1.1
WILLIAM HUNTINGTON
With respect to the parentage of William the evidence is meagre. However the letter of Peter
Baret to Christopher Huntington, dated April 20, 1650, is of some importance. This letter was
published in the "Genealogical Memoir of the Huntington Family" of 1863. In it the writer, a
brother of Margaret (Baret, Huntington) Stoughton, directs the division of the sum of about
£140 between her children, Christopher, Simon, Thomas and Ann, and the investment of Thomas'
share until he should "come to be capable to employ it." William is utterly ignored, which
plainly suggests that he was not nearly related in blood to the Barets. Rev. E. B. Huntington
drew this inference, and said that the letter "suggests that William is more probably a brother
than a son of Simon." With all due respect it must be said that in this he went too far, as
William might well have been a son of Simon by a first wife, who died before his marriage to
Margaret Baret. According to our information, Simon was about forty-four years old when he
married Margaret. Marriages entered into at that age were more often second than first
marriages. Thus of 87 first marriages of men of the second, third and fourth generations of the
Huntington Family, being all those in which we know the ages of the husbands, only nine of those
husbands were over thirty, only one over thirty-five, and all were under forty. Their average
age was slightly under twenty-six. The average age of the husbands in the seven second
marriages of those generations was about forty-one. The report of Gustav Anjou, the genealogist
to Henry Edwards Huntington, (1.3.6.7.6.2.2.4), gives the names of four brothers of Simon
Huntington, but no William among them.
Thus there seems to be more reason for supposing William to have been a son of Simon than a
brother. If, at the time of the immigration, he was a boy from ten to eighteen years of age, he
would naturally have come with the rest of the family. But before very long his rising feeling
of independence might impel him to strike out for himself. So, apparently, he did not go to
Connecticut with Margaret and her children, but is found in Salisbury, Mass., as early as 1640.
His descendants have been heretofore classed as descendants of Simon, and there is no reason
for a change in this respect, although we may greatly doubt if Margaret Baret was their
ancestress.
At a general meeting of the freemen of Salisbury, on the 26th of 10th month in 1642, it was
ordered that thirty families should remove to the west side of the Powow river, the dividing
line between Salisbury and Amesbury. William's was probably one of the families who then
crossed the river and became one of the pioneers in the new settlement of Amesbury, then called
"Salisbury New Towne." He, however, retained possession of his share in the old Salisbury, as he
was recorded as "townsman and commoner," there, on the third of twelfth month, 1650. He also
paid the tax for the support of the Rev. Wm. Worcester, who was pastor over the first church in
Salisbury, down to his death, in 1662. He married Joanna Bayley, a daughter of John Bayley who
came from Chippendale, Eng., in the ship "Angel Gabriel" and was wrecked in the terrible storm
off the coast of Pemaquid, Aug. 15, 1635. He was a great grandson of George Bayley (or Bailey),
the great grandfather of Simon Huntington. He went from Salisbury to Newbury, in 1650, and died
there in 1651. This relationship is fully shown by the recorded names, and the will of John
Bayley, sen; in which he provides that his son John shall pay certain legacies. In compliance
with this provision, in 1652, John Bayley, jr., of Newbury, made a deed, in which he gave to
the above Joanna and her two children, a lot of land on the Merrimac. Tradition makes William
Huntington a religious man, and that he was a man of enterprise, and of a thoroughly English
spirit is evinced by his occupancy of that exposed outpost of the English settlements of that
day--opposition to French encroachments being the mainspring to the settlement of that
frontiertown. The residence of Wm.Huntington, in 1685-6, is given in the "Hoyt Family," as next
to Thomas Hoyt. This was in Pleasant Valley, on the banks of the Merrimac, where the river is
a half mile wide, and altogether a beautiful place. A part of this family possession had not
in 1843 been alienated, being then in the possession of Mrs. Davis, (1.1.1.7.1.1.3.8).
The following minutes were copied from the Salisbury Town Records, and help to indicate the
character and position of William Huntington.
- 1653-4, lst month. One acre and ninety-two rods, his share of the Beach Common. Being one
of the sixty-two persons of the division of the meadow toward Merrimac river, and the great
Creek toward Merrimac river's mouth and the Barberry Meadow, he drew lot No. 55.
- 1654, lst month. He is enrolled as one of the present inhabitants and commoners of the
New Town.
- 1658, Oct. 29. He is recorded as drawing land by lot, and he was one of the
thirteen to whose children 500 acres of land were given. His son John is mentioned as the
child to inherit his share.
- 1660, 10th month. "A towns shiep is grantied to Willi Howntinton for his son."
- 1661. He was one of the twenty-five to whom lots were laid out at the Lion's mouth.
- 1662, April 1. He drew 120 acres of land; and in March, 1662-3, thirty acres, "West
of pond near Children's Land."
- NewTown, 11th month 18th day, 1663. He drew lots,"between Hamptonshire and Powow
river," and in 1667, 12th month 18th day, he drew lots in four places.
- In 1664 Wm. Huntington bought of John Hoyt, sen., a lot of land adjoining his own
on Merrimac river.
He died about the year 1689. The deed of Joshua Goldsmith and Mary, his wife, dated March
24th, 1689 or 1690, indicates that William Huntington was dead at that date. See record of Mary
(1.1.3).
CHILDREN
- JOHN, born in Amesbury, on the Sabbath the last week in Auo, 1643; married Dec. 25,
1665, Elizabeth Hunt; married, second, about 1686, Elizabeth Blaisdel. He died about 1729.
He had a seat assigned him in the first Congregational meeting house built in Amesbury, and
the records show that he was on terms of good will and intimacy with the first Pastor of that
church. He was at one time constable of the town, and appears to have been a man of character
and influence. His children, HANNAH, MARY, ELIZABETH, HANNAH,
SARAH, SUSANNAH, WILLIAM, SAMUEL, and DEBORAH were all born
in Amesbury, Mass.
- JAMES, died on the fifth day of the twelfth month, 1646. He was probably the
second son, and died in infancy.
- MARY, born May 8, 1648, in Amesbury, and married on the 14th day of the 6th
month, 1667, Joshua Goldsmith. They probably had no children.
A bond from Jeremiah Davis, son of Mary, (1.1.1.2) dated Dec. 3, 1720, and acknowledged
May 22, 1723, formerly in possession of Enoch Huntington, of Amesbury, says: "Am holden and
firmly bound unto my honored grandfather, John Huntington, and my Aunt Mary Gouldsmith, widow;"
the bond pledging her maintenance during her natural life.
Joshua Goldsmith and his wife Mary, sold "for and in consideration of valuable satisfaction
in hand, already received in land and other good pay, of John Huntington, and for other good and
lawful motives us thereunto inducing, do sell, &c., unto the abovesaid John Huntington,
one-third part of the housing and lands, being the contents of, specified in a deed or gift,
under the hand and seal of Jno. Bailey, of Newbury, in the County of Essex, formerly given and
granted by the said Bayley unto our mother, Johannah Huntington, and to John and Mary, her two
children, bearing date the 4th of the eleventh month, 1652; as also all right, &c., to all lands,
goods, &c., belonging to our father, William Huntington, now deceased; this dated 24 day one
thousand six hundred eighty-nine or ninety, re-affirmed or acknowledged and yielded up the right
of dower, March 1, 1692-98."
Sketch (with slight modifications) taken
from 1915 Genealogical Memoir published by the Huntington Family
Association.
William is H.N. 1.1
Last updated 22 Aug 1998 by Sara (Huntington) Abbott
abbott@magicnet.net
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