Came on the Mayflower, 1620.
Came on the Mayflower, 1620.
Graduate of Harvard College in 1651 and he taught school in Dorchester until 1656, when he returned to England and became dissenting preacher at Dorchester, Co. Dorset and Yeovil. Co. Somerset. His last service, after many persecutions and imprisonments, was at Witham Friary, Somerset, where he d. and was bur. 28 Apr. 1696.
His last words were these: "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." (Calamy, Ejected Ministers, 11, 611; Comp. Mass. Arch. XV. 78; Suffolk Deeds, IX. 46; Dorchester Records, 309, 313, 316).
His will names the following children and grandchildren:
I. JOHN, b. abt. 1655 and had HESTER, JOHN, JUDITH and NATHANIEL.
II. NATHANIEL, b. abt. 1657; m. SARAH DANIEL of Yeovil 1677 and had HENRY, ANNE, SARAH and HANNAH. Descendants of this line are known to reside in England at the present time.
III. HAYNE, b. abt. 1660 and had HANNAH, ROBERT, ELIZABETH and JEREMIAH.
IV. (Daughter), b. abt. 1662; m. MARSHALL.
She was a widow with five children when she m. Henry Butler and eight years his senior.
For sixteen years prior to his settlement on the Vineyard, about 1651 or 1652, Nicholas Butler had resided at Dorchester, Mass., whither he emigrated in 1636 from England.
Nicholas is first mentioned in the records under date of May 8, 1653, when he participated in one of the divisions of land. Two years prior to that, on Oct. 15, 1651, he had made his "well-beloved sonne John Butler" his attorney to collect and pay debts, which may be the most probable indication of the time of his leaving Dorchester and entrusting the settlement of his affairs there to his son. When he came to the Vineyard, he was well into middle life. Though the date of his birth is not known, vet the knowledge existing of his children's ages enables us to proximately fix his birth about the years 1595 - 1600, and his age at fifty-five when he took up his residence at Edgartown. That he was a man considerably above the social average is shown by the number of his servants, the fact that his son Henry was a graduate of Harvard College (class of 1651),and this standing was at once recognized in his new home, for he became in 1653 one of the "five men to end controversies," that is magistrate. The next year he was again chosen and in 1655 he was re-elected and called "Assistant" to the chief magistrate. In all the records he is called Mr. Butler or Mr. Nicholas Butler, a use of which prefix is distinctive. In December, 1661, he was fined for absence from town meeting and "for Going away Disorderly." Beyond the usual duty on juries and an occasional trivial litigation his name does not further appear upon the town records.
His homestead lot was near Swimming Place Point, and consisted of twenty acres. Nicholas Butler died Aug. 13, 1671, the day after his will was made.
Her father was a miller of Ashford and the family had resided in Kent for many generations.
She was Nicholas Butler's second wife.
William Weeks first appears on the Vineyard records in 1653, in the area to be later known as Edgartown, but would have to have been there at an earlier date to have been able to participate in the division of land.
The first settlers of the town probably were assigned lots by the proprietors, one of the main ones being Gov. Thomas Mayhew. The land was sold to those desiring residence, but a transaction of concerning the distribution of those deeds does not exist. It is assumed that the first allotments of the common lands took place between 1646 and 1652, and included the "Divided Lots" located south of the town bordering on the Great Pond and Katama. These lots consisted of from ten to forty acres each. It was decided that a fair division of the land would consist of
20 acres to a man, unless they already had property, then that amount would be less.The first division of this "common" land took place 8 May 1653, and was to be meted out in twenty equal parts. The Weeks received lot eleven. Upon subsequent division of land between 1664 and 1669 Williams Weeks continued to receive a share.
Henry Rowley was probably born in England. There are a number of conflicting claims as to his origin, but documentation has not been forthcoming. He was first found in the opening chapter of the Plymouth Colony Court Records, when he was taxed. There are a number of references to him as he participated in various tasks in the colony. His was one of the first marriages recorded, when he was re-married to Anne Elsdon, 17 October 1633. He was one of the first to greet the Rev. John Lothrop, when he first arrived in Scituate after being released from the Tower of London. Lothrop's diary leads one to believe that Henry Rowley was part of his congregation when Archbishop Laud's men arrested many at Blackfriars in London. If so, that may explain why we are unable to determine in what manner he arrived at Plymouth. Perhaps he was spirited away in the dark of the night and smuggled aboard a vessel without being recorded as being there.
According to the " Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England," by John Farmer, he was in Scituate in 1634.
PCR I - Page 16 - 1633
17 October Henry Rowly maried Anna, the late wife of Tho : Blossome, the 17 of October, 1633.Henry Rowley
(PCR Wills and Inventoryes folio 93, July 1673)
A true Inventory of the estate of Henry Rowly of Suckienesset deceased, viz.
A debte of Twenty nine pounds due fro Jonathan Hatch upon ye repurchase of A pcell of land wch ye said Hatch sold to Henery Rowly wth that limitatiõ pvided on the oath of Moses RowleyThis Inventory is Recorded according to order p me
Nathaniel Morton Secretary to the Court for the
Jurisdiction of Plymouth.In the city of Scituate, Massachusetts in a graveyard named "Men of Kent Cemetery" there is a monument, perhaps ten feet tall, inscribed on the other side:
ORIGINAL SETTLERS
OF SCITUATEANTHONY ANNABLE
THOMAS BYRD
HENRY COBB
JAMES CUDWORTH
EDWARD FOSTER
WILLIAM GILSON
TIMOTHY HATHERLY
HENRY MERRITT
HENRY ROWLEY
NATHANIEL TILDEN
HUMPHREY TURNER
Anna (Elsdon/Helsdon) Blossom-792
Widow of Deacon Thomas Blossom (Married St. Clements Church, Cambridge, England on 10 Nov 1605).
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