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Friday, November 25, 2016

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2016 WEEK 46: JOSIAH WHITE OF LANCASTER MA.

My 8x great grandfather Josiah White is one of my ancestors who is overshadowed by his relatives.
His father John White was one of the founders of Lancaster, Ma. and is desribed as the richest man
in town. And his son, another John White, was renowned in his day as an "Indian fighter."  What I
do know is the following:

Josiah White was born in 1643 in Wenham, Ma.  and was a carpenter by trade. His first wife was
Mary Lewis who died in 1678. Not long after that same year Josiah married Mary Rice, whose parents were Thomas and Mary (King) Rice of Sudbury, Ma.  (Thomas' brother Henry is my 9x great
grandfather through another family line.) Josiah held several positions in Lancaster town government over his lifetime. During the Queen Anne's War he was a sergeant in the town militia and at one point was put in command of one of the town garrisons. 

I've found birth records for seven children of Josiah and Mary over on the Early Vital Records of Massachusetts From 1600 to 1850 website:

Sarah 21 Oct 1680
Joseph, 15 Sep 1682
Josiah 16 Sep 1682
John 20 Sep 1684
Thankful 27Mar 1689
Jonathan 1692

It looks like Joseph and Josiah were twins born around midnight, or perhaps those dates are a typo.

Josiah died intestate on 11Nov 1714 and I've found a copy of his probate file at AmericanAncestors.org. His widow Mary remarried a few years later. Interestingly, her new husband was my 7x great granduncle Thomas Sawyer Jr, whose experiences as an Indian captive I've previously blogged about. Mary died in 1733.

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