Send comments and corrections to anneb0704@yahoo.co.uk
First Generation
JOHN SYMONDS (abt 1595 - 1671) of Great Yarmouth and Salem
Parents: Unknown
John Symonds was born about 1595, based on a deposition that he was about 74 in 1669. He died between 16 May 1671, when he signed his will, and 19 Sep 1671, when it was proved. [Ref] He married first Ruth Fox. [Ref] He married second Elizabeth Unknown. [Ref]
John was a joiner and a cooper. [Ref]
John emigrated from Great Yarmouth. [Ref] He was granted 20 acres in Salem in 1636. [Ref] He was granted a houselot in 1652. [Ref] He was granted 10 acres in 1670. [Ref]
John appeared in court in 1644 for allowing his cattle to go at large before the fruit was gathered. [Ref][Ref] He was discharged from training in 1648 on account of lameness and on the condition that he would attend if he recovered. [Ref][Ref]
John was a grand juror in 1657. [Ref]
In his will, John Symonds of Salem mentions his wife Elizabeth, who was in an "ill condition"; his son James; his daughter Katherine Towne; his daughter Ruth Swinnerton; his son Samuel. [Ref]
Children of John Symonds and Ruth Fox
Children of John Symonds and Ruth Fox or Elizabeth Unknown.
Second Generation
SAMUEL SYMONDS (bp. 1638 - 1722) of Boxford
Parents: John Symonds and Ruth Fox or Elizabeth Unknown
Samuel Symonds was baptisesd in Nov 1638 in Salem. [Ref] He died on 14 Aug 1722, age 84, in Boxford. [Ref] He married Elizabeth Andrews on 14 (2) 1662 in Salem. [Ref, also recorded in Boxford]
Samuel was a joiner. [Ref] He built a ten-foot pulpit for the Topsfield church in 1682. [Ref]
He was a freeman on 22 Mar 1689/90. [Ref]
Samuel was part of a committee that met on 7 Jun 1692 to find a location for the Boxford meeting house. [Ref] On 18 Jun 1692, he was on a committee to agree with workmen to build the meeting house. [Ref] On 4 Oct 1700 John Perley and Samuel Symonds were on a committee to meet with the carpenters and set the pews. [Ref]
In Mar 1695 John Perley, Thomas Perley, Samuel Symonds, Thomas Andrews and John Peabody were on a committee to meet with people from Topsfield and settle the boundary line between the two towns. [Ref]
Samuel asked to be dismissed from the Topsfield church in the autumn of 1702, but his request was denied on the basis of where he lived. He was finally dismissed in 1709. [Ref]
Samuel was chosen to collect taxes in Boxford in 1699. [Ref] He was the constable of Boxford in 1700. [Ref] He was a selectman in 1698, 1701, 1702, 1703, 1706 and 1710. [Ref] He was a representative to the General Court in 1704. [Ref]
Children of Samuel Symonds and Elizabeth Andrews:
PHEBE SYMONDS (1682 - 1757)
Parents: Samuel Symonds and Elizabeth Andrews
Phebe Symonds was born on 2 Oct 1682 in Boxford. [Ref] She died on 18 Jun 1757. [Ref] She married John Fuller on 22 Jan 1704/5 in Salem. [Ref]
References
Davis, Walter Goodwin, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, v. I-III, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996.
Dow, George Francis, Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Essex Institute, 1911.
Fuller, William Hyslop, Genealogy of Some Descendants of Thomas Fuller of Woburn, privately published 1919.
Perley, Sidney, The History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts: From the earliest settlement known to the present time, a period of about two hundred and thirty years, Boxford, The author, 1880.
Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Online Database: NewEnglandAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2007.
©2015