Pages

Thursday, July 23, 2015

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 27: EDMUND LITTLEFIELD

For this installment of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, I'm going back up the Upton branch
of my Barker line to the family of Abigail (Frost) Upton's mother, Mary (Wakefield) Frost.
She was the daughter of John Wakefield and Annis(Agnes) Littlefield, my 9x great
grandparents. This post will be about her father, my immigrant ancestor Edmund
Littlefield.   

I have found very little online about either the Littlefields or Wakefields other than a
few entries in family or regional genealogies. Here's what I found for Edmund in William
Richard Cutter's Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4:

(1) The founder of the Maine branch of the family on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Edmund Littlefield, was born in England. 1591. He was knighted for bravery on the battle field, and given a coat-of-arms. He first appears in Boston, Massachusetts. 1635. He was a churchman and royalist, and on account of his political and religious opinions was refused permission to settle in any of the plantations of the Massachusetts colony, hence went to Maine and located in the colony at Wells, in that then sparsely settled region, where he, with John Wheelright, Edward Rishworth. Henry Boade and others, "entered on the land and began to make it subservient to the uses of man." His relations with Wheelright lead to the inference of a close friendship, and one authority says he was one of Wheelright's church in Exeter, and one of the combination to each of whom twenty-one acres of land was assigned under the Gorges proprietary. This church was founded by those whose theology was denounced by the dominant church in the Massachusetts colony, and as Littlefield's name does not appear in the list of those who were driven from the plantation at Boston, it is assumed that he left there before the actual expulsion took place. He built a saw and grist mill on the Webhannet river in 1641. He was one of the committee to settle boundary between Wells and Cape Porpoise, and a commission to try small causes, elected by the people for the years 1654-55-58-60-61. A family tradition is that he came over in a ship of his own building, bringing machinery for his mills. "The programme of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the town of Wells reads: Sir Edmund Littlefield, with Rev. John Wheelright, shares the honor of founding the early settlement in Wells." The baptismal name of his wife was Annis, but her family name is not known. She died in 1678, having survived her husband seventeen years, he having died in 1661. The children: Francis, Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Francis. Seventy-six of his descendants were in the revolution.-p 1244

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4  Lewis historical Publishing Company, Boston, Ma. 1908

 
The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1 gives more information about Edmund's involvement with Wheelwright. The town of Exeter that is mentioned is in New Hampshire:

 (I) Edmund Littlefield, born in Southampton, England, about 1600, married Annis. (The records give no family name.) He came to this country from Tichfield, England, probably at the same time as the Rev.John Wheelright, for he was one of his parishioners at Exeter in 1630, and was one of the combination to whom twenty-one acres of land was assigned. In 1638 he sent to England for his family, and on May 16 of that year his wife Annis and six children took passage for Boston in the "Bevis" of Hampton, Captain Townes. The Rev. John Wheelright, owing to a religious controversy precipitated by the teachings of Anne Hutchinson, left Exeter and later went to Wells, Maine, many of his parishioners going with him, and among them Edmund Littlefield, who in 1641, leaving Exeter, went to Wells, Maine, where he was one of the first settlers. He was supposed to have built the first house, a saw mill and grist mill. He was deeded a lot of land by Sir Ferdinand Gorges in 1643, and was a leading spirit in organizing the town and promoting its development. He was on the grand jury in 1645, and it is said was the richest man in Wells. He and his sons were millmen and farmers. He was of fearless enterprise and sound moral principle. On account of this firm, moral character, he was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts agent for the sale of liquors in Wells, it being then of the utmost importance that great discretion should be used in the distribution to the Indians. He was one of the committee to settle the boundary between Wells and Cape Porpoise, and was elected by the people for the years 1654, 1655, 1658, 1660 and 1661 to try small cases. He died in December, 1661. Children: Francis, born 1619; Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Francis Jr., born 1631.-page 101

 Henry Sweetser Burrage & Albert Roscoe Stubbs The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1  Lewis Historical Publishing Company,  New York, 1909

My ancestor Edmund Littlefield led quite an impressive life, but I think I'm more impressed by his wife
Annis crossing over with those six children after Edmund had gone before them!

No comments: