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Note: ... and the first time I have ever seen this in print; usually this information shows up as 'unsourced' information in somone's personal pedigree.......
........... Mrs. Harrington is a lineal descendant of John Bemis, who was born in Dedham, Essex county, England, as early as 1550, and at his death left a will proved June 28, 1604, by which we learn that he had by wife Anne the following children: Isaac, Luke, Neary, James, Susan, Abraham, and Joseph. This last named Joseph Bemis married, lived and died in England, leaving a son Joseph, born in England, 1619, who came to New England and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1640, where he died August 7, 1684, having had by wife Sarah, nine children. The widow Sarah died about 1712.
John, born 1657, the youngest son of this Joseph, the farmer and blacksmith, married Mary Harrington in 1680; lived in Watertown and had fourteen children. Their sixth child, Samuel, born 1690, married, April 12, 1715, Sarah Barnard, and had eight children. William, the third child born in Sudbury, November 1, 1722, married Rebecca White, July 5, 1750; and had Jesse, 1751; Sarah, 1753; David, 1755; Sibbilah??, 1758; Rebecca, 1761; Persis, 1764; William, August 18, 1766; Silas, 1770. He died March 23, 1801, and his widow Rebecca died March 17, 1819. William Bemis, born August 18, 1766, married Lucretia Mirick, of Princeton; the intention of marriage is dated February 3, 1802. She died January 5, 1814. He married (second) Catherine Eveleth, also of Princeton, June 1, 1814. Children were: Charles, born July 6, 1805; Dexter, August 5, 1806; Jesse, March 12, 1808; Elizabeth, March 17, 1811; David, August 3, 1812; Lucretia Mirick, May 12, 1815; William, December 14, 1816; George, July 25, 1818; Horace, June 25, 1821; Edward, July 27, 1824; and Harriet Elizabeth, October 8, 1826.
(I) The ancestral line of Chauncey Goodrich Harrington has been traced from Robert, who was born in England in 1616. He embarked from there in the ship "Elizabeth," April 10, 1634, and on arriving in Massachusetts settled in Watertown, where his name appears among the list of proprietors in 1642 and 1644. He married, October 1, 1648, Susanna George, daughter of John George, of Watertown, then deceased as was also her mother, the widow of Henry Goldstone being her guardian. Robert was admitted freeman March 27, 1663, and died May 11, 1707, aged ninety-one years. His will, dated January 1, 1704-05, mentions sons John, Daniel, [ Page 357] Benjamin, Samuel, Thomas, and Edward. To the latter he gave his homestead. His will also mentions daughters, Susanna Beers, Sarah Winship, and Mary Bemis, showing thus early a union between the Harrington family in New England with the Bemis family.
The inventory of Robert's estate mentioned six hundred and forty-seven and one-half acres of land and included a house and mill all appraised at seven hundred and seventeen pounds.
Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worchester County vol1, ibid.
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Just as a side note from John Chandler in response to a question about locations..... ' it is possible that both 'rumors' are correct in a sense. The town of Charlton did not exist until 1754, but the land that became Charlton was contained in the town of Oxford until that time. It turns out that part of Charlton was transferred to Sturbridge in 1792, so Edmund could have been born in Oxford, married in Charlton, and died in Sturbridge without ever leaving home...'
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JOSEPH BEMIS was in Watertown, Mass., as early as 1640. He was b. in 1609, and d. Aug. 7, 1684.
History of Paris Oxford Co. Maine from its settlement of 1880 with a history of the Grants of 1736 and 1771
[ together with personal sketches, A copious genealogical register and an appendix. ]
Lapham, William B. and Silas P. Maxim. History of Paris Oxford County Maine: WM. B. Lapham and S.P. Maxim, 1884
[This is wrong of course, and is the only place I have ever seen his date of birth as 1609..... and there is no proof given for the statement. ]
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JOSEPH, Watertown 1640, by wife Sarah had Sarah, b. 15 Jan. 1643; Mary, 16 Sept. 1644; Joseph; Ephraim, 1647, both died young; Martha, 24 Mar. 1649; Joseph, again, 12 Dec. 1651; Rebecca, 17 Apr. 1654; Ephraim, again, 25 Aug. 1656; and John, Aug. 1659. He was often selectman, and d. 7 Aug. 1684, which is the date of his will. His widow lived probably to 1712. Sarah m. 2 Oct. 1694, John Bigelow, as his second wife but died probably before division of her father's est. in 1712; Mary m. 16 Feb. 1684, Samuel Whitney; and Rebecca m. 11 Apr. 1684, John White, who was killed in few weeks by a bull, and she next m. 1 Apr. 1686, Thomas Harrington. Of his name six had in 1835 been graduates at Harvard and one at Dart. Rev. Stephen, who d. Nov. 1828 at Harvard, Mass.
SAVAGE, VOL 1 DICT FIRST SETTLERS OF NE p. 107
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Received from TWOTACKY1@aol.com on 1 Dec 1999 another note of controversy on Joseph Bemis and Sarah
that he posted to BEMIS-L@rootsweb.com:
".........I recently discovered this little tidbit (just to throw fuel on the fire):
"Great Little Watertown 1630-1930, A Tercentenary History", G. Frederick Robinson and Ruth Robinson Wheeler, published at the request of the Watertown Historical Society, 1930, p. 113:
"Joseph Bemis - and wife Sarah came from Ireland and lived near Warren Street. He was Selectman three times and left a large family prominent in town affairs."
This book also doesn't quote sources, but would love to know why they thought that.
Steve Dahlstrom ........."
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Information received from John Chandler in response to a question posted to the Bemis-L list 30 Nov 1999, just points out one more problem that researchers face.......
Katy wrote:
> Comments please regarding this website.
> <"http://members.xoom.com/bemis">Bemis Landing >
This web site is a nice idea, but it relies heavily on the book by Thomas Draper. Unfortunately, the book makes no distinction between fact and speculation, and it cites no sources. Everything it says about the origins of Joseph Bemis (and Mary Bemis, too) is pure speculation.
They are not known to be siblings (though that is certainly possible), and there is no evidence that they came from any particular place, and their birth dates are only guesses. Taking a quick look at the beginning of the page on Joseph's line, I see some mistakes (which I believe are due to Draper): his daughter Sarah was born in 1642/3, not
1641/2; his daughter Mary was born in November, not September; his twin sons Joseph and Ephraim were born in November, not October; his daughter Martha was born in May, not March; and so on. These dates are all
found in the published vital records of Watertown (which include some entries extracted from the Middlesex County records).
Draper did not understand the calendar of Colonial times. The page on Mary Bemis and William Hagar has similar errors, starting with their marriage, which was in 1644/5, not 1643/4.
John Chandler -----------------------
My personal information on this lineage originally taken from the application for acceptance to the Daughters of the American Revolution submitted by Elva Muriel[Ensley] Petz. Application submitted and accepted in February of 1932.
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The division of Joseph Bemis's estate was on 18 Nov. 1712. Does not mean he died on that date, but that is the date of the probate etc. This according to the "History of Watertown" by Bond, lists the children who got a share, both then and earlier.
From Bond's History of Watertown: Joseph Jr. and Martha were not included in the division of 1712. Ephraim, Mary, Rebecca and John shared in the estate settlement. Sarah is also not mentioned. Bond seems to have thought that she married John Bigelow and coincidentally died about the same time as her mother Sarah.
Joseph Bemis was selectman of Watertown in 1648, 1672, and 1675 according to Bond.
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John F. Chandler [JCHBN@CUVMB.CC.Columbia.EDU] posted the following information and discussion to the Bemis-L list of Rootsweb on the internet on Thursday, 20 August 1998.
Subject: Bemis/Bigelow connection
Hello all. I have a question about what might be considered a minor point: a marriage that didn't produce any children. Still, it's something that I want to get straight. It is widely "known" that immigrant John Bigelow of
Watertown, Massachusetts married a Sarah Bemis in 1694 as his second wife.
This is stated clearly in Henry Bond's History of Watertown, including the precise date of the marriage. However, there is no record of it in the Watertown vitals, nor in the Watertown pastor' book, so my first question is
how Bond knew about this wedding. Any ideas?
My second question conerns the identity of this bride. Bond states that she was the daughter of Joseph Bemis of Watertown, but I have reason to doubt that. We know for sure that Bigelow had a wife named Sarah because he mentioned her in his will of 1702/3, but her maiden name is not on record anywhere I have seen (this harks back to the first question). One important clue to her identity comes from the same Bigelow will: it refers to all the "lands and movable estate that was hers before our marriage."
This strongly implies that Sarah had been widowed before marrying John Bigelow, and the circumstances of the Bemis family fit right in: Joseph Bemis left a WIDOW SARAH when he died in 1684, and his whole estate was left in the widow's hands during her lifetime (being distributed after her death in 1712, according to Bond).
This means that Joseph's[Bemis] DAUGHTER SARAH would have been a mere dependent in 1694, with no land or property of her own, unless she were married to someone before that time and widowed (in which case, her name would not then have been Sarah BEMIS after all!).
This suggests that, assuming Bond was right about the basic facts, i.e., that John Bigelow married Sarah Bemis on Oct 2, 1694, the Sarah in question was the widow of Joseph Bemis, not the daughter.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no record of the death of a Sarah Bigelow or a Sarah Bemis in Watertown to matcheither the mother or daughter. Indeed, as far as I can tell, there is no evidence at all that the daughter lived past infancy, aside from Bond's assertion that she was the one who married John. There was no mention of a daughter Sarah in the distribution of Joseph Bemis' estate, for example. Can anyone shed any light on this situation?
John Chandler.
To my knowledge, as of this date, April 2, 1999, no one has been able to say anything different about that situation and I would be willing to venture my own opinion goes in favor of John Chandler's explanation. John is a well
educated Genealogist who works out of Columbia University; if anyone is in a position to know about such things, it would be him.
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In another e-mail posted by John on 31 August 1998 to the Bemis-L list at rootsweb, he states the following information:
......[someone] asked about when Mary Bemis and Joseph Bemis arrived in New England. Unfortunately, the surviving passenger lists do not show any Bemises at all (I base this statement on an examination of the index for Vol. 1 of Coldham's "Complete Book of Emigrants", which covers 1607-1670).
John Chandler
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Joseph Bemis: With wife Sarah sold land in 1654.
[Pioneers in Massachusetts, p.45]
Children:
Sarah b. 15 (11) 1642,
Mary b. 10 (9) 1644,
Joseph and Ephraim b. and d. 1647,
Martha b. 24 (3) 1649,
Joseph b. Dec. 20, 1651,
Rebecca b. April 17, 1654,
Ephraim b. Aug. 25, 1656,
[John b. Aug. 1659?].
Pope, Charles Henry, The Pioneers of Massachusetts; np, nd.; pp.44/45.
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Although this paragraph is in reference to a much later Bemis, I liked the wording of the text and thought you might as well.
DR. JOHN MERRICK BEMIS.
Joseph Bemis (1) was the immigrant ancestor of Dr. John Merrick Bemis, of Worcester, Massachusetts. Not all of the Bemis families of America can be traced to him, but most of them have been. He was born in England in 1619, and came to Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1640, when he was about twenty-one. He died in Watertown, August 7, 1684. There is some evidence to show that he married in England before emigrating here, and that his wife Sarah came over with him. Their first child, however, was born at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1642, and they may have been married in Watertown or, as the birth is on the Boston records, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is known that Joseph Bemis was the son of John Bemis, who was born in Dedham, Essex county, England, as early as 1550. The will of John Bemis was proved June 28, 1604. His children were: Isaac, Luke, Mary, James, Susan, Joseph, and Abraham.
Joseph Bemis was a quiet, hard-working man, a blacksmith and farmer. He served the town of Watertown as "haward," collector of taxes, member of the school committee, constable and selectman. He was on the board of selectmen in 1648-73-75. There was an amusing case before the magistrate where he was fined for having "one disorderly hog." Truly New England has always taxed her ingenuity to invent crime! On another occasion he was fined three pounds for cutting trees on the common land without the formal permission of the constituted authorities. Most of the fine was remitted. As his biographer says, otherwise than this he was apparently a good and law-abiding citizen. He was fairly well-to-do, leaving an estate valued at over two hundred pounds. His will was made the day of his death, August 7, 1684, and proved October 7, 1684. The widow administered the estate. She died 1712, and the estate was divided among the heirs November 18, 1712, except those parts already given to the eldest son Joseph, and daughter Martha.
Source:
Crane, Ellery Bicknell. Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worchester County vol.1. The Lewis Publishing Company. ; Pub. New York, 1907, p. 140.
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From the Genealogy files of Steve Dahlstrom:
Resided at Watertown, MA was a Blacksmith and farmer
Bond, "was in Watertown as early as 1640; was selectman 1648, '72, and'75, and d. Aug 7, 1684. By his wife, SARAH, he had 9 chil. Mary Bemis, perhaps a sister of Joseph, m., Mar. 20, 1644-5, William Hagar...Will dated Aug. 7, 1684, proved Oct. 7, 1684. Wid. Sarah admin. Oct. 7,1684. She d. about 1712"
"The History of the Bemis, Perkinson, Fay and Lawrence Families", Ted H.Bemis, 1981:
"Joseph Bemis, the American progenitor, was born in England in 1619 and came to America with his sister Mary Bemis in 1640, both settling inWatertown. Although I have not found any evidence, Draper (:2.1) feels there is strong evidence that this Joseph had a wife prior to hismarriage to Sarah, even though it was Sarah who came to America with him.
He was a blacksmith and farmer by trade, and on 11/8/1647 was one of seven men chosen to order the prudentiall affayers of the town(Watertown). On 2/12/1649 he was fined three pounds for felling trees on the common. Fifty shillings of this was returned to him with the provisio he pay the other ten shillings and have no share in the wood or timber on the common. Joseph was granted a strip of land against the meadow to make in lune, or fence, straight, and to pay the town what it was worth. On 1/14/1655 he was fined one shilling for a hog, disorderly.
By August of 1656, he was one of two overseers of fences and hogs(perhaps this was his easiest means of assuring that he would not again be fined for disorderly hogs! - ed.) On 1/3/1658 he was elected surveyorof highways, and a Constable on 11/4/1667. Joseph Beamis and two other men were chosed by the town on 11/2/1674 to see that all children were taught to Read the Inglish tung (and who was the judge of that? - ed.)and the orthodox catechism, and that each man have in his home a copy of the 'Capital Laws'. He was a selectman of Watertown in 1648, 72, and75. :1.1 states that he was a soldier in King Philip's War. "
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Joseph Bemis' will is as follows:
The Last Will of me Joseph Beamase I comit my soule unto god myCreator and my body to the Earth to the dust from whence it (was) taken and my Worly goods as foloeth.
It is my will that my wife Shall have all my estate during hir life for hir maintinance: and hir Daughter Martha
It is my will that my daughter martha shall have all my orchard During hir Life and a comfortable Roome in my Dwelling house hir Lif time
I give my Sone Joseph Bemase my farme to him and his ars: but if he di without an are Lafuly begoten after his deces to be equally devid amongst ye rest of my children
It is my will that after my Wife' deces all my Estate that is leftto fe devid Equaly amongst my other 5 children
the 7 day of 7 month 1684 The mark of
Witnes by us Joseph Beamase
John Whitney Senior
The mark of Susana Harrington
"7.8.84. Sworn in Court by sd witnesses & admr granted to his relict
widd. Bemas" His inventory lists his books. (:Middlesex Probate docket#1541)
It is not know when 'his relict' died, but in 1712 the heirs began to divide the property which included 'the ffarme' and the orchard."
information from (twotacky1@aol.com) Steve Dahlstrom.
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Note: This is a brief listing of the connection between the Harrington family and the Bemis family.
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