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Thursday, August 24, 2017

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2017 WEEK 31 JOHN LOVEJOY OF ANDOVER, MA.

I now turn to the ancestral line of my 6x great grandmother Martha (Lovejoy) Abbott, wife of Jonathan Abbott Jr. Martha and Jonathan were  2nd cousins through their descent from Ralph Farnham Sr. and 2nd cousins 1x removed through Nicholas Holt.

Martha's immigrant ancestor was her grandfather John Osgood, of whom William Richard Cutter has this  to say:

John Lovejoy first appears in  our colonial history as one of the first settlers and original proprietors of Andover, Massachusetts. It is said that he was born in England, about 1630, and probably came from Andover, Hants, from whence came nearly all of the first settlers of the New England town of the same name. Andover, Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1646. and in one of the ancient record books is set down the names of settlers in the order of their arrival there. The name of John Love joy is seventeenth on the list. In 1658 he was one of the petitioners to the general court for relief from the encroachments of other towns on the territorv of Andover, and in 1674 he was one of a committee chosen to settle "a great controversie in ye towne about giving out of lands." with direction "to consider ye same to se if it be convenient to give away any more land or how and to whome." In 1687, when travellers began to complain because there was no house of public entertainment "upon the Rode at Andover that leadeth from Ipswich and the Townes that way to Billerica," the name of John Lovejoy appears first on the petition to the general court praying "that William Chandler Senior whose house stands convenient may be allowed for that worke." On January 1, 1651, John Lovejoy married Mary Osgood, of Ipswich, who died before 1678. daughter of Christopher Osgood. He married second. March 23, 1678. Hannah , daughter of John Hoyt, of Salisbury. John Lovejoy died in November, 1690. His children, all born in Andover: 1. Mary, April 11, 1652. 2. Sarah, April 10. 1654. 3. John, February 9. 1656. 4. William, April 25. 1657, one of the first deacons of the South Church, 1711. 5. Ann, 1659. 6. Joseph, February 8, 1662. 7. Christopher, March 1, 1663. 8. Benjamin, December 4. 1664. 9. Nathaniel, May 29, 1667. 10. Abigail, 1669. 11. Deborah. 1670. 12. Ebenezer, June 22, 1673.-p1349

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 3  Lewis historical Publishing Company, N.Y., N.Y. 1908

John Lovejoy's  second wife Hannah Holt was my 8x great grandaunt.

I found John's probate file and will at AmericanAncestors.org but it's in pretty bad shape and will take some time to transcribe:

Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) 17068:1

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Bill West..... I just discovered your blog. I love it! What got me to it was a search around Colonel William Prescott (Bunker Hill) and I landed on your Blog about your ancestor, John Prescott. My 7X-GreatGrandfather, John Rugg, married two of John Prescott's daughters. First Martha who died a few years into the marriage. Then he married Hannah who bore him 12 children. She was massacred along with her youngest child at Lancaster during King Phillips war. My 6x-GreatGrandfather and his older siblings were not at the massacre site. I know I will enjoy reading many more of your blogs.
Bob Rugg -
rerugg@comcast.net

Bill West said...

Well hi there Cousin Bob! I'm glad you are enjoying the blog!

Anonymous said...

Hi Bill, I too just discovered your blog and am very impressed. I am a direct descendant of John (1) Lovejoy and his wife Mary Osgood (through John (3), who went to Windham County, CT with his wife Dorcas Hibbard, in the wake of a bunch of Hibbards who preceded them. I've just pieced together the story of Naomi (Hoyt) Lovejoy Stratton, wife of John (2) Lovejoy by searching the court records of Essex County in the late 17th century. (She is one of my 500+ 9-greats grandmothers... after the premature death of her husband John, she bore an illegitimate child in Andover, fathered, she claimed, by Benjamin Abbot (who did not marry her, although usually such confessions were a prelude to marriage). She left her two children (Frances and John) with their grandfather John (1) Lovejoy and Uncle Joseph after the illegitimate daughter was born (called Ben Naomie in the record of her birth in Andover), to live in Chelmsford, where she married Richard Stratton (he was apparently 9 years younger than Naomi). I'm working on Holts and Hibbards now.

There are so many great stories to find! I will continue to read your blog with great interest. Best, Gay Quimby gayauerbach@hotmail.com

Bill West said...

Hi Cousin!
Glad you are enjoying the blog and the stories. I believe the Benjamin Abbott of the story is my 8x great grandfather who was married to Sarah Farnum.

Always happy to hear from a new distant cousin!