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HUMPHREY TURNER (c. 1594–1673)

LYDIA GAYMER (bp. 1602–1669/70)

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Humphrey Turner was born about1594. Humphrey, the husband of Lydia Gaymer, died in 1673, age 79, in Scituate. [MVRS] He apparently died before 20 November 1673. He married Lydia Gaymer on 24 October 1618 in Sandon, Essex. [VDT]

Lydia, the daughter of Richard and Margaret (Mason) Gaymer was baptized on 18 May 1602 in Terling, Essex. [VDT] She died between 23 July 1669 and 28 February 1669/70 in Scituate. [VDT]

Sandon was noted as a place to get a quick wedding in the seventeenth century. [VDT] Lydia's father left her part of a tenement called Angel in Ockendon Fee, one of the five manors of Terling. [VDT]

Humphrey was clearly of middling social class. He is consistently referred to in the vital and court records soley by name, with no honorific. He is called Goodman Turner in the Scituate church records. However, the number of times he served as constable and on the committee for the town, as well as the relatively large land grants that he recieved suggest that he was a member of the early Scituate oligarchy.

Humphrey refers to himself as a tanner in his will and he is referred to as such in land records.The minutes of the 18 Janaury 1643 court refer to James Till being sent to Scituate with two hides for Humphrey to tan. [NBS2]

Humphrey probably came to New England in 1632. [GMB]

The first meeting of the New Plymouth Colony General Court took place on 1 January 1632/3 (all court dates are old style) and Humphrey was already a freeman by then. All governments need revenue and one of the court's first acts was to order the collection of taxes. The taxes, payable in corn, ranged from nine shillings for most of the households to three pounds and 11 shillings for Isaac Allerton. Humphrey was one of those assessed nine shillings. By an order of 2 January 1633/4, he also paid a tax of nine shillings the following year. [NBS1]

Humphrey obtained the right to land by a pond in Plymouth on the western side of the fort; he enclosed it with a palisade and on 18 May 1633 the court noted that he sold it to Josias Winslow the elder for eight pounds. [NBS1] About then he moved to Scituate.

Scituate's first street was called the highway or Kent Street and it was laid out in 1633. On 14 October 1633 Humphrey was alloted the fourth lot: four acres on the south side of Stoney Brook. He was granted 26 acres of upland on the southwest corner of the Third Cliff on 20 February 1633/4. On 7 February 1636/7 he was granted a portion of meadow, 80 acres of upland and a "proportional" quantity of marshland. On 6 February 1643 he received ten acres of upland. On 20 November 1673 ten acres were allotted to the heirs of Humphrey Turner. [JDB]

On 7 March 1639 Humphrey bought one and three-quarters acres of swampland from Thomas Roberts for 40 shillings. On 10 January 1645/5 Humphrey gave his son John, Sr. his 80 acres of upland and 15 acres of marsh. On 27 May 1648 Humphrey sold ten acres by the water mill ton Henry Ewell for four pounds. [JDB]

When Reverend John Lothrop first arrived as minister in Scituate at the end of September 1634, he described the nine houses there—including Humphrey's—as "small plain pallizadoe Houses." On 8 January 1634/5 Lothrop records a "day of humiliation" with his congregation of 12, including Goodman Turner. He records that Goody Turner joined the church on 10 January 1635/6." Humphrey's daughter Mary was apparently the first child baptized in Scituate. [SBCR]

Humphrey was involved in a dispute with Unknown (the writing is apparently illegible) Page of Watertown involving bushels of corn. The 1 March 1635/6 court was to hear the dispute, but Page did not turn up. [NBS1]

Humphrey was chosen to be the constable of Scituate on 5 January 1635/6, 4 March 1638/9 and 4 June 1639. He was on the committee for the town of Scituate at the 2 June 1640, 1 June 1641, 7 June 1642, 5 June 1644, 20 August 1644, 3 March 1645/6, 7 July 1646, 1 June 1647, 4 June 1650, 5 June 1651, 3 June 1652 and 7 June 1653 General Courts. He was on the Grand Inquest at the 7 June 1642 and 6 June 1643 courts. He was a supervisor of highways in Scituate on 1 June 1647 and 7 June 1648. [NBS1][NBS2][NBS3]

Humphrey was one of the men of Scituate who complained that the inhabitants had been given an inadequate amount of land. The 1 January 1636/7 Court of Assistants granted them more land. On 30 November 1640 the Court of Assistants granted Scituate additional land and Humphrey was appointed to a committee to dispose of the land. [NBS1]

On 3 September 1638 Humphrey Turner was on a jury that found Arthus Peach, Thomas Jackson and Richard Stinnings guilt of murdering and robbing and Indian and sentenced them to hang. A fourth man—Daniel Cross—escaped before he could be tried. [NBS1]

Humphrey, along with others, was called three times to the 4 December 1638 General Court, and was fined nine shillings for failing to appear. [NBS1]

Humphrey, and two John Turners [presumably his sons] are in the Scituate section of the 1643 list of those able to bear arms in New Plymouth. [ABA0]

Humphrey was on a coroner's inquest into the sudden death of Mary Totman. It was noted at the 5 June 1666 court that Mary had died after eating a poisonous root, after apparently mistaking it for a non-poisonous one. [NBS4] Mary was the stepdaughter of Humphrey's daughter Mary and the daughter of William Parker.

On 1 October 1668 Humphrey conveyed upland on the east side of the Taunton River to his sons Joseph and Nathaniel. His wife Lydia consented on 23 July 1669. [GMB] This is apparently the only original New England record that provides the first name of Humphrey's wife.

Humphrey Turner, tanner of Scituate, conveyed upland in Scituate to his son Thomas on 24 February 1669. Humphrey Turner, tanner of Scituate, sold his house, farm and land in Scituate to his son Nathaniel on 26 February 1669. He conveyed his right in the undivided land in Scituate to his son Joseph on 1 November 1672. [PCD]

Humphrey Turner, tanner of Scituate, made his will the last day of February 1669/[70]. He left bequest to his eldest son John Turner; his sons Joseph, Young John, Daniel, Nathaniel and Thomas Turner; his daughters Mary Parker and Lydia Doughty; his grandchildren Humphrey Turner and Mary Doughterty; his grandchildren Jonathan, Joseph and Ezekiel Turner, the sons of his eldest son; and his grandchild Abigail Turner, the daughter of his son Nathaniel. [PCWI][GMHT]

Children of Humphrey Turner and Lydia Gamer: [VRMS]

i. John Turner (Sr.) was born say 1620. [GMB] He married Mary Brewster, the daughter of Jonathan Brewster and granddaughter of Mayflower passenger William Brewster.

ii. John Turner (Jr.) was born say 1624. He died between 28 October 1686 and 8 June 1687. He married Anne James on 25 April 1649 in Scituate. [JD3] Anne was "almost certainly" the daughter of Philip James. [MMDJ] She was born about 1629 and probably died before 28 October 1868.

John Turner, Jr. of Scituate, the son of Humphrey Turner, late of Scituate, deceased, made his will on 28 October 1687. He did not mention his wife. His will was proved on 8 June 1687. [MMDJ]

It is a curiousity that Humphrey had two children named John. The older John was referred to as John, Sr.; the younger was referred to as John, Jr. or Young John. In England at that time, a couple sometimes gave two children the same name, but it is also possible that they were by different wives. The circumstantial evidence is strong that Humphrey married Lydia Gamer in 1618 and it is known (from the land record noted above) that Humphrey's wife was named Lydia. Thus, it is likely that Lydia Gamer is the mother of all Humphrey's children. The only other possibilities are that Humphrey married a second Lydia in England between the the births of his two eldest sons or that, despite the cirumstantial evidence, a different Humphrey married Lydia Gamer.

iii. Thomas Turner was born say 1627. [GMB] He married Sarah Hiland on 6 January 1652 in Scituate. Sarah, the wife of Thomas, died on 6 January 1652 in Scituate.

iv. Lydia Turner was born say 1629. [GMB] Lydia, the daughter of Humphrey Turner, was baptized on 17 February 1629/30 in Little Baddow Essex, not far from Terling. [VDT][GMB] Lydia, the daughter of Humprey, married James Doughtey on 15 August 1649 in Scituate.

v. Mary Turner was baptized on 25 January 1634/5 in Scituate. She died between 1 March 1703/4 and 2 March 1705/6. She married William Parker.

vi. Joseph Turner was baptized on 1 January 1636/7 in Scituate.

Joseph's baptism was recorded by Reverend John Lothrop as "ye first in o[u]r new meeting house." [JD3]

Joseph Turner, Sr., planter of Scituate, sold for 25 pounds to Israel Hubbert land that was half a lot that his father Humphrey had conveyed to him and his brother Nathaniel Turner, Nathaniel having conveyed his right to him, on 19 February 1671. Joseph Turner, Sr., son of Humphrey Turner, sold land granted to Humphrey Turner to Ensign John Williams of Scituate. [PCR]

vii. Nathaniel Turner was baptized on 10 March 1638/9 in Scituate. He married Mehitable Rigby on 29 March 1664/5 in Scituate. [MVRS] Mehitable, the wife of Nathaniel, died on 22 March 1680 in Scituate. [MVRS] He married second Abigail, the widow of Charles Stockbridge. [GMB] Abigail, the wife of Nathaniel, died in 1709/10 in Scituate.

viii. Daniel Turner was born say 1641. He married Hannah Randall.

References:

VDT. Vernon Dow Turner, "Lydia Gaymer, the Wife of Humphrey Turner of Scituate," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 151 (1997): 286–90.

PCWI. "Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories," Mayflower Descendant 24 (1922): 42–33.

NBS1. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 1, Court Orders, 1633–1640 (Boston: William White, 1855).

NBS2. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 2, Court Orders, 1641–1651 (Boston: William White, 1855).

NBS3. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 3, Court Orders, 1651–1661 (Boston: William White, 1855).

NBS4. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 4, Court Orders, 1661–1668 (Boston: William White, 1855).

VRMS. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1909), vol. 1: 376 (baptism of Joseph), 378 (baptism of Mary), 380 (baptism of Nathaniel); vol. 2: 304 (marriage of Lydia), 305 (marriage of Mary), 306 (marriage of Nathaniel), 307 (marriage of Thomas), 454 (death of Abigail), 456 (death of Humphrey), 457 (death of Mehitable), 258 (death of Sarah).

PCD. "Plymouth County, MA: Plymouth Colony Deeds, 1671–1673," database with images, AmericanAncestors (2019), vol. 3, part 2: 4–6, 25–26, 131–2, 201, 231–3.

JDB. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The Seventeenth-Century Town Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, vol. 1 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1997).

JD3. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The Seventeenth-Century Town Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, vol. 3 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001).

SBCR. "Scituate and Barnstable Church Records," New England Historic and Genealogical Register 9 (1855): 2l79–87; 10 (1856): 37–43.

MMDJ. Marya Myers and Donald W. James, "A New Look at the Family of Francis and Philip James of Hingham: Immigrant Ancestors," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 151 (1997): 61–86, specifically 69–70.

GMB. "Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1630," database with images, AmericanAncestors (2010): 1843–6.

ABA0. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, "List of Those Able to Bear Arms in the Colony of New Plymouth in 1643," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4 (1850): 257.

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Last revised: 28-Dec-2023