Generation 1

JOHN CHURCHILL (d 1663) of Plymouth

Parents: Unknown

John Churchill died on 1 Jan 1662/3 in Plymouth. [Ref][Ref] He married Hannah Pontus on 18 Dec 1644 in Plymouth. [Ref]

John is in the Plymouth section of the 1643 list of those able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [Ref] He was a freeman on 5 Jun 1651. [Ref]

He bought a farm from Richard Higgins on 18 Aug 1645. [Ref] He bought ten acres of upland at Wellingsley in Plymouth from Nathaniel Masterson on 20 Oct 1652. [Ref] John and Bennaiah Pratt bought a house that had belonged to Hannah's father William Pontus and her brother-in-law James Glass, both deceased, from Philip Delano of Duxbury and his wife Mary on 17 January 1653/4. [Ref]

John Dunham, who witnessed Hannah's father's will, testified that he heard William say that he gave his son-in-law John Churchill and Hannah his wife one half of his meadow at the watering place; his daughter Mary Glass consented. [Ref]

John Churchill Sr.'s noncupative will was exhibited at court on 3 May 1662 [Either he died in 1662 or this is an error]. Abigail Clark, aged 20, deposed that her kinsman John had conveyed to her that he wanted his sons John and Eleazer to have land at Plymouth and his sons John and William to have other property. Inventory on his estate amounted to £74.14.6 [Ref]

Hannah's inventory mentions her children Joseph, Eleazer, John, William and Henry Churchill, her son-in-law John Drew and her Doty grandchildren. [Ref]

Children of John Churchill and Hannah Pontus:

1. Joseph Churchill married Sarah Hicks on 3 Jun 1672 in Plymouth. [Ref]
2. Hannah Churchill married John Drew.
3. Eleazer Churchill was born on 20 Apr 1652. [Ref] He died on 5 Mar 1716. [Ref] He married Mary Unknown, possibly Mary/Mercy Bryant, the daughter of Stephen Bryant. [Ref] She died on 11 Dec 1715. [Ref]
   some descendants of Eleazer Churchill, including Franklin D. Roosevelt
   
4. Mary Churchill was born on 1 Aug 1654 in Plymouth. [Ref] She married first Thomas, the son of Edward Doty. [Ref] Thomas Doty died on 4 or 5 Dec 1678 in Plymouth. [Ref] He married second Mary Unknown. [Ref] His widow married his first wife's brother Henry Churchill on 8 Feb 1687/8. [Ref] Another theory is that Mary (Churchill) Doty survived her husband and married a Henry Churchill of unknown parentage. [Ref] But, Barclay [Ref] argues that this is not plausible: Mary had a brother named Henry. However, on 18 Jun 1690 Hannah (Pontus) (Churchill) Rickard deeded land to her "natural" daughter Mary Churchill. Barclay claims that it is reasonable for Mary to call a woman who was both her daughter-in-law and the stepmother of her grandchildren her natural daughter.
   On 17 Jan 1671 Mary Churchill and Thomas Doty were presented to the Court for ' carnall coppulation and a child'. [PCR 5:83-84, Ref] Mary was found guilty and was bound over to the next court. Her bondsmen were her brother Joseph and her brother-in-law John Drew. On 5 Jun 1672 Mary was sentenced to pay £6. She later sued Thomas Doty for support and the jury found in her favour. [Ref]
   
5. William Churchill died on 5 Oct 1722. [Ref] He married Lydia, the daughter of Stephen Bryant, on 17 Jan 1683. [Ref] Lydia was born on 23 Oct 1622 in Plymouth and died on 6 Feb 1736 in Plympton. [Ref]
6. John Churchill married Rebecca Delano on 28 Dec 1686. [Ref]
   some descendants of John Churchill
   
7. Henry Churchill was probably born in 1660 - 1663. [Ref] He died on 3 Mar 1714/5 in Plympton. [Ref] He married Mary (Unknown) Doty, the widow of the Thomas Doty whose first wife was Henry's sister. [Ref]

Generation 2

HANNAH CHURCHILL

Parents: John Churchill and Hannah Pontus

Hannah Churchill married John Drew.

References

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vol. 1-3, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995.

Barclay, Mrs. John E., "Notes on the Doty and Churchill Families," The American Genealogist 36, 1960, 1-11.

Churchill, Gardner Asaph, The Churchill Family in America, Boston, published by the family of Gardener A. Churchill, 1904.

Court Records, Laws and 17th Century Texts, Plymouth Colony Archive Project, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz.

Hayward, Elijah, "Plymouth Colony Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9, 1855, 313-318.

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4, 1850, 255-259.

Smith, D. Alden, 'The Descendants of Stephen Bryant of Plymouth, and of his son-in-law Lt. John Bryant of Plymouth,' New England Historical and Genealogical Register 153, 1999, 413 - .

Stratton, Eugene Aubrey, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People 1620 - 1691, Salt Lake City, Ancestry, 1986.

Trask, William, "Abstracts from the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, various issues.

Winsor, Justin, "Abstract of the Earliest Wills in the Probate Office, Plymouth," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 6, 1852, 94.