Barker Genealogy of Tiverton, RI

The Barker family of Tiverton, R. I., and vicinity, represented in that section by many prominent citizens, is one of the earliest settled families of New England. The first of the name of whom there is authentic record was Robert Barker, born in 1616, who came to New England at a very early day with John Thorp. In 1641, with others, he bought from Jonathan Brewster, son of Elder Brewster, a ferry and 100 acres of land at Marshfield. Later he located at Duxbury, where for several years he was a surveyor. His death occurred about 1691. He married Lucy Williams, who died March 7, 1681 or 1682.

Descendants of Francis Brayton of Fall River, MA

David Anthony Brayton

BRAYTON. The first in America by this name, one Francis Brayton, came from England to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where, in 1643, he was received as an inhabitant, in 1655, became a freeman, and to him nearly if not all the Braytons of New England trace their origin. He early entered into the political life of the country, serving as a member of the General Court of Commissioners for the Colony, for many years as member of the Rhode Island General Assembly, and frequently during the later generations his descendants have held positions of responsibility and trust in the public offices … Read more

Chase Family of Fall River MA

King Philip Mills ad from 1896.

CHASE (Fall River family). The Chase family here considered is strictly speaking a Massachusetts-Rhode Island one, springing as it does from the early Roxbury Yarmouth family, a later generation of which located in Portsmouth, R. I. In the third generation from the immigrant ancestor through Joseph Chase, who located in Swansea, Mass., and Benjamin, who settled in Portsmouth, R. I., have descended the Chases who have come from those respective localities. And both branches have shared largely in the commercial and industrial life of this section of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. From the Portsmouth branch came the late Borden Chase, … Read more

Descendants of Daniel Wilcox of Dartmouth MA and Tiverton RI

Mr. Wilcox

This article briefly deals ith one branch only of the New England Wilcox family – with some of the descendants of Daniel Wilcox, who had a grant of fifteen acres of land at Portsmouth, R. I., Dec. 10, 1656, and who later, in 1664, bought a house in Dartmouth, and was constable there in the year following. Mr. Wilcox later became a resident of the town of Tiverton, being an inhabitant there on the organization of the town, March 2, 1692.

Descendants of Rev. James Keith in Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Roland Keith

The Keith family is one of the oldest of southeastern Massachusetts. Its founder in America was Rev. James Keith, born in 1644, who came to America, landing in Boston in 1662. He became minister of the Bridgewater Church, where he administered to the spiritual needs of the people for half a century. He died July 23, 1719. He was twice married. His first wife was Susannah Edson, daughter of Deacon Samuel Edson.

French Genealogy of Fall River Massachusetts

Job B. French

The Fall River French family here considered springs from the early Rehoboth family of the name, and it, as will be observed further on, according to Savage, perhaps from the Dorchester family. John French, the head of the Dorchester family and the immigrant ancestor, was a native of England, born in 1612. He had land granted him at what became Braintree for five heads Feb. 24, 1639-40. He was admitted to the church in the adjoining town of Dorchester, Jan. 27, 1642, and the births of his first two children are recorded in Dorchester. He became a freeman May 29, 1639. He was active and prominent among the early settlers. His son John was born Feb. 28, 1641.

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

Descendants of Joseph Borden of Fall River MA

Richard Borden

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

Ancestors of George Albert Chace of Fall River, MA

g a chace

CHACE (Fall River family). In and about Fall River for generations the Chace (earlier generations using the orthography Chase) family has been conspicuous in the affairs of that section and especially for a century past in its industrial life. In the particular line of Joseph Chase, who settled in Swansea, the family becoming a Swansea-Somerset one, such names as Oliver, Harvey, James H., Hon. Jonathan and George Albert Chace – the latter of whom planned and built a number of the large cotton mills of Fall River, was long treasurer and manager of the Bourne Mill, in Tiverton, R. I., and as well was a most active and useful citizen of Fall River – will long endure in the annals of this great industrial section. There follows from the first American ancestor of the Chaces named to the present in chronological order the genealogy and family history of the children of the late George Albert Chace of Fall River.

Swift Family of New Bedford, MA

SWIFT. For a hundred years and more the Swift family in and about New Bedford has been one of prominence, wealth. and influence, not only in the several local communities in which its members have resided 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 … Read more

Seabury Family of New Bedford, Massachusetts

Alexander Seabury

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

Hawes Family of Wrentham, MA

For generations, since the early Colonial period, the Hawes family has been resident in Wrentham, Mass. The line is traced back to Edward Hawes, of Dedham, Mass., born probably about 1620, who died in 1686. He married April 15, 1648, Eliony Lombard. This genealogy discusses the line from Edward through Oliver Snow Hawes who removed to Fall River Mass. It then discusses the family and descendants of Olvier Snow Hawes who resided in the vicinity of Fall River.

Genealogy of the Goff Family of Attleboro, Mass.

MAJ. WILLIAM HUNT GOFF, one of Attleboro’s well known citizens and leading public men, is a native of the Old Bay State, born in the town of Rehoboth, April 10, 1845. He is a descendant of one of the oldest families of Rehoboth, where the Goffs have figured more or less prominently, as well as in the nearby towns in Rhode Island, since about 1720, the date of which there is record of the families of Richard and Samuel Goff. From these two men have sprung a number whose names have been written high on the roll of fame in … Read more

Ancestry of William Bowers Moison Chace of Taunton Massachusetts

Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts

William Bowers Moison Chace, senior member of W. B. M. Chace & Co., real estate, insurance, stocks and bonds, prominently identified with manufacturing and financial concerns, his position won through his own energy, integrity and general worth, is a worthy representative of a family planted in America but a decade later than the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. He was born in Somerset, Mass., Dec. 5, 1854, and is of the ninth generation of the family in the New World.

Ancestry of Capt. Jacob Taber of New Bedford, Massachusetts

Jacob Taber

Capt. Jacob Taber, late of New Bedford, and long successfully engaged as a master mariner in the whaling industry, was a descendant of an early settled New England family. He was a direct descendant of Philip Taber, who was at Watertown in 1634, and contributed toward building the galley for the security of the harbor, was made freeman in that same year, and was later at Yarmouth among the first settlers and deputy to Plymouth, 1639-40. Still later he was at the Vineyard, and afterward at New London, Portsmouth, and at Providence and Tiverton, respectively, being a representative from Providence.

Dwelly Family of Fall River, MA

DWELLY (Fall River family). The name Dwelly is an uncommon one and the family not numerous in New England annals. The Fall River Dwelly family is a branch of the Rhode Island family and it of the Scituate (Mass.) family, the immediate Fall River family here considered being that of Dr. Jerome Dwelly, who for some threescore or more years has administered to the ailments of humanity in and about Fall River, where he has most surely been to this people the “beloved physician” and one of the city’s substantial men. In the succeeding generation, one of his sons – … Read more

Descendants of Richard Borden who resided in Fall River, Massachusetts

Philip Borden

There lived at and figured prominently in the affairs of Fall River for many years and was one of the city’s most useful citizens the late Cook Borden, who most worthily wore the Borden name and sustained the family reputation, and has been followed by sons who carried forward the work he began and left, and who have been or are now active and influential in the city’s affairs – substantial men of the community. The generations from the emigrant ancestor follow somewhat in detail.

Descendants of Richard Borden of Fall River MA

American Printing Company 1910 Illustration

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 Conqueror, and after the battle of Hastings — A.D. 1066 — was assigned lands in the County of Kent, where the family afterward became useful, wealthy and influential, the village where they … Read more

Pierce Family of North Bridgewater, MA

chester pierce

The Pierce families of this country are and have long been very numerous. Early in the settlement of New England came representatives from England, most of them not related, so far as now known. Among them were Abraham, of Plymouth, 1623, who became one of the original purchasers of Bridgewater in 1645; Daniel, of Newbury, blacksmith, who came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, in 1634, aged twenty-three years; John, of Dorchester, mariner from Stepney, Middlesex, before 1631; another John, of Dorchester and Boston; John, of Watertown, 1638; Capt. Michael, of Hingham and Scituate; Richard, of Portsmouth, R. I.; Robert, of Dorchester; Thomas, of Charlestown, who was admitted to the church there in 1634; and Capt. William, of Boston, who was a distinguished shipmaster of his time.

Descendants of John Washburn of Duxbury, MA

nathan washburn

The Washburn name in this country is a distinguished one. Perhaps it is as yet only a tradition that John Washburn, the ancestor of the Washburns here considered, was he who first served as secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Several governors of our States have borne the Washburn name and at one and the same time four of the name occupied seats in the United States Congress. And the branch of the Massachusetts Washburns seated in Middleboro and vicinity have borne no small part in the annals of the Old Colony and later Commonwealth. Capt. Amos Washburn was in command of a company in the American Revolution; one of his sons, a graduate of Harvard, was a talented lawyer at Middleboro; Edward Washburn, brother of Capt. Amos, was another patriot in the Continental army; and his son, Gen. Abiel Washburn, was one of the leading men of his time in Middleboro, the acknowledged leader of the Federal party, and for thirty-six years held commissions through the different grades of office in the State militia; while Luther, Cyrus and the late Bradford Sumner Washburn, in turn, were substantial citizens of the town, and the latter’s son, Judge Nathan Washburn, lawyer and present Justice of the Courts of Plymouth county, is giving a good account of himself.