Bristol County MA Genealogy – Page 2 of 4

Descendants of William Swift of New Bedford, MA

For an hundred years and more the Swift family in and about New Bedford has been one of prominence, wealthy and influential not only in their several local communities but out through the Commonwealth and into the nation, where their extensive enterprises have extended. These Acushnet-New Bedford Swifts, a branch of the Cape Cod family, brought to their new field of effort that activity, industry, ability and honesty that had for generations characterized their forefathers and also the line of business that had enriched earlier generations in the old home section – the dealing in live oak timber and its manufacture into water craft, in shipbuilding for not only the United States government, but for those across the water. Reference is here made especially to some of the sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of William Swift, of the town of Falmouth, this Commonwealth, among whose sons were Hon. Elijah, Thomas, William, John and Reuben E.; and among the sons of the latter Rodolphus Nye and William Cole Nye Swift, who with their sons together and in turn figured most prominently in and about New Bedford and abroad, as intimated; and some of their sons are yet active here and in the Massachusetts metropolis.

Descendants of Richard Kimball of Ipswich MA

KIMBALL. Richard Kimball, of the parish of Rattlesden, County of Suffolk, England, with his family, came to New England in the ship “Elizabeth” in 1634, arriving at Boston, and thence went to Watertown, Mass. He soon became a prominent and active man in the new settlement, was proclaimed a freeman in 1635, and was proprietor in 1636-37. Soon thereafter he removed to Ipswich, where he passed the remainder of his life. His services as a wheelwright were very much appreciated. Mr. Kimball married Ursula, daughter of Henry Scott, of Rattlesden, and (second) Oct. 25, 1661, Mrs. Margaret Dow, of Hampton, … Read more

Biography of James Humphrey

James Humphrey, as lawyer, editor, judge and state official, firmly established his position throughout a period of half a century as one of the ablest and most popular citizens of Central Kansas. He was born in Nottinghamshire, England, March 8, 1833; came to New England in 1854, and during the succeeding three years was a resident of Fall River, Massachusetts. There he became interested in the Kansas agitation for free statehood and in April, 1857, reached Manhattan. His first employment in connection with the shrievalty was a good test of his pluck, and he so arose to the occasion that … Read more

Descendants of William Sturdy of Attleboro MA and Slatersville RI

William Sturdy, as he was thenceforth known, then shipped on an American schooner lying at Leghorn, and bound for the United States. He finally landed at Beverly, Mass., June 9, 1809. From the port of Beverly he made several voyages as mate of American schooners, but finally abandoned the seas. He married in Beverly Clarissa Whittemore, who was born in that town Jan. 28, 1794. After their marriage they settled in Attleboro, Bristol county, where Mr. Sturdy bought land lying on the west shore of the Falls pond and engaged in farming until 1827. Here ten of his fourteen children were born. About that time, 1827, “the initial efforts in cotton manufacturing on the Blackstone had opened the way for the employment of minors,” and Mr. Sturdy availed himself of this opportunity because it had become impossible for him to procure a proper subsistence for his large family from his farm. In that year he sold out and removed to the Blackstone Valley, locating at Slatersville, town of North Smithfield, R. I., where he and his children found employment in the cotton mills. He later settled in Blackstone, Mass., where he died Oct. 16, 1834. He was a hardworking man, honest and upright in his dealings, and his large family of fourteen children reflected great credit on their home training. The wife and mother died Feb. 13, 1856.

Biographical Sketch of Silas Bowerman

(V) Silas (2), son of Silas (1) Bowerman, was born at Falmouth or New Bedford, Massachusetts, and came with the family to Dutchess county, New York, settling at length at Duanesburg, near Albany, New York, where he had a farm and where he died.

Morey Genealogy of Bristol RI and Norton MA

Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts

The Morey Family, to which belonged the late Mrs. Paddock Richmond Read, is an old and long established one in New England. The name has been spelled Morey, Mowry, Mowrey, etc. The family which settled in the Plymouth Colony spelled the name Morey, while other branches made their home in Rhode Island, where the spelling of the name was changed to Mowry. George Morey, the first of whom we have record, made his home in Bristol, Rhode Island. He married there Jan. 22, 1683, Hannah Lewis

Read Family of Massachusetts

(I) John Read, supposed son of William and Lucy (Henage) Read, was born in 1598, and it is said came to America with the great fleet in 1630. He is of record in 1637 in Weymouth, was in Dorchester the next year, and went from there to that part of Braintree now Quincy. In 1643 or 1644 he accompanied Rev. Mr. Newman and his church society to Rehoboth, where his name appears the third on the list of purchasers of the town. He was a man of large property for those times, and held the office of constable, which was … Read more

Descendants of Peter Crapo

Through the greater part of the last century and up to the present writing, the name of Crapo has stood in and about New Bedford as a synonym for useful citizenship. Here have lived during that period Henry Howland Crapo and William W. Crapo, father and son, of whom a recent biographer says: “Among the many citizens of New Bedford and Dartmouth who have achieved high honor, and whose names are held in respect wherever they are known, are Henry H. Crapo and his son William W. Crapo. Born on a Dartmouth farm, from the sterile soil of which his … Read more

Seabury Family of New Bedford, Massachusetts

SEABURY – variously spelled Sebury, Saberry, Saberrey and Sabury. The American ancestor of the Seaburys of New Bedford was (I) John Seabury, of Boston, who died before 1662. He married Grace, and had two sons – John (who went to Barbados) and Samuel (born Dec. 10, 1640) – and several daughters. (II) Samuel Seabury, son of John, born Dec. 10, 1640, died Aug. 5, 1681. He married at Weymouth Nov. 9, 1660, Patience Kemp, who died Oct. 29, 1676. He married (second) April 4, 1677, Martha Pabodie, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Alden) Pabodie and granddaughter of John and Priscilla … Read more

King Philip’s War – Indian Wars

A short history of the battles fought during King Philip’s War, including maps of the campaigns and New England Indian tribes.

Wright Family of Boston, MA

WRIGHT. The family of this name is an early Boston family, which through marriage is allied with some of the historic families of New England, among them those of Adams, Winslow and Wentworth. We give herewith an outline of the earlier generations, beginning with the first ancestor in this country. (I) Richard Wright, born about 1607, died in Plymouth, Mass., June 9, 1691. In 1644 he married Hester Cook, and they had children: Adam, Esther and Mary. (II) Adam Wright, born about 1644, died Sept. 20, 1724. He was twice married, having by his first wife, Sarah (Soule), two children, … Read more

Ancestors of John Richardson Bronson of Attleboro, MA

JOHN RICHARDSON BRONSON, M. D., who for over half a century was one of the best known practitioners of medicine in southern Massachusetts and part of Rhode Island, and who for upward of fifty years was a resident of Attleboro, was a native of Connecticut, born in the town of Middlebury, New Haven county, June 5, 1829, son of Garry and Maria (Richardson) Bronson.

The Bronson family was early planted in the New World. John Bronson (early of record as Brownson and Brunson) was early at Hartford. He is believed, though not certainly known, to have been one of the company who came in 1636 with Mr. Hooker, of whose church he was a member. He was a soldier in the Pequot battle of 1637. He is not named among the proprietors of Hartford in the land division of 1639; but is mentioned in the same year in the list of settlers, who by the “towne’s courtesie” had liberty “to fetch woods and keepe swine or cowes on the common.” His house lot was in the “soldiers’ field,” so called, in the north part of the old village of Hartford, on the “Neck Road” (supposed to have been given for service in the Pequot war), where he lived in 1640. He moved, about 1641 to Tunxis (Farmington) He was deputy from Farmington in May, 1651, and at several subsequent sessions, and the “constable of Farmington” in 1652. He was one of the seven pillars at the organization of the Farmington Church in 1652. His name is on the list of freemen of Farmington in 1669. He died Nov. 28, 1680.

Osborn Family of Fall River Massachusetts

Covel & Osborn Company Letterhead Invoice, 1904

During the latter half of the century but recently closed and on into the present one, during the period of the great growth and development as an industrial center of Fall River, the name Osborn has stood out conspicuously in the business life of the city. Reference is made notably to the Osborn brothers — the late Hon. Weaver and James Munroe Osborn — for many years among the most prominent mill promoters and bankers of Fall River; and they have been followed by a generation now representative of the name and family, Mr. James E. Osborn, the son of … Read more

Lincoln Family of Hingham and Taunton, Massachusetts

From the pioneer days at the settlement at Hingham and Taunton the Lincoln family has been a continuous one in that region of Massachusetts; one of prominence in the start, it has maintained itself both here and in the country at large and in both has long since become numerous. It has been claimed by the late Hon. Solomon Lincoln that all the Lincolns in Massachusetts are descendants of the Lincolns who settled in Hingham in 1636 and 1638. He says: “We have evidence of authentic records that the early settlers of Hingham of the name of Lincoln were four, bearing the name of Thomas, distinguished from each other by their occupations, as miller, weaver, cooper and husbandman; Stephen (brother of the husbandman); Daniel, and Samuel (brother of the weaver).” He adds “our claim is that the early settlers of Hingham above enumerated were the progenitors of all the Lincolns of the country. From Hingham the Lincolns trace their early home to Norfolk County, England.”

Descendants of Joseph Borden of Fall River MA

BORDEN (Fall River family – line of Joseph, fourth generation). The Borden family is an ancient one both here in New England and over the water in old England, as well as one of historic interest and distinction. The New England branch has directly or indirectly traced the lineage of the American ancestor, Richard Borden, many generations back in English history. His first English forbear went over to England from Bourdonnay, Normandy, as a soldier under William the Conquerer, and after the battle of Hastings – in A. D. 1066 – was assigned lands in the County of Kent, where … Read more

Ancestry of the Mortons of East Freetown, Bristol County, Massachusetts

The Mortons of East Freetown, Bristol Co., Mass., formerly quite numerous in that vicinity, but not now represented by many of the name, are the posterity of Maj. Nathaniel Morton and descendants of the eminent George Morton.

George Morton, born about 1585, at Austerfield, Yorkshire, England, came to New England in the ship “Ann” in 1623. He had married in Leyden, in 1612, Juliana Carpenter, daughter of Alexander Carpenter, of Wrentham, England. He is said to have served the Pilgrims in important relations before coming to this country, and published in England in 1621 the first history of the Colony, which was entitled “A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation settled at Plymouth in New England.” It is commonly known as “Mourt’s Relation.” He died in 1624.

Rounseville Family of Fall River, MA

The Rounsville or Rounseville family of ancient Freetown is believed to be of French origin, and a family tradition has it that they left France on account of religious persecution. It is the purpose here to refer to a branch of the Freetown Rounseville family which in time found its way into the busy manufacturing center of southeastern Massachusetts – Fall River – and soon became a part of the great activity there. Reference is made to the family of the late Capt. Cyrus Cole Rounseville, a master mariner of Freetown, who sailed from New Bedford in the whaling service, whose son and namesake Cyrus Cole Rounseville has long been one of the leading manufacturers of Fall River as treasurer of the Shove Mills, prominent in public life and identified with the banking interests of the city.

Descendants of Charles Keith of Bridgewater, Massachusetts

For the ancestry of Charles Keith, please see Descendants of Rev. James Keith of Bridgewater, Massachusetts (VI) Charles Keith, son of Benjamin, was born Aug. 8, 1794, and married Dec. 8, 1817, Mehitable Perkins, born March 23, 1795, daughter of Josiah and Anna (Reynolds) Perkins, of North Bridgewater, both of whom were descendants of historic old New England families. To this union were born children as follows: Damaris Williams Keith, born Oct. 8, 1818, married Vinal Lyon, of North Bridgewater, where she died Charles Perkins Keith, born June 20, 1820, is mentioned below Anna Reynolds Keith, born Nov. 11, 1822, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Hathaway

Nicholas Hathaway, the immigrant ancestor, came to this country in 1639. He settled in Braintree, where he had a grant of land February 24. 1639-40, and the records show that he had a wife and two children at that time. (II) John Hathaway, son of Nicholas, born in 1617, came to this country at the age of eighteen, in the ship “Blessing,” sailing in July, 1635. He was before the general court in July, 1637. He settled in Barnstable, Plymouth county, and was living in Taunton in 1649. He was reported able to bear arms in the list dated 1643. … Read more

Ancestry of Alfred Pierce of Attleboro Massachusetts

Alfred Pierce is a native of Bristol county, Mass., born in the old historic town of Rehoboth Jan. 1, 1822, son of Jeremiah and Candice (Wheeler) Pierce. This branch of the Pierce family in America is one of long standing and among the first settlers of New England. The name has been variously spelled, but the change to Pierce has been made in the last three-quarters of a century. In the Old World the members of this family have been quite prominent, and the name can be traced through a loner and distinguished line back to the days of the Norman Conquest.