Descendants of Mark Lothrop of Bridgewater MA

The Lothrop family, of which the late Frederick Lothrop Ames was a descendant on his mother’s side 1 , is an old family of Massachusetts. The name Lowthrop, Lothrop or Lathrop is derived from Lowthrope, a small parish in the wapentake of Dickering, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, four and a half miles northeast from Great Driffield, and a perpetual curacy in the archdeaconry of York. The church there was an ancient institution, said to have been built about the time of Edward III., although there has been no institution to it since 1579.

(I) Mark Lothrop, of the Lothrops from that part of Yorkshire just alluded to, and who became the progenitor of a considerable branch of the Lothrop family of New England, was in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, as early as 1643. He is first mentioned in the Salem records:

“At a meeting of the seven men on the 11th day of the 10th month, 1643, Marke Lothrop is receaved an inhabitant, and hath a request for some ground neer to his kinsman, Thomas Lothrop. At a meeting of the selectmen, the 17th 3rd mo. 1652, granted to Hugh Woodberrie, Marke Lothrop and Thomas Priton a spot of medoe, lying between Benjamin Felten’s medoe and the Great Swamp, near Wenham, to be equally divided between them.”

Mark Lothrop was one of the proprietors of Bridgewater, Mass., and was there in 1656. He took the oath of fidelity the following year, and in 1658 he was chosen constable; held for about a quarter of a century afterward a prominent place in the affairs of the town and church. He died Oct. 25, 1685. His estate was divided among his four children:

1. Elizabeth Lothrop,
2. Samuel Lothrop, acted as administrator of his father’s estate.
3. Mark Lothrop
4. Edward Lothrop.

(II) Samuel Lothrop, son of Mark, born before 1660, married Mary Downer. He, as stated above, administered on his father’s estate. In his will made in 1724 he refers to himself as “being old.” The children of Samuel and Mary (Downer) Lothrop were:

1. Mary Lothrop, born in 1683, married Josiah Keith;
2. Samuel Lothrop, born in 1685; John, born in 1687;
3. Mark Lothrop, born in 1689;
4. Sarah Lothrop, born in 1693, married Solomon Packard;
5. Joseph Lothrop, married Mary, daughter of Joseph Snow;
6. Edward Lothrop, born in 1697.

(III) Samuel Lothrop (2), son of Samuel, born May 17, 1685, died Jan. 13, 1772. He married in 1710 Abial, daughter of Isaac Lazell, and their children were:

1. Samuel Lothrop, born in 1711;
2. Isaac Lothrop, born in 1714;
3. Sarah Lothrop, born in 1717, married Abiezer Edson;
4. Daniel Lothrop, born in 1721;
5. Abial Lothrop, born in 1729, married Israel Alger, Jr.

(IV) Isaac Lothrop, son of Samuel (2), born in 1714, married (first) Nov. 23, 1738, Bethiah, born April 20, 1719, daughter of Maj. Edward and Mary (Byram) Howard, of Bridgewater, Mass. After her death he married (second) April 13, 1742, Patience, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Ames) Alger, of West Bridgewater, Mass. Mr. Lothrop died Nov. 25, 1774, aged fifty-nine years. Children:

1. Bethiah Lothrop, born in 1744, married Samuel Willis;
2. Edmund Lothrop, born in 1746;
3. Isaac Lothrop, born in 1748, married Sarah, daughter of Adams Bailey, and (second) Betty Hacket;
4. Zephaniah Lothrop, born in 1750;
5. Abihail Lothrop, born in 1752, married Lemuel Keith, of Easton, Mass.;
6. Nathan Lothrop, born in 1755;
7. John Lothrop, born in 1757, married Sarah Cook;
8. Sarah Lothrop, born in 1763, married John Cook;
9. Keziah Lothrop, born in 1767, married Simeon Lothrop.

(V) Edmund Lothrop, son of Isaac, born in 1746, in Bridgewater, Mass., married Sept. 29, 1774, Betty, born May 9, 1751, daughter of George and Abigail (Copeland) Howard, of Bridgewater, Mass., he a direct descendant of John Howard, who was among those at Duxbury able to bear arms in 1643 and who in 1645 was among the original proprietors of Bridgewater, from whom his descent is through Ephraim Howard and Ephraim Howard (2). George Howard was a soldier and patriot of the Revolution, serving in Capt. Daniel Lothrop’s company, Col. John Bailey’s regiment, for a period of three months and six days.

Edmund Lothrop settled in the town of Easton, where to this day his posterity has been prominent and influential in the affairs of the town. He died April 3, 1831. His children were:

1. Howard Lothrop, born Dec, 17, 1776, in Easton;
2. Isaac Lothrop;
3. Cyrus Lothrop.

The father was a soldier of the Revolution, serving for three months from Dec. 30, 1777, at Providence, Rhode Island.

(VI) (Hon.) Howard Lothrop, son of Edmund and Betty (Howard) Lothrop, was born Dec. 17, 1776, in the town of Easton, Mass. After his school days were over and at the age of twenty-one he went to Vermont, where in Pittsford he became interested in a furnace. This he became superintendent and owner of and in time made the enterprise a success. He disposed of it in 1809, and owing to the failing-health of his father returned to Easton and settled on the old homestead, where he continued to live the remainder of his life, and died Aug. 23, 1857.

Mr. Lothrop was for some nineteen years town clerk of Easton, serving from 1811 to 1827, and from 1833 to 1836, proving a very accurate and competent officer. He was for many years the clerk of the Taunton North Purchase Company. From 1823 to 1827 he was a member of the State Legislature, and for the next four years he was State senator; succeeding this for four years, from 1832 to 1836, he was a member of the Governor’s council. He was a candidate for presidential elector on the Webster ticket in 1836.

Mr. Lothrop was conservative in his opinions; of those opposed to the Rev. Mr. Sheldon during the great controversy, he remained orthodox in his religious views. He styled himself a farmer, yet did much business of a partially legal character, being often called upon to prepare and to execute wills and make the settlement of estates, for which work his superior business qualities and excellent judgment especially fitted him.

On June 13, 1805, Mr. Lothrop married Sally, born May 9, 1787, daughter of Edward and Sarah (Lothrop) Williams, of Easton, Mass. He died Aug. 23, 1857, and she May 16, 1864. Ten children blessed the marriage, among them being:

1. Edward W. Lothrop, born March 9, 1808, who died Jan. 26, 1812;
2. De Witt Clinton Lothrop, born Feb. 21, 1825, who died Aug. 25, 1851, married Elizabeth Howard, born April 9, 1829, died Jan. 17, 1896;
3. Sarah Lothrop, who married Hon. Oliver Ames, Jr. 2 ;
4. George Van Ness Lothrop, at one time United States minister to Russia;
5. Howard Augustus Lothrop;
6. Cyrus Lothrop.

Citations:

1. See: Descendants of John Ames of West Bridgewater MA[↩]
2. See: Descendants of John Ames of West Bridgewater MA[↩]