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JOHN WHITCOMB (by 1598–1662)

FRANCES COGAN (bp. 1606–1671)

John, the son of Thomas and Joanna (Pope) Whitcomb of Taunton, county Somerset, was born by 1598. [1] John Whitcomb, Sr. died on 24 September 1662 in Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts. [2] He married Frances, the daughter of Henry Cogan, on 26 November 1623 in St. Mary Magdalene in Taunton. [1]

Frances, the daughter of Henry Cogan and Joan Boridge, was baptized on 24 February 1605/6 in St Mary Magdalene in Taunton. [3] Frances Whitcomb died on 17 May 1671 in Lancaster. [2]

John and his family came to New England from Taunton on the Hopewell of Weymouth in 1634. [1] They settled in Dorchester (now in Boston) and moved to Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts by 1639 and Lancaster by 1654. [1]

John was a planter. [1] He was granted 12 acres in Dorchester on 5 July 1636. [1] He was granted more land there on 18 March 1637/8. [1]

After John Crocker of Scituate punished his indentured servant Roger Glass in a "most extreme & barbarous" manner, on 3 March 1639/40 the boy was taken from him and placed with John Whitcomb of Scituate to serve out his remaining nearly six years and John Whitcomb was to pay John Crocker three pounds, less five shillings for his charges. [4]

On 16 April 1640 John Whitcomb, planter, bought a house and land in Scituate from Christopher Winter. [1]

Frances Cogan's English Ancestry [3]

Henry Cogan died in 1612 in Taunton. He was buried in St. Mary Magdalene in Taunton on 1 December 1612. He married Joan Boridge on 30 November 1590 at St. Mary Magdalene in Taunton.

In his will, dated 27 November 1612 and probated on 29 June 1613, he is described as a clothier of Taunton. He left ten pounds each to his six daughters: Johane, Judith, Mary, Elizabeth, Anne and Frances. They were to be paid at their marriages unless they married without the consent of their mother. In this case they were to lose their shares for five years. Henry also left three pairs of gloves, furnished with fleece, to his son John upon his marriage. His other sons are not mentioned.

"This Henry Cogan was not a wealthy man."

Children of Henry Cogan and Joan Boridge All baptisms were recorded in St. Mary Magdalene.

  1. Johane Cogan was born about 1591. She married William Durston on 13 April 1618 in St. Mary Magdalene's.
  2. John Cogan was baptized on 16 April 1593. He married Margaret Gaspye on 26 June 1615 in St. Mary Magdalene's. She was buried there on 17 December 1643. John and Margaret had four children.
  3. Judith Cogan was baptized on 13 June 1594. She died on 6 February 1661/2 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. She married first William King on 13 April 1618 in a double wedding with her sister Johane. William was buried on 15 May 1619 in Taunton. Judith married second Giles Rickard on 7 January 1623/4 in West Hatch, co. Somerset. She came with him to Plymouth. Giles married second Joan Tilson on 20 May 1662. He married third Hannah (Pontus) Churchill.
  4. Mary Cogan was baptized on 22 November 1595. She married James Glass on 24 January 1613/4 in St. Mary Magdalene. He was buried on 22 February 1638/9 in Taunton. Mary and James had 12 children.
  5. Elizabeth Cogan was baptized on 13 March 1597/8. She was buried on 17 April 1615 in Taunton.
  6. Jane Cogan was baptized on 25 March 1599.
  7. Grace Cogan was baptized on 9 October 1600.
  8. Richard Cogan was baptized on 17 January 1602/3. He was buried on 6 September 1620 in Taunton.
  9. Marian (Anne) Cogan was baptized on 10 August 1603. She was buried on 6 September 1614 in Taunton.
  10. Frances Cogan was baptized on 24 February 1605/6.
  11. Henry Cogan was baptized on 6 April 1607. He was almost certainly the "Mr. Henry Cogan of Barnstable."

John was in the Scituate section of the 1643 list of men able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. [1] He took the oath of fidelity there on 15 January 1644/5. [1]

On 1 December 1646 John was one of Conihasset partners of Scituate who purchased most of Timothy Hatherly's interest in land at Conihassett. As a result he received various parcels of land there. [1] On 4 July 1649 he sold land in Scituate to Thomas Hicke. [1]

John Whitcomb was propounded a freeman on 5 June 1651. [5] He was admitted a freeman on 3 June 1652. [1] He was on the Plymouth petit jury on 4 June 1652. [1] He was chosen a constable in Scituate on 3 June 1652. [1]

John Whitcomb, Sr. and John Whitcomb, Jr. were two of the early signers of the articles of agreement of Lancaster on 20 November 1652. [6] The town listed estates in 1654 for purposes of dividing land and they ranged from about 380 pounds for John White to 78 pounds for Henry Kerley. John Whitcomb's estate amounted to about 241 pounds. [6] He received about ten acres in the 1654 division of meadow. [6] He is on a 9 March 1654 list of townsmen. [6] John and his son John received lots in the 3 February 1659 division of meadowland. [6]

Steven Gates charged that three of John's sons killed of his pigs. On 2 April 1658 John was ordered to pay Steven 40 shillings, which he agreed to. He later appealed to the court, saying that he had only agreed to the payment because of his "age and weakness." He said that Gates had defamed him and his family by saying that his sons had stolen the pigs; he pointed out his "mean" estate. The court decided that he still had to pay the bill. [6]

John and his sons John and Jonathan signed an 11 March 1675/6 petition describing the state of Lancaster after the Indian massacre. They 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. They requested a guard of men. [6]

John died intestate. On 2 October 1662 a division of the estate of John Whitcomb late of Lancaster in (then) Middlesex County was agreed. The parties were his widow Frances; John and Jonathan Whitcomb, two of his sons; Job and Josiah Whitcomb, two of his younger sons; and daughters Abigail and Mary Whitcomb. [1]

Frances Whitcomb of Lancaster made her will on 12 May 1671; it was proved on 23 March 1671/2. She mentioned her eldest daughter Katherine, her five sons, her daughter Abigail, and her youngest daughter Mary, who was unmarried. She asked the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson and her "beloved friend and neighbor Roger Sumner" to be her overseers. Her inventory was taken on 13 June 1671. [1]

Children of John Whitcomb and Frances Cogan:

i. Katherine Whitcomb was born say 1624. She married Rodulphus Elmes on 25 December 1644 in Scituate. [7]

ii. John Whitcomb was baptized on 1626 in St. James, Taunton. [1] He died on 6 April 1683 in Lancaster. [2] He married first Mary Unknown on 19 May 1669 in Lancaster. [2] He married second Mary Unknown on 16 (1) 1670/1 in Lancaster. [2] Mary may be the Mary Whitcomb of Lancaster who married John Moore of Lancaster on 23 August 1683 in Lancaster. [2]

John's estate in 1654 amounted to 29 pounds. [6] He received about an acre in the 1654 division of meadow. [6] He is on on 9 March 1654 list of townsmen. [6]

A 7 April 1683 jury of inquest was held to investigate the untimely death of John Whitcomb. It found that John and his brother Jonathan were bringing hay across the Pennecuk River in two canoes. The canoes sank and John fell into the river and drowned. [6]

iii. Jonathan Whitcomb was baptized on 14 September 1628 in Taunton and died there on 28 October 1628. [1]

iv. Robert Whitcomb was baptized on 20 December 1629 in St. James, Taunton. He died by 18 January 1696/7. He married first Mary Cudworth. He married second Mary Unknown.

v. Joan Whitcomb was baptized on 18 May 1634 in Taunton. [1] There is no further record of her. [1]

vi. Jonathan Whitcomb was born say 1636. He died before 25 February 1691. He married Hannah Unknown on 25 November 1667 in Lancaster. [2] Hannah, the widow of Jonathan, was killed, along with five members of the Joslin family, in an Indian massacre on 18 July 1692 in Lancaster. [6]

The inventory on Jonathan's estate is dated 25 February 1691. [2]

vii. Josiah Whitcomb was born in 1638 in Dorchester. He died on 21 March 1718 in Lancaster. married Rebecca Waters.

viii. Job Whitcomb was born say 1640. He married by 1671 Hannah ___. [1]

On 7 March 1658(9?) the town of Lancaster planned to lay out the bounds and Job Whitcomb and young Jacob Farrar were to carry the chain. [6]

ix. Abigail Whitcomb was born say 1642. She was named in her mother's will of 12 May 1671, but there is no further record of her. [1]

vii. Mary Whitcomb was born say 1647. She was named in her mother's will of 12 May 1671 and referred to as unmarried, but there is no further record of her.[1]

References:

1. "Great Migration 1634–1635, T–Y," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org,  originally published as:  Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, Volume VII, T–Y (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011), 326–31.

2. Henry S. Nourse, Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1850 (Clinton, MA, W. J. Coulter, Printer, 1890), 12 (John's death), 13 (John, Jr. and Jonathan's marriages), 14 (death of Frances, marriage of unknown John), 15 (marriage of Mary, death of John, Jr.), 20 (John Jr. inquest, Jonathan's inventory).

3. George E. McCracken, "Early Cogans English and American," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 110 (1956): 185–201, 258–76; 111 (1957): 5–18, 84–91, 168–87.

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

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

6. Henry S. Nourse, The Earliest Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1725 (Lancaster: J. Coulter, 1884), 35 (covenant), 33–40 (land divisions), 41 (1654 list of townsmen), 63 (Gates' pigs), 64 (Job and the chain), 71–72 (division of meadowland), 108 (1676 petition), 121–2 (death of John, Jr.), 130 (death of Hannah, widow of Jonathan), 245 (map).

7. Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850, 2 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1909), vol. 2: 324 (marriage of Katherine).

Last revised: 10-Jan-2024