The HOUGHTON Family of Lancaster, Worcestor, MA | Send comments and corrections to anneb0704@yahoo.co.uk |
JOHN HOUGHTON (d. 1684)
of Lancaster m. Beatrix Unknown
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AZUBAH HOUGHTON (b.
1720) m. Israel Whitcomb
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Generation 1
Parents: Unknown
John Houghton married Damaris Buckmaster.
This is unproven. John may not be related to Ralph.
Children of John Houghton and Damaris Buckmaster:
JOHN HOUGHTON (d. 1684) of Lancaster Parents: John Houghton and Damaris Buckmaster [Maybe, but unproven.] |
The beautiful signature of John Houghton, town clerk: |
John Houghton died on 29 Apr 1684. [Ref] His headstone in Lancaster says, 'JOHN / HOUGHTON / DECEASED / APRIL / 29 DAY / 1684'. [Ref] He married Beatrix Unknown. [Ref]
A John Houghton, age 4, is the only entrant on a 20 Jun 1635 list of passengers to be transported to New England on the Abigail. [Ref]
John was an early inhabitant of Lancaster, signing the town covenant on 24 (7) 1653. [Ref, pp. 30-31] He received the 18th lot in the second division of meadow on 5 Feb 1659. [Ref] On 1 (12) 1663 John Houghton, who had been given one and a half home lots, was given permission to lay down another half. [Ref] On 30 (12) 1666 John was given the right to take timber from the commons for his trade use. [Ref] On 7/8 (12) 1670 John was granted 20 acres of second division land to lay down a highway. [Ref]
The family sought refuge in Charlestown after the massacre. [Ref]
On Mar 1675/6, John Houghton, Sr. was one of the inhabitants of Lancaster who petitioned the government for assistance. [Ref][Ref]
Children of John Houghton and Beatrix Unknown, mentioned in John's will [Ref]:
JOHN HOUGHTON (abt 1650 - 1737) of Lancaster
Parents: John Houghton and Beatrix Unknown
John Houghton was born about 1650. [Ref] John Houghton, Esq. died on 3 Feb 1736/7, age 87 [Ref cites the Boston Evening Post, 14 Feb 1737.] and is buried in the Old Common Burial Ground in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 404] He married Mary Farrar on 22 (11) 1671 in Lancaster. [Ref][Ref, p. 14, does not give her first name] She died on 7 Apr 1724 and he married second Hannah Wilder, age 72, on 27 Jan 1725. [Ref]
On Mar 1675/6, John Houghton, Jr. was one of the inhabitants of Lancaster who petitioned the government for assistance. [Ref] On 7 Apr 1683 he was on a jury of inquest investigating the untimely death of John, son of John Whitcomb. [Ref] John was town clerk almost every year between 1685 and 1724. [Ref] He frequently represented the town in the legislature. [Ref] He was on a committee to lay out a highway to Concord in 1691. [Ref] He wrote a petition for assistance on behalf of the inhabitants of Lancaster on 3 Mar 1693/4. [Ref] In 1700 John bought all of the Farrar lands in Lancaster. [Ref] On 20 Apr 1704 he and Capt. Thomas Wilder commanded a garrison in Lancaster; also in the garrison were his widowed sister Beatrix Pope, his son John, Gamaliel Beaman and his son John, Jeremiah Wilson and James Butler. [Ref] On 31 Jul 1704 John lost three swine and a house belonging to him and his wife's son Philip was burned in an Indian attack. [Ref] On 25 Oct 1704 John and Jonas Houghton petitioned for tax relief for Lancaster. [Ref]
John was the most prominent man in Lancaster. [Ref]
Children of John Houghton and Mary Farrar:
Who was William Houghton of Lancaster who married Experience Unknown? She married second as his second wife Timothy Sabin. Timothy married first Martha Johnson.
Generation 4
JONATHAN HOUGHTON (1685 - 1737) of Lancaster
Parents: John Houghton and Mary Farrar [Ref, p. 37]
Jonathan Houghton was born on 20 Feb 1685 in Lancaster. [Ref][Ref][Ref, p. 15, s. John and Mary][Ref, p. 37] He died on 8 Apr 1737. [Ref][Ref, p. 37] He married Thankful White. [Ref]
Jonathan was an early member of the First Church of Lancaster. [Ref, p. 270] He was town clerk from 1726 to 1728 and from 1730 until his death. [Ref, p. 37] He was the representative from Lancaster in 1732. [Ref, p. 37]
Jonathan signed his will on 7 Apr 1737. [Ref] He names his beloved wife Thankful; his eldest son Jonathan; his second son Rufus; his two eldest daughters, Thankful Whitcomb and Mary Sawyer; his five younger daughters, Keziah, Azubah, Axa, Zerish and Epha. [Ref]
Children of Jonathan Houghton and Thankful White:
AZUBAH HOUGHTON (b. 1720)
Parents: Jonathan Houghton and Thankful White
Azubah Houghton was born on 20 Nov 1720 in Lancaster. [Ref][Ref] She married Israel Whitcomb on 8 May 1738 [Ref] in Lancaster. [Ref]
On 14 Jul 1747 Jonathan Houghton and Rufus Houghton of Leominster, yeoman; Simon Whitcomb, yeoman, and his wife Thankful; Jonathan Whitcomb and his wife Azubah; Keziah Houghton, a single woman; Ephraim Fairbanks and his wife Achsah; Samuel Moore and his wife Zerviah; Ephah Houghton, a single woman; Nathaniel Sawyer and Mary his wife, in return for £100, deeded to Zephaniah William all their rights to the estate of their uncle Houghton, late of Lancaster, deceased. [Ref]
References
Family Genealogies
Houghton, John W., The Houghton Genealogy: the descendants of Ralph and John Houghton of Lancaster, Massachusetts, New York: Frederick H. Hitchcock, 1912.
Lowell, D. O. S., A Munsey-Hopkins Genealogy: Being the ancestry of Andrew Chauncey Munsey and Mary Jane Merritt Hopkins, the parents of Frank A. Munsey, his brother and sisters, Boston, privately printed, 1920.
A Member of the NEHGS, "Memoir of the Farrar Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 6, 1852, 313-.
Peach, Joy F., "The Real Wife of Ephraim Fairbank of Lancaster and Bolton, Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 160, 2006, 313-4.
Whitcomb, Charlotte, The Whitcomb Family in America: A biographical genealogy with a chapter on our English forbears "by the name of Whetcombe", Minneapolis, C. Whitcomb?, c1904.
Vital Records
Nourse, Henry S., The Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts: 1643-1850, Clinton, MA., W. J. Coulter, 1890.
Nourse, Henry S., Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1725, Clinton, W. J. Coulter, 1884, Online: Worcester County Archives, http://www.rootsweb.com/~maworces/wo-gen.htm.
Ward, Andrew, "Lancaster Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16, 1862, 352-359; 17, 1863, 70-.