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JOHN WHITE
JOANNA WEST
John White died at Lancaster in the spring of 1673. [ERLM] He married Joanna West. [JEE]
Joanna, the wife of John, died in 1654. [ERLM]
John was an inhabitant of Salem in 1639. [ERLM] When he left for Lancaster, his eldest son Thomas remain on his father's land in what is now Wenham. [ERLM]
John White was one of the early signers of the articles of agreement of Lancaster on1 May 1653. [ERLM] He was granted 20 acres in the first grant of lots in 1653. [ERLM] The town listed estates in 1654 for purposes of dividing land and they ranged from about 78 pounds for Henry Kerley to about 380 pounds for John White. [ERLM] John and his sons-in-law Master Joseph Rowlandson and Henry Kerley are on on 9 (1) 1654 list of townsmen. [ERLM] On 22 June 1658 the selectman decided that Goodman White could keep the seven acres of land that he had plowed and fenced in the interval towards the "still river." [ERLM] John and his sons-in-law Joseph and Henry received lots in the 3 February 1659 division of meadowland. [ERLM]
John made his will on 10 March 1673; it was proved on 28 May 1673. He said that his daughter Hannah had been "a nurse to him" in his old age and he left his estate in Lancaster to her and her brother Josiah. [ERLM]
Children of :
i. Thomas White
ii. Josiah White married Mary Unknown.
iii. Elizabeth White, the wife of Captain Henry Kerley, was killed in an Indian massacre on 10 February 1676 in Lancaster. [MVRL] She married Henry Kerley in 1654 in Sudbury. [MVRL] Captain Henry Kerley died on 18 December 1713. [JEE] He married second Elizabeth (Ward) Howe, likely on 18 April 1676 or 1677 in Charlestown. [JEE] Elizabeth was the widow of John Howe, who was killed by Indians in the Sudbury fight [on 21 April 1676]. [JEE]
Elizabeth's 18-year-old son Henry, her 17-year-old son William and her seven-year-old son Joseph were also killed in the 1676 Indian massacre. [MVRL]
Henry Kerley was the chief military officer in Lancaster. There were six Lancaster houses that served as garrisons and his family was assigned to the Rowlandson garrison. Fearing an Indian attack, Henry and his brother-in-law Reverend Joseph Rowlandson travelled to Boston to seek help. They arrived in Cambridge on 9 February. The colony's chief military officer, Captain Daniel Gooken, received word through an Indian spy of an imminent attack on Lancaster, and sent a company of 40 men, but was too late. A force of about 400 Indians attacked Lancaster at sunrise on 10 February. The Rowlandson garrison were, among others, Elizabeth Kerley with seven children; [her sister] Mary Rowlandson with three children; [their brother-in-law and sister] Ensign John and Hannah Divoll, with four children. Everyone in the garrison was killed or taken captive, except Ephraim Roper. [ERLM][JEE]
In 1684, Henry Kerley, former lieutenant at Lancaster, having removed to Marlborough and married there, was appointed ensign of the Marlborough train band. [ERLM]
Henry Kerley's will was proved on 7 January 1714. [MVRL]
iv. Mary White was born about 1637. She died on 5 January 1710/1, age about 73, in Wethersfield, Connecticut. [JEE] She married first Reverend Joseph Rowlandson in 1656. [MVRL] He was born about 1631. According to Bradstreet' s journal, Mr. Joseph Rowlandson—pastor as Wethersfield—died suddenly on 23 November 1678, age 47, in Wethersfield. [MVRL][ERLM] She married second Samuel Talcott on 6 August 1679. [JEE] He died in 1691. [JEE]
Master Rowlandson accepted the town's offer that he serve as their minister on 22 June 1658. [ERLM]
Mary's daughter Sarah was wounded during the massacre and died from an infection on 18 February. Her 19-year-old nephew Thomas Rowlandson was killed. [MVRL][JEE] Mary was ransoned and released on 2 May 1676 and wrote a famous narrative of her captivity. [JEE] Her two surviving children were also later released. [JEE]
After the massacre, Mary and her family went to Wethersfield. [JEE]
v. Hannah White married Ensign John Divoll. He was killed in the Indian massacre on 10 February 1676 in Lancaster. [MVRL]
Hannah's seven-year-old son Josiah was also killed during the Indian attack. Her 12-year-old son John and her nine-year-old daughter were captured and died in captivity. [MVRL] Hannah was taken captive, but she and her son William were later released. [JEE]
vi. Joanna White [ERLM]
vii. Sarah White [ERLM]
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), 16 (Indian massacre), 19 (John's death), 20 (Joseph Rowlandson's death, Henry Kerley's death, Elizabeth's and Mary's marriages).
JEE. Jennifer Eager Ehle, "The Attack on the Rowlandson Garrison, Lancaster, Massachusetts," American Ancestors, Fall 2014, 41–43.
ERLM. Henry S. Nourse, The Earliest Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1725 (Lancaster: J. Coulter, 1884), 30 (covenant), 33–40 (land grants), 41 (1654 list of townsmen), 55 (Rowlandson accepts ministry), 56 (John's grant of seven acres), 71–72 (division of meadowland), 100 –6 (Indian massacre), 119 (Joseph Rowlandson's death), 124 (Henry Kerly appointed ensign), 253–4 (deaths of John and Joanna, date at Salem, eldest son Thomas, dates of will, bequests to Hannah and Josiah, daughers Joanna and Sarah).
Last revised: 16-May-2021