Generation 1

ISAAC STEARNS (d. 1671) of Stoke Nayland and Watertown

Parents:

Isaac Stearns died on 19 Jun 1671 [Ref] in Watertown. [Ref] He married Mary Barker [Ref] in 1622. [Ref, p. 44][Ref][Ref says by 1625] Mary was the daughter of John and Margaret Barker of Stoke, Nayland, co. Suffolk. [Ref, p. 36] She died on 23 Apr 1677 in Watertown. [Ref] Margaret married subsequently Unknown Munnings of Gaynes, Colne, co. Essex. John Barker was a clothier of Stoke Nayland. [Ref] Unknown Munnings (Mulling?) of Engaine, Colne, co. Suffolk was a farmer. [Ref]

Isaac Sterne of Watertown, late of Stoke Nayland, co. Suffolk, and his wife Mary, daughter of John Barker of Stoke Nayland appointed Thomas Gilson of Sudbury, co. Suffolk to collect five pounds from one Munnings of Gaynes, Colne, co. Essex, due on a bound given by Munnings before his marriage to Mary's mother, Margaret Barker. [Ref, 40;272]

Isaac was a tailor in Stoke Nayland. [Ref] He came to New England on the Arabella in 1630. [Ref]

Isaac Stearns is in the Watertown section of the 3 May 1665 list of freemen. [Ref] He was a selectman on 8 Nov 1647 and 7 Nov 1670 in Watertown. [Ref] He was on a committee to design a bridge on 28 Dec 1647. [Ref] He was a fence viewer on 13 Jun 1648. [Ref] He was a rater in 1652. [Ref] He was a viewer of land on 3 Jan 1658/9. [Ref] The town meeting was held at his house on 8 Dec 1659. [Ref] He was a constable in 1659 - 1661. [Ref] He was surveyor of highways on 12 Jan 1662/3. [Ref] He was on a committee to speak with William Knopp about the education of his daughter. [Ref]

Isaac was granted 50 acres in the Great Dividend on 25 Jul 1636. [Ref] He received 11 acres in the Beaverbrook Plowlands on 28 Feb 1636/7. [Ref] He received 11 acres in the Remote Meadows on 26 Jun 1637. [Ref] He was granted a farm of 259 acres on 10 May 1642. [Ref]

"Goodwife Stearns Senior" was one of several Watertown residents warned for not "attending their seats in the meetinghouse appointed them by the town". [Ref]

Children of Isaac Stearns and Mary Unknown.

1. Mary Stearns was baptised on 6 Jan 1625/6 in Nayland with Wissington. She died on 8 or 9 Jan 1633. She married first Isaac Learned. She married second John Burge.
2. Hannah Stearns was baptised on 5 Oct 1628 in Nayland with Wissington. [Ref][Ref] She was buried on 17 Jun 1656 in Watertown. [Ref] She married Henry Freeman of Watertown on 25 Dec 1650. [Ref says the Watertown VR incorrectly call him Samuel][Ref] Henry was the son of Samuel Freeman and Apphia Quicke. [Ref] He was born about 1625. [Ref] He died on 12 Nov 1672 in Watertown. [Ref] He married second Mary Sherman on 27 Nov 1656 in Watertown. [Ref] Mary was the daughter of Rev. John Sherman of Watertown. [Ref] She married second Lewis Allen of Watertown Farms. [Ref]
3. John Stearns married first Sarah Mixer. He married second Mary Lothrop.
4. Isaac Stearns was born on 6 Jan 1632/3 in Watertown. [Ref][Ref] He married Sarah Beers on 28 Jun 1660 in Cambridge. [Ref]
5. Sarah Stearns was born on 22 Sep 1635 in Watertown. [Ref] She married Samuel Stone on 7 Jun 1655 in Cambridge. [Ref] Samuel was the son of Gregory Stone. [Ref]
6. Samuel Stearns was born on 24 Apr 1638 in Watertown. [Ref] He married Hannah Manning on 1 Feb 1662/3 in Cambridge. [Ref]
7. Elizabeth Stearns married Samuel Manning on 13 Apr 1664 in Watertown. [Ref]
8. Abigail Stearns married John Morse on 27 Apr 1666 in Watertown. [Ref]

Generation 2

MARY STEARNS (d. 1663)

Parents: Isaac Stearns and Mary Barker

Mary Stearns was baptised on 6 Jan 1625/6 in Nayland with Wissington. [Ref] She died on 8 or 9 Jan 1663. [Ref, p. 43] She married first Isaac Learned. She married second John Burge, "late of Weymouth", on 9 Jun 1662. [Ref, p. 43][Ref]

JOHN STEARNS (d. 1668) of Watertown and Billerica

Parents: Isaac Stearns and Mary Barker [Ref says Isaac and Sarah Stearns]

John Stearns died on 5 Mar 1667/8 in Billerica. [Ref] He married first Sarah Mixer, by 1654. [Ref] Sarah was the daughter of Isaac Mixer of Capel, England and Watertown and Sarah Thurston. [Ref] She died in 1656. [Ref] He married second Mary Lothrop on 20 Nov 1656 in Barnstable. [Ref][Ref] Mary married second Lieutenant William French on 6 May 1669 in Billerica. [Ref]

In his 8 May 1655 will, Isaac Mixer calls his daughter Sarah the wife of John Stearns. [Ref]

On 9 (9) 1658 the proprietors of Billerica on Mr Dudley's farm and the inhabitants signed an agreement that those who had already taken up an allotment granted in town should be equally accomodated with upland and meadow as those on Mr Dudley's farm. William Chamberlain, John Stearns and George Farley were three of the three of the 18 signatories. [Ref]

He was one of the Watertown men who took the oath of fidelity before Capt. Mason on 18 Dec 1677. [Ref]

John was a constable in Billerica in 1688. [Ref] John Stearns was a soldier in King Philip's War on 24 Jun 1676. [Ref] John and Samuel Stearns were soldiers at Watertown on 24 Aug 1676. [Ref]

Children of John Stearns and Sarah Mixer:

1. Lieut. John Stearns [Ref] was born in 1654 [Ref]; the first European born in Billerica. [Ref] He died in 1728. [Ref] He married Elizabeth married Elizabeth Bigelow. [Ref] She was the daughter of John Bigelow and Mary Warren. He is mentioned in his father-in-law's will. Elizabeth died by 4 Jan 1708. [Ref]

Children of John Stearns and Mary Lothrop:

1. Isaac Stearns was born on 17 Apr 1658. [Ref, p. 45]
2. Nathaniel Stearns was born on 30 Nov 1663. [Ref, p. 45]
3. Thomas Stearns was born on 6 Dec 1665 in Woburn. He died on 9 Feb 1696. He married Rebecca Chamberlain.

Generation 3

THOMAS STEARNS (1655-1697) of Billerica

Parents: John Stearns and Mary Lothrop [Ref][Ref, p. 45]

Thomas Stearns was born on 6 Dec 1665 [Ref][Ref, p. 45] in Billerica. [Ref] He died on 9 Feb 1696/7 [Ref] in Billerica. [Ref] He married Rebecca Chamberlain on 20 Jun 1688 in Concord. [Ref]

He was apprenticed to his stepfather William French in 1675. [Ref] Thomas was taxed on 24 Aug 1688 in Billerica. [Ref]

Thomas signed his will on 18 Nov 1690; it was deposed on 2 Mar 1702. [Ref] His will empowered his executors -- his brother John Stearns and John Shed -- to sell as much land as required to support his four daughters. [Ref]

Children of Thomas Stearns and Rebecca Chamberlain:

1. Rebecca Stearns was born on 23 Apr 1689 in Billerica. [Ref]
2. Mary Stearns was born on 18 Jun 1792 in Billerica. [Ref]
3. Sarah Stearns was born on 27 Apr 1694 in Billerica. She married Joshua Child.
4. Hannah Stearns was born in Aug 1696 in Bellerica. [Ref]

Generation 4

SARAH STEARNS (b. 1694)

Parents: Thomas Stearns and Rebecca Chamberlain

Sarah Stearns was born on 27 Apr 1694 in Billerica. [Ref] married Joshua Child of Weston in Jan 1720/1 in Charlestown. [Ref]

References

Adams, Oscar Fay, "Our English Parent Towns," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 56, 1902, 179-184.

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

Bodge, George, "Soldiers in King Philip's War," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, many volumes.

Clarke, George K., "New England Gleanings," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 40, 1886, 269-273.

Durrell, Harold Clarke, "William Stephenson Stearns," memoirs section, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 93, 1939, 185.

Freeman, William, "Ancestry of Samuel Freeman of Watertown," The American Genealogist 11, 1934, 171-179.

French, Elizabeth, "Genealogical Research in England," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 66, 1912, 164-180.

French, Jonathan, "Ministers in Rockingham County," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 1, 1847, 40-46.

Hoag, Ruth Wood, "Watertown Fidelity Men," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 54, 1900, 86.

Huntington, E. B., A Genealogical Memoir of the Lo-Lathrop Family in this Country: Embracing the descendants, as far as known, of The Rev. John Lothropp, of Scituate and Barnstable, Mass., and Mark Lothrop, of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass., and the first generation of descendants of other names, Ridgefield, CT, M. Huntington, 1884.

Jeffries, Walter Lloyd, "Town Rates of Newton and Billerica, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 31, 1877, 302.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org.

Stuart, Donna Valley, "Some Descendants of George Farley of Billerica," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 136 1982, 43 - .

Tarbox, Increase, "Dr. Josiah Atherton Stearns," Necrology section, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 38, 1884, 101.

Trask, William B., comp., "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills from the Records and Files at East Cambridge, Mass., in the County of Middlesex," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 19, 1865, 42-43.

Vital Records of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Boston, New EnglandHistoric Genealogical Society, 2002.