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JOHN HOUGHTON (c. 1651–1731), son of JOHN HOUGHTON and BEATRIX UNKNOWN
MARY FARRAR (d. 1724), daughter of JACOB FARRAR and ANN UNKNOWN
John Houghton was born about 1651. He died on 3 February 1731, age 86. [ERLM] married Mary [Farrar] on 22 (11) 1671 in Lancaster. [MVRL] John Houghton, Sr., of Lancaster married second Hannah Wilder of Lancaster on 27 January 1724/5 in Lancaster. [MVRL]
Mary Farrar died on 7 April 1724 in Lancaster. [ERLM]
John and his father signed a 11 March 1675/6 petition describing the state of Lancaster after the Indian massacre. It said many had fled, but those left were encompassed by Indians in just two garrisons and unable to leave; they were running out of food. It requested a guard of men. [ERLM]
In 1691 John was on a committe to lay out a highway from Concord to Lancaster. [ERLM] On 3 March 1694, on behalf of the town, John petitioned for assistance, saying the war with the Indians had reduced the town to poverty. [ERLM] On 13 October 1697—after the Indian massacre in Lancaster on 11 September 1697—John again petitioned for assisstance. [ERLM]
On 14 April 1704—during Queen Anne's War—John was in a Captain Thomas Wilder's garrison in Lancaster. Also in the garrison were [his brother] Jonas Houghton, [his sister] the widow Beatrix Pope, and [his son] John Houghton, Jr. [ERLM] John and Jonas Houghton petitioned on behalf of the town for relief during the war on 2 November 1704. [ERLM]
John suffered from a loss of vision at the end of his life. When he died, Hannah was blind and had been bedridden for three years. [ERLM]
Children of John Houghton and Mary Farrar:
i. John Houghton
John might be the John Houghton who married Mary, the widow of "the elder" Philip Goss. This John lost a three swine, 15 pounds of personal estates and a large dwelling house that belonged to him and Philip Goss to an Indian raid on 3 January 1705 in Lancaster. [ERLM]
ii. Mary Houghton married William Sawyer
iii. Israel Houghton was born in 1676. [MVRL]
iv. Benjamin Houghton was born in 1678. [MVRL]
v. Jonathan Houghton was born on 20 February 1685 in Lancaster. He died on 8 April 1737. He married Thankful White.
Jacob Hougton married Rebecca Whitcomb.
References:
MVRL. Nourse, Henry S., Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1850 (Clinton, MA, W. J. Coulter, Printer, 1890), 14 (marriage of John and Mary), 19 (marriage of John and Hannah), 452 (births of Israel and Benjamin: "from sundry sources supposed reliable").
ERLM. Henry S. Nourse, The Earliest Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1725 (Lancaster: J. Coulter, 1884), 108 (1676 petition), 128 (highway), 131 (1694 petition), 136 (1697 petition), 143 (garrison), 151 (1704 petition), 152 (1705 Indian raid), 212–3 (John's death, Mary's death, John and Hannah's old age).
Last revised: 15-Dec-2023