed and delivered In the presence of ROGER SUMNER and RALPH HOUGHTON

"John White, at Lancaster, will proved May 28th, 1673" [Lancaster (Middlesex Co), MA Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers...,cited by Nourse, p. 19.] This was only 3 years before King Philip's War in which all 3 of his daughters were killed or captured along with their families.

The inventory of John's estate is undated, but was approved at court on 17 June 1673.^[3] However, there is an addendum to it accounting for John's real estate in Wenham dated "29 1 1673." This translates to 29 March 1673. Since the will was written on the tenth of that month, he certainly died in March 1673.

Their children were:

John?, James Savage, his "Genealogical Dictionary," says he was bap. 8 September 1644 at the First Church in Salem, but this was for Ruth White (see below). If there was a son John, he likely died young.

Joanna, married Capt. Thomas Fiske.

Elizabeth, married Capt. Henry Kerley and was killed by Indians in 1676.

Thomas, of Wenham, married Martha and, second, Ruth Haffield.

Mary, married Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, was captured by Native Americans in 1676 and left in print an account of her captivity.

Sarah, married James Hosmer of Concord.

Josiah, of Lancaster, married first, Mary Lewis (who d. s. p.) and he married, second, Mary Rice of Marlboro.

Ruth, bap. 8 September 1644, First Church, Salem, "daughter of Sister White"^[4]

Hannah, married Ensign John Divoll of Lancaster, who was killed while defending the Rowlandson garrison house, at which time his wife and children were taken into captivity.

Find A Grave Memorial# 51588696 for John White

Inscription on 20th century memorial:

In Memory of

John White

Native of England

Settled first in

Salem (Wenham) 1638.

An incorporator of the

Town of Lancaster, 1653

Died 1673.

And of his beloved Wife

Joane

Died 1654.

Erected by their descendants 1987.

Burial: Old Settlers Burial Yard, Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA

John White was of Salem in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1638. He had two sons, Thomas, who settled in Wenham, and Josiah, who settled on his father's estate in Lancaster. John's wife Joane was admitted to the first church of Salem, in 1642-3 and three of their children were baptized there. The family lived in Wenham until moving to Lancaster sometime before May 1653.

His will mentions: 1. son Josiah, 2. youngest daughter Hanna, 3. Deceased son Thomas White and daughter-in-law Ruth White. 4. married daughters Joane, Elizabeth, Marie and Sara. ^[5]

John's will was proved 17 Jun 1673, at Lancaster, Massachusetts ^[6]

John was born in South Petherton, England, in 1602.

He immigrated to America, settling first in Salem in 1638, and later was one of the earliest settlers at Lancaster, Mass., in 1653. He remained in the latter settlement, where he died in 1673.^[7]

Y-DNA Analysis

A White Family Research Project has been formed.

Two documented descendants of Josiah White b. 1643 show a genetic distance on the FamilyTreeDNA Y-DNA testing that supports a conclusion that descendants of John White, d.1719 Isle of Wight and Josiah White b. 1643 share a likelihood of a common ancestor at 12-14 generations, suggesting a significant possibility that one of the uncles of John White d. Abt. 1673 could be the common ancestor.

Derek White and KW (Kit#944931) are documented descendants of John White Lancaster, MA and are validated to be in the I-M253-FT410049 Haplo-Group. This sub-group is also shared by Charles White a documented descendent of John White, d.1719 and other descendants of Isle of White, Virginia including Henry White, b. 1615.

An analysis of the Y-DNA participants in the FamilyTreeDNA White Surname Project Group utilizing the Y-DNA Family Grouping APP (shown in attachment as I-M253 Haplo Group 22) with analysis of the Branch I-FT410059 (Genesis of the I-M253 Branch I-FT410059 Haplo-Group) indicates that these descendants are genetically very close. The I-FT410059 departed from the main I-M253 tree approximately 400 years ago (current range 200-600 years).

Research Notes

Great Migration Directory entry: White, John: South Petherton, Somerset; 1639; Salem, Wenham, Lancaster [STR 1:90; EQC 1:16, 21; Rodgers 3:202-5; NEHGR 162:93-97; Essex Ant 1:182; Almira Larkin White, Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts, four volumes (Haverhill, Massachusetts, 1900-1909) 4:15-26, 45-59; M&JCH 18:153-56 (for South Petherton baptisms)]. Key to source abbreviations

Sources

1. ↑ St. Peter and St. Paul, Somerset, parish register. "Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812," Drayton 1558-1708, Ancestry.com database (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), image at $ [[1]]
2. ↑ St. Catherine, Drayton, Somerset, parish register. "Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812," Drayton 1558-1708, Ancestry.com database (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016), image at $ [[2]]
3. ↑ Middlesex Co., MA, probate volume 6:103-5, [3].
4. ↑ The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, 1629-1736 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1974), 20. The chronological list says the 8th day of the 7th month (Julian calendar form)
5. ↑ Genealogy of the descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts; Page 13; Almira Larkin White; 1900; Chase Brothers Printers
6. ↑ Nourse, Henry. The early records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1725. (Lancaster, Mass., 1884) Pages 253-254, 9https://archive.org/details/earlyrecordsofla1643lanc/page/n653/mode/2up 322-323].
7. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #51588696 Old Settlers Burial Yard, Lancaster, Massachusetts

• White, Almira Larkin. [ Genealogy of the Descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1638-1900], at InternetArchive, in two volumes, (Haverhill, MA: Chase Bros., 1900), Vol I pp 9-16 Archive.org, see also at HathiTrust vol 1-4

• Nourse, Henry S. AM, ed. The Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, MA 1643-1850. (Clinton, MA: 1890). p. 19.

• The Genealogical Quarterly Magazine, Devoted to Genealogy, History, Heraldry, Revolutionary and Colonial Records, Volume 1. pp. 286-287

• Somerset, England, Extracted Parish Records. Electronic databases created from various publications of parish and probate records. Ancestry.com online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001.

• London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812. Ancestry.com.

• White, Emma Siggins. Genesis of the White Family (Tiernan-Dart Printing Co., Kansas City, Mo., 1920) Page 37
• Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775.
• Torreys New England Marriages before 1700
• Metsch, Partricia A. "The Identity of Phillipa, Second Wife of Nicholas West of Drayton, Somerset, and Grandmother of Joan (West) White of Lancaster, Massachusetts" The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, 2008) Vol. 162, Pages 93-97. American Ancestors (subscription).
• White, M.L. "[Query] Answers" The Essex Antiquarian (Salem, Massachusetts, 1897) Vol.1, Page 182. Hathitrust