Home
Language
John Sprague
Abt 1630 - 1676 (~ 46 years)-
Name John Sprague Born Abt 1630 Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States 
[1, 2, 3] Gender Male AFN 959K-5R Military Service 24 Mar 1676 [4] - Listed as a member of the Peirse Regiment
Died 26 Mar 1676 Pawtucket, , Rhode Island, United States [3, 5] Person ID I1129 James Henry Martineau Last Modified 17 Apr 2016
Father Francis Sprague, b. Abt 1590, , , England , d. Bef 2 Mar 1680, Duxbury (of), , Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 90 years) Married Aft 22 May 1627 Plymouth, , Massachusetts, United States [6, 7] Family ID F468 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family Ruth Bassett, b. Abt 1634, Plymouth, , Massachusetts, United States , d. Between 1694 and 1700, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 60 years) Married Bef 8 Jun 1655 Plymouth, , Massachusetts, United States [3, 8, 9] Children + 1. John Sprague, b. Abt 1656, Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States , d. 6 Mar 1728, Lebanon, New London, Connecticut, United States (Age ~ 72 years)2. Elizabeth Sprague, b. Abt 1657, Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States , d. 27 May 1727, Plympton, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 70 years)3. Ruth Sprague, b. 12 Feb 1659, Marshfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States , d. Aft 1700 (Age 41 years)4. Samuel Sprague, Lt., b. Abt 1662, Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States , d. 25 Jul 1740, Rochester, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 78 years)5. William Sprague, b. Abt 1664, Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States , d. 25 Nov 1712, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 48 years)6. Dorcas Sprague, b. Abt 1666, Duxbury, , Massachusetts, United States , d. Yes, date unknown7. Desire Sprague, b. Abt 1668, Duxbury, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States , d. Aft 1705 (Age ~ 38 years)Last Modified 17 Apr 2016 Family ID F465 Group Sheet | Family Chart
-
Notes - ATGG: "Ancestry of Two Great Grandmothers, Esther (Root) Poole, Lois (Sprague) Mears", compiled by Winifred Lovering Holman, S.B., 1938, copy at the NEHGS, - D0007
BIRTH: ATGG, pg. 100 (approx.).
MARRIAGE: ATGG, pg. 112 (also lists children). None of children recorded in "Vital Records of Duxbury MA to 1850".
DEATH: ATGG, pg. 100. Killed by Indians in King Philip's War 26 Mar 1676.
"Vital Record of Rehoboth 1642-1896", pg. 919 lists those slain in "Perces Fight", a skirmish in King Philip's War in which 52 Englishmen and 11 Indians were slain. John Sprague is listed as one of 4 from Duxbury. Also recorded in the NEHGS Register of 1890, volume 44, page 71.
Killed in "Capt. [Michael] Pierce's fight at Pawtucket in King Philip's War"
Francis was an Inn Holder & in 1669, His son John succeeded to his business of "keeping an ordinary " tavern, where spirituous liquors were sold, and it is presumed that Francis death occured shortly before.
(Francis Sprague of Duxbury, p. 10)
On 8 Jun 1655 "We present John Sprague and Ruth Bassett, of Duxbury, for fornication before they were married [ PCR 4: 192 ] (John Sprague is treated in detail by Maclean W. McLean, who estimates his birth as about 1635, whereas we make him slightly older [ TAG 41: 178-81 ]
John Sprague is a witness to the will of Henery Howland of Duxbury 28 Nov. 1670.
- ATGG: "Ancestry of Two Great Grandmothers, Esther (Root) Poole, Lois (Sprague) Mears", compiled by Winifred Lovering Holman, S.B., 1938, copy at the NEHGS, - D0007
-
Sources - [S5] Great Migration Begins, Robert Charles Anderson, (http://www.newenglandancestors.org: 2002), REF F7/G74., William Bassett. accessed 20 Oct 2008. (Reliability: 3).
?tab?
WILLIAM BASSETT
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1621 on Fortune
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury by 1637 [ PCR 1:63], Bridgewater by 1656
OCCUPATION: Blacksmith (the first five lines of the inventory included blacksmith's tools, including a pair of bellows, an anvil, a vice, tongs and hammers and coal shovels, and "all the rest of the smith shop" items).
FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, among those admitted before 1 January 1632/3 [ PCR 1:3]; also in list of 7 March 1636/7 [ PCR 1:52]. In Duxbury portion of list of 1639 [ PCR 8:174]. In Bridgewater portion of list which has been dated in 1658 [ PCR 8:202].
EDUCATION: Inventory included more than twenty books listed by title, mostly theological, valued at ?9 18s.
OFFICES: Plymouth coroner's jury, 2 March 1635/6 [ PCR 1:39]; committee to admit newcomers to Duxbury, 7 May 1638 [ PCR 1:84]; Plymouth grand jury, 5 June 1638, 6 June 1654 [ PCR 1:87, 3:49]; Plymouth petit jury, 7 March 1636/7, 2 January 1637/8, 6 March 1637/8, 4 June 1639, 3 September 1639 [ PCR 7:5, 7, 8, 12, 13]; Duxbury deputy to Plymouth court, 2 June 1640, 6 June 1643, 29 August 1643, 5 March 1643/4, 7 June 1648 [ PCR 1:154, 2:57, 60, 68, 123]; committee to lay out land, 3 September 1638, 7 January 1638/9, 4 February 1638/9, 4 March 1638/9, 31 August 1640, 5 October 1640 [ PCR 1:95, 109, 112, 115, 161, 163]; committee on bounds between Duxbury and Marshfield, 2 March 1640/1 [ PCR 2:9, 42]; council of war for Duxbury, 27 September 1642 [ PCR 2:46]; Duxbury constable, 3 June 1652 [ PCR 3:8]; committee to lay out highways [ PCR 3:61, 62]. In Duxbury portion of 1643 list of men able to bear arms [ PCR 8:190].
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division "William Bassite" received two acres as a passenger on the Fortune in 1621 [ PCR 12:5]. In the 1627 Plymouth division of cattle, the sixth company included William Basset, Elizabeth Basset, William Basset Jr. and Elizabeth Basset Jr. [ PCR 12:11].
Assessed ?1 7s. in the Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [ PCR 1:10, 27].
On 1 July 1633, 14 March 1635/6 and 20 March 1636/7 William Bassett was ordered to "mow at the end of his own ground" [ PCR 1:14, 40, 56].
On 23 June 1637 William Bassett of Duxbury released to Mr. Ralph Partridge "so much of the lot of his lands lying in Ducksborrow aforesaid as is now enclosed by the said Mr. Partridg" [ PCR 12:18-19], and again on 7 November 1637 a similar agreement was reached regarding land released to William Leverich and Ralph Partridge [ PCR 12:25].
On 6 April 1640 Plymouth Colony granted to "William Basset of Duxburrow" one hundred acres of upland with "meadow convenient" [ PCR 1:144, 146].
On 3 June 1652 William Bassett of Duxbury gave to "his son-in-law Leiftenant Perigrine White" forty acres of upland with the meadow adjoining [ MD 1:96, citing PCLR 2:1:5]. On 16 June 1656 "William Bassett Senior of Duxburrow now living at Bridgewater" made a deed of gift of his Marshfield lands to his "two sons there living viz: Perigrine White and Nathaniell Bassett" [ MD 10:25-27, citing PCLR 2:1:177-78].
William Bassett and Mr. [John] Howland jointly held one share as Dartmouth purchasers, 7 March 1652 [ MD 4:187, citing PCLR 2:1:107].
On 8 November 1666 William Bassett, blacksmith, of Bridgewater sold to John Sprague of Duxbury, husbandman, for ?40 four lots of upland containing fourscore acres and five acres of meadow, with dwelling house, cowhouse, stable, barn, outhouse, orchard and garden; William Bassett acknowledged the deed on 7 November 1666, and on 5 November 1666 "Mary Bassett the wife of William Bassett Sr. ... of Bridgewater" consented to the sale [ PCLR 3:66, with dates in the unlikely order as given].
On 3 April 1667 William Bassett Senior made a nuncupative will, bequeathing the movables to his wife, and the house and land to her during her life, after which it was to go to his son William's son, and bequeath~ing his tools to his son Joseph, and "being demanded about his books which he formerly took care about, answered he could not now do it" [ MD 16:162, citing PCPR 2:2:37]. His inventory was taken 12 May 1667 and totalled ?123 2s. 6d. (which included no land, but did include his blacksmith's tools and more than twenty books) [ PCPR 2:2:37-38]. On 5 June 1667 letters of administration were granted to William Bassett Jr. on the estate of William Bassett Sr. deceased [ PCR 4:155].
On 2 June 1669 "William Bassett of Sandwich ... the eldest son and heir of William Bassett sometimes inhabitant of ... Bridgewater ... now deceased" confirmed to "Joseph Bassett of Bridgewater my youngest brother" land in Bridgewater granted him by his father in his lifetime but not legally confirmed [ PCLR 3:140].
BIRTH: By about 1600, assuming that Elizabeth was his first wife.
DEATH: Bridgewater between 3 April 1667 (date of will) and 12 May 1667 (date of inventory). (The claim that William Bassett died on 4 April 1667 derives from a peculiar misreading of the probate documents, in which the date of probate is taken as 5 April rather than 5 June, and the assumption is made that the death must have occurred between the third and the fifth.)
MARRIAGE: (1) By 1623 (and probably by 1621) Elizabeth _____, probably also a passenger on the Fortune in 1621; she appears in no record after 1627, and may have died soon after the birth of the last child about 1634, or she may have lived until just before William Bassett married his second wife.
(2) After 1651 and before 12 December 1664 Mary (Tilden) Lapham, daughter of Nathaniel Tilden, widow of Thomas Lapham [see TIMOTHY HATHERLEY]; she was living at Bridgewater as late as 28 March 1690 [ Bassett Gen 6, citing BridTR 1:320].
CHILDREN:
?tab? i WILLIAM, b. Plymouth about 1624; m. by about 1652 Mary Rainsford, daughter of EDWARD RAINSFORD [ NEHGR 139:299].
?tab? ii ELIZABETH, b. Plymouth about 1626; m. Sandwich 8 November 1648 Thomas Burgess [ PCR 8:6], from whom she was divorced on 10 June 1661 [ PCR 3:221].
?tab? iii SARAH, b. Plymouth say 1628; m. by 6 March 1648/9 Peregrine White, son of WILLIAM WHITE [ PCR 2:183; MF 1:101-03].
?tab? iv NATHANIEL, b. say 1630; m. about 1661 Dorcas Joyce, daughter of John Joyce [ TAG 43:3-5].
?tab? v JOSEPH, b. say 1632; m. (1) by about 1660 Mary _____ (said to be his stepsister Mary Lapham, daughter of Thomas Lapham [see NEHGR 115:85]); m. (2) Hingham 16 October 1677 Martha Hobart [ NEHGR 121:200].
?tab? vi RUTH, b. say 1634; m. (1) by 1655 John Sprague, son of FRANCIS SPRAGUE [ TAG 41:178-81, citing PCR 6:109 for evidence of marriage]; she m. (2) _____ Thomas [ TAG 41:179; Robert S. Wakefield suggests that this was John Thomas of Marshfield, who died before 12 January 1691/2, and whose first wife had died 2 January 1682/3].
?tab?
COMMENTS: In 1611 a William Bassett, formerly of Sandwich in England, widower of Cecily Light, was twice betrothed at Leiden in Holland. His first bride-to-be died, but he succeeded the second time. Some have held that this was the man who came to Plymouth, but this seems unlikely given the ten-year gap before the arrival in Plymouth in 1621, and the lack of evidence for children of the Plymouth man born before that date, assuming that he had been married at least twice before. It is also possible that the William Bassett of Leiden in 1611 was the father of the immigrant to Plymouth in 1621, but there is no evidence directly favoring this hypothesis. (See discussion in Stratton 242-43.)
If the two-acre grant to William Bassett in 1623 was for William and his wife Elizabeth, then the first child would not have been born until 1624, three years after William's arrival in Plymouth. It is possible (though not likely) that the marriage took place in Plymouth, and Elizabeth came on the Fortune as a single woman.
Savage has misread the 1627 Plymouth cattle division, somehow including daughter Sarah Bassett in this list, when in fact only two children, William and Elizabeth, were included. Sarah must have been born soon after 1627, however, to have married by the end of 1648.
Pope claims that William Bassett resided at Sandwich in 1650, but this would be the son of the same name.
Munsey-Hopkins (p. 67) lists a "probable" seventh child, a daughter Jane who married a Thomas Gilbert. This must be a simple error in which "Rossiter" was misread for "Bassett," as there was a Thomas Gilbert of Taunton who married Jane Rossiter.
Various secondary sources claim that William Bassett volunteered for service in the Pequot War, and in the index to the first volume of published Plymouth Colony records he is listed for the page on which such volunteers appear, but he does not actually appear in the list [ PCR 1:61]; a number of the index entries for William Bassett actually seem to be for William Paddy.
On 6 March 1648/9 William Bassett was fined 5s. "for not mending of guns in seasonable time," and on 9 June 1653 he was fined 10s. "for neglecting to publish and make known an order directed to him from the council of war, prohibiting provisions for being transported out of the colony" [ PCR 2:137, 3:36]. On 9 August 1655 and 10 June 1661 the colony treasurer received payment of fines by William Bassett [ PCR 3:93, 8:104].
http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=235172359 - [S13] Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, NEHGR, p. 2 (Reliability: 3).
Record on Francis Sprague who migrated in 1623 in the ship 'Anne' - [S77] American Genealogist, Maclean W McLean of Pittsburg, PA, "John Sprague (c. 1635-1676) of Duxbury, Mass.," vol. 41 (January 1965); digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, \i americanancestors.org\i0 (http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=134868448) p. 178. (Reliability: 3).
Article by Maclean W McLean - [S157] Mass. Officers and Soldiers in 17th Century, Carole Doreski, (NewEnglandAncestors.org: 1982), F63/M35., accessed 14 Jul 2013. (Reliability: 3).
Name?tab??tab?Date?tab?Accounting?tab?Company?tab?Regiment?tab?Book
SPRAGUE,John?tab? ?tab? 3/24/75? 6?tab? ?tab? Peirse?tab?1
http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=236052241 - [S105] Sprague Families of America, Warren Vincent Sprague, (The Tuttle Company, Printers,Rutland, Vermont, 1913), p. 11 (Reliability: 3).
He was slain in Pierce's fierce fight at Pawtucket in Philips war,26 Mar 1676. - [S13] Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, NEHGR (Reliability: 3).
Record on Francis Sprague who came in 1623 - [S5] Great Migration Begins, Robert Charles Anderson, (http://www.newenglandancestors.org: 2002), REF F7/G74., Francis Sprague. accessed 20 Oct 2008. (Reliability: 3).
FRANCIS SPRAGUE
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1623 in Anne
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury by 1638
OCCUPATION: Innkeeper (1 October 1638: "Francis Sprague is licensed to keep victualling on Duxborrow side" [ PCR 1:99]; 3 March 1639/40: "Francis Sprague, of Duxborrow, for drawing & retailing wine at Duxborrow, contrary to the express order of the Court, is fined by the Bench 20s. sterling" [ PCR 1:143]; 5 May 1640: "Francis Sprague, of Duxborrow, is prohibited by the Court to draw any wine or strong water until the next General [Court], without special license from the Court so to do" [ PCR 1:153]; 2 June 1640 and 1 September 1640: Francis Sprague presented for selling & retailing of wine contrary to order [ PCR 1:156, 162]). Licensed 7 July 1646 to draw wine and keep an ordinary at Duxburrow [ PCR 2:104]. His license was recalled 5 June 1666 [ PCR 4:129].
FREEMAN: Admitted 7 June 1637 [ PCR 1:60] (and as a result added to the list of freemen compiled on 7 March 1636/7 [ PCR 1:53]). In Duxbury section of 1639, 1658 and 29 May 1670 lists of freemen [ PCR 5:275, 8:175, 198].
EDUCATION: Signed his deeds by mark.
OFFICES: Duxbury surveyor of highways, 7 June 1648, 3 June 1657 [ PCR 2:124, 3:116]. Constable, 4 June 1653 [ PCR 2:153].
In Duxbury section of 1643 Plymouth Colony list of men able to bear arms [ PCR 8:190].
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division "Francis Spragge" was granted three acres as a passenger on the Anne [ PCR 12:5]. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division Francis Sprage, Anna Sprage and Mercye Sprage were the eleventh through thirteenth persons in the sixth company [ PCR 12:11].
Assessed 18s. in the Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [ PCR 1:10, 27]. He was one of the purchasers [ PCR 2:177].
In 1637 Francis Sprague of Duxbury sold to Mr. Ralph Partridge "all his right and title into so much of the lot of his land lying in Ducksburrow aforesaid as is now enclosed by the said Mr. Partridg" [ PCR 12:19]. On 28 March 1642 Francis Sprague sold to Morris Truant "two acres of marsh meadow lying at the Wood Island" [ PCR 12:78]. On 1 April 1644 Francis Sprague of Duxbury sold to "Will[ia]m Laurence my son-in-law of the same town ... fifty acres" [ PCR 12:138].
On 26 October 1659 Francis Sprague of Duxbury, planter, sold to "his son-in-law Ralph Earle of Road Island in the Jurisdiction of Providence Plantation the one-half of all his share, part or portion of land lying or being at the place or places commonly called by the Indians by the names of Coaksett and Acushena" [ MD 14:90-91, citing PCLR 2:2:30a].
On 27 April 1661 "Francis Sprague of Duxburrow ... planter" deeded "unto John Sprague his true and natural son all that his dwelling house and outhouses and buildings scituate in Duxburrow aforesaid, and all and singular the upland and meadow now thereunto belonging, whether obtained by grant or purchased of other persons ... containing in all forty or fifty acres or thereabouts with three acres of meadow" [ MD 16:205-07, citing PCLR 2:2:75-76]. On 3 May 1664 "Francis Sprague of Duxburrow ... planter" deeded to "his son John Sprague all that his part, portion and share of land and meadow he hath at or near Namasakett ... which was granted to him and others" on 3 June 1662 [ MD 19:107, citing PCLR 3:4; see also PCR 4:19 and MD 34:81, citing PCLR 3:21].
BIRTH: By about 1590 based on estimated date of marriage.
DEATH: Living 1670 [ PCR 5:275] but deceased by 2 March 1679/80 [ PCR 7:221].
MARRIAGE: (1) England by about 1614 _____ _____; she died England by 1623.
(2) By about 1630 _____ _____.
CHILDREN:
?tab? With first wife
?tab? i ANNA, b. say 1614; m. by 1644 William Lawrence [ PCR 12:138].
?tab? ii MERCY, b. say 1617; m. Plymouth 9 November 1637 William Tubbs [ PCR 1:68]; William Tubbs was granted a divorce from his wife Mercy, 7 July 1668, at which time she was living in Rhode Island [ PCR 4:192].
With second wife
?tab? iii JOHN, b. say 1630; m. by about 1655 Ruth Bassett, daughter of WILLIAM BASSETT (on 8 June 1655 "we present John Sprague and Ruth Bassett, of Duxburrow, for fornication before they were married [ PCR 3:82]). (John Sprague is treated in detail by Maclean W. McLean, who estimates his birth as about 1635, whereas we make him slightly older [ TAG 41:178-81].)
?tab? iv DORCAS, b. say 1632; m. by 1659 Ralph Earle [ MD 14:90-91].
?tab?
COMMENTS: There are very few dates for this family, and many unanswered questions. The household of Francis Sprague consisted of three persons in 1623 and again in 1627 [ PCR 12:5, 11], and we assume here that these three are in both cases Francis, Anna and Mercy. Mercy was clearly the daughter who married in 1637, but opinion is divided as to whether Anna was wife or daughter of Francis.
We know that a daughter of Francis Sprague had married William Lawrence by 1644, but we have no record which gives her Christian name. But to have married by that date, and be born after the cattle division of 1627, she would be seventeen at marriage at most, and perhaps younger. The more likely solution is that the Anna of the cattle division was a second daughter, and Francis did not bring a wife with him to New England.
The other two children of Francis (John and Dorcas) were apparently born in the 1630s, and so fifteen or twenty years younger than Mercy and Anna, with no evidence of any children born in between. This alone suggests that these were children of a second marriage. We postulate, therefore, that Francis Sprague had two wives, the first of whom died in England before 1623, and the second of whom he married in New England about 1630. If our conclusion that Anna Sprague of the 1627 cattle division became wife of William Lawrence is correct, then we do not know the given name of either of the wives of Francis, nor do we have dates of birth, marriage or death for either of them.
On 2 August 1642 Francis Sprague, innholder, of Duxborrow, was accused of selling a fowling piece to an Indian [ PCR 2:43].
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1919 Mary Lovering Holman compiled a concise account of the family of Francis Sprague [ Scott Gen 241].
http://www.americanancestors.org/PageDetail.aspx?recordId=235195037 - [S5] Great Migration Begins, Robert Charles Anderson, (http://www.newenglandancestors.org: 2002), REF F7/G74., William Bassett. accessed 20 Oct 2008. (Reliability: 3).
?tab?
WILLIAM BASSETT
ORIGIN: Unknown
MIGRATION: 1621 on Fortune
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
REMOVES: Duxbury by 1637 [ PCR 1:63], Bridgewater by 1656
OCCUPATION: Blacksmith (the first five lines of the inventory included blacksmith's tools, including a pair of bellows, an anvil, a vice, tongs and hammers and coal shovels, and "all the rest of the smith shop" items).
FREEMAN: In "1633" Plymouth list of freemen, among those admitted before 1 January 1632/3 [ PCR 1:3]; also in list of 7 March 1636/7 [ PCR 1:52]. In Duxbury portion of list of 1639 [ PCR 8:174]. In Bridgewater portion of list which has been dated in 1658 [ PCR 8:202].
EDUCATION: Inventory included more than twenty books listed by title, mostly theological, valued at ?9 18s.
OFFICES: Plymouth coroner's jury, 2 March 1635/6 [ PCR 1:39]; committee to admit newcomers to Duxbury, 7 May 1638 [ PCR 1:84]; Plymouth grand jury, 5 June 1638, 6 June 1654 [ PCR 1:87, 3:49]; Plymouth petit jury, 7 March 1636/7, 2 January 1637/8, 6 March 1637/8, 4 June 1639, 3 September 1639 [ PCR 7:5, 7, 8, 12, 13]; Duxbury deputy to Plymouth court, 2 June 1640, 6 June 1643, 29 August 1643, 5 March 1643/4, 7 June 1648 [ PCR 1:154, 2:57, 60, 68, 123]; committee to lay out land, 3 September 1638, 7 January 1638/9, 4 February 1638/9, 4 March 1638/9, 31 August 1640, 5 October 1640 [ PCR 1:95, 109, 112, 115, 161, 163]; committee on bounds between Duxbury and Marshfield, 2 March 1640/1 [ PCR 2:9, 42]; council of war for Duxbury, 27 September 1642 [ PCR 2:46]; Duxbury constable, 3 June 1652 [ PCR 3:8]; committee to lay out highways [ PCR 3:61, 62]. In Duxbury portion of 1643 list of men able to bear arms [ PCR 8:190].
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth land division "William Bassite" received two acres as a passenger on the Fortune in 1621 [ PCR 12:5]. In the 1627 Plymouth division of cattle, the sixth company included William Basset, Elizabeth Basset, William Basset Jr. and Elizabeth Basset Jr. [ PCR 12:11].
Assessed ?1 7s. in the Plymouth tax lists of 25 March 1633 and 27 March 1634 [ PCR 1:10, 27].
On 1 July 1633, 14 March 1635/6 and 20 March 1636/7 William Bassett was ordered to "mow at the end of his own ground" [ PCR 1:14, 40, 56].
On 23 June 1637 William Bassett of Duxbury released to Mr. Ralph Partridge "so much of the lot of his lands lying in Ducksborrow aforesaid as is now enclosed by the said Mr. Partridg" [ PCR 12:18-19], and again on 7 November 1637 a similar agreement was reached regarding land released to William Leverich and Ralph Partridge [ PCR 12:25].
On 6 April 1640 Plymouth Colony granted to "William Basset of Duxburrow" one hundred acres of upland with "meadow convenient" [ PCR 1:144, 146].
On 3 June 1652 William Bassett of Duxbury gave to "his son-in-law Leiftenant Perigrine White" forty acres of upland with the meadow adjoining [ MD 1:96, citing PCLR 2:1:5]. On 16 June 1656 "William Bassett Senior of Duxburrow now living at Bridgewater" made a deed of gift of his Marshfield lands to his "two sons there living viz: Perigrine White and Nathaniell Bassett" [ MD 10:25-27, citing PCLR 2:1:177-78].
William Bassett and Mr. [John] Howland jointly held one share as Dartmouth purchasers, 7 March 1652 [ MD 4:187, citing PCLR 2:1:107].
On 8 November 1666 William Bassett, blacksmith, of Bridgewater sold to John Sprague of Duxbury, husbandman, for ?40 four lots of upland containing fourscore acres and five acres of meadow, with dwelling house, cowhouse, stable, barn, outhouse, orchard and garden; William Bassett acknowledged the deed on 7 November 1666, and on 5 November 1666 "Mary Bassett the wife of William Bassett Sr. ... of Bridgewater" consented to the sale [ PCLR 3:66, with dates in the unlikely order as given].
On 3 April 1667 William Bassett Senior made a nuncupative will, bequeathing the movables to his wife, and the house and land to her during her life, after which it was to go to his son William's son, and bequeath~ing his tools to his son Joseph, and "being demanded about his books which he formerly took care about, answered he could not now do it" [ MD 16:162, citing PCPR 2:2:37]. His inventory was taken 12 May 1667 and totalled ?123 2s. 6d. (which included no land, but did include his blacksmith's tools and more than twenty books) [ PCPR 2:2:37-38]. On 5 June 1667 letters of administration were granted to William Bassett Jr. on the estate of William Bassett Sr. deceased [ PCR 4:155].
On 2 June 1669 "William Bassett of Sandwich ... the eldest son and heir of William Bassett sometimes inhabitant of ... Bridgewater ... now deceased" confirmed to "Joseph Bassett of Bridgewater my youngest brother" land in Bridgewater granted him by his father in his lifetime but not legally confirmed [ PCLR 3:140].
BIRTH: By about 1600, assuming that Elizabeth was his first wife.
DEATH: Bridgewater between 3 April 1667 (date of will) and 12 May 1667 (date of inventory). (The claim that William Bassett died on 4 April 1667 derives from a peculiar misreading of the probate documents, in which the date of probate is taken as 5 April rather than 5 June, and the assumption is made that the death must have occurred between the third and the fifth.)
MARRIAGE: (1) By 1623 (and probably by 1621) Elizabeth _____, probably also a passenger on the Fortune in 1621; she appears in no record after 1627, and may have died soon after the birth of the last child about 1634, or she may have lived until just before William Bassett married his second wife.
(2) After 1651 and before 12 December 1664 Mary (Tilden) Lapham, daughter of Nathaniel Tilden, widow of Thomas Lapham [see TIMOTHY HATHERLEY]; she was living at Bridgewater as late as 28 March 1690 [ Bassett Gen 6, citing BridTR 1:320].
CHILDREN:
?tab? i WILLIAM, b. Plymouth about 1624; m. by about 1652 Mary Rainsford, daughter of EDWARD RAINSFORD [ NEHGR 139:299].
?tab? ii ELIZABETH, b. Plymouth about 1626; m. Sandwich 8 November 1648 Thomas Burgess [ PCR 8:6], from whom she was divorced on 10 June 1661 [ PCR 3:221].
?tab? iii SARAH, b. Plymouth say 1628; m. by 6 March 1648/9 Peregrine White, son of WILLIAM WHITE [ PCR 2:183; MF 1:101-03].
?tab? iv NATHANIEL, b. say 1630; m. about 1661 Dorcas Joyce, daughter of John Joyce [ TAG 43:3-5].
?tab? v JOSEPH, b. say 1632; m. (1) by about 1660 Mary _____ (said to be his stepsister Mary Lapham, daughter of Thomas Lapham [see NEHGR 115:85]); m. (2) Hingham 16 October 1677 Martha Hobart [ NEHGR 121:200].
?tab? vi RUTH, b. say 1634; m. (1) by 1655 John Sprague, son of FRANCIS SPRAGUE [ TAG 41:178-81, citing PCR 6:109 for evidence of marriage]; she m. (2) _____ Thomas [ TAG 41:179; Robert S. Wakefield suggests that this was John Thomas of Marshfield, who died before 12 January 1691/2, and whose first wife had died 2 January 1682/3].
?tab?
COMMENTS: In 1611 a William Bassett, formerly of Sandwich in England, widower of Cecily Light, was twice betrothed at Leiden in Holland. His first bride-to-be died, but he succeeded the second time. Some have held that this was the man who came to Plymouth, but this seems unlikely given the ten-year gap before the arrival in Plymouth in 1621, and the lack of evidence for children of the Plymouth man born before that date, assuming that he had been married at least twice before. It is also possible that the William Bassett of Leiden in 1611 was the father of the immigrant to Plymouth in 1621, but there is no evidence directly favoring this hypothesis. (See discussion in Stratton 242-43.)
If the two-acre grant to William Bassett in 1623 was for William and his wife Elizabeth, then the first child would not have been born until 1624, three years after William's arrival in Plymouth. It is possible (though not likely) that the marriage took place in Plymouth, and Elizabeth came on the Fortune as a single woman.
Savage has misread the 1627 Plymouth cattle division, somehow including daughter Sarah Bassett in this list, when in fact only two children, William and Elizabeth, were included. Sarah must have been born soon after 1627, however, to have married by the end of 1648.
Pope claims that William Bassett resided at Sandwich in 1650, but this would be the son of the same name.
Munsey-Hopkins (p. 67) lists a "probable" seventh child, a daughter Jane who married a Thomas Gilbert. This must be a simple error in which "Rossiter" was misread for "Bassett," as there was a Thomas Gilbert of Taunton who married Jane Rossiter.
Various secondary sources claim that William Bassett volunteered for service in the Pequot War, and in the index to the first volume of published Plymouth Colony records he is listed for the page on which such volunteers appear, but he does not actually appear in the list [ PCR 1:61]; a number of the index entries for William Bassett actually seem to be for William Paddy.
On 6 March 1648/9 William Bassett was fined 5s. "for not mending of guns in seasonable time," and on 9 June 1653 he was fined 10s. "for neglecting to publish and make known an order directed to him from the council of war, prohibiting provisions for being transported out of the colony" [ PCR 2:137, 3:36]. On 9 August 1655 and 10 June 1661 the colony treasurer received payment of fines by William Bassett [ PCR 3:93, 8:104]. - [S105] Sprague Families of America, Warren Vincent Sprague, (The Tuttle Company, Printers,Rutland, Vermont, 1913), p. 11 (Reliability: 3).
- [S5] Great Migration Begins, Robert Charles Anderson, (http://www.newenglandancestors.org: 2002), REF F7/G74., William Bassett. accessed 20 Oct 2008. (Reliability: 3).