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JOSIAH WHITCOMB (1638–1718), son of of John Whitcomb and Frances Cogan

REBECCA WATERS (say 1645–aft. 1718), daughter of Lawrence Waters and Anne Linton

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Josiah Whitcomb was born in 1638 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts. [1][2][3] He died on 21 March 1718, age 80, in Lancaster. [2][4] He married Rebecca Waters on 4 January 1664/5 in Lancaster. [1][2][4]

Josiah's gravestone in the Old Common Burial Ground in Lancaster says: [4]

Rebecca, the daughter of Lawrence Waters and Anne Linton, was born say 1645 in Watertown. [4][5]

Josiah went from Scituate to Lancaster with his father in 1654. [3]

In 1688 Josiah was paid 20 shillings for killing a wolf in Lancaster. [6] On 20 Apr 1704 he commanded a garrison in Lancaster; also included in the garrison were his sons Josiah, David and Hezekiah. [6] In 1705 Josiah was a selectman. [3] He signed the church covenant in 1708. [3] In 1710 he was a representative from Lancaster. [3]

Josiah lived in southeast Lancaster in what is now Bolton. [6]

Josiah signed a 7 October 1679 petition requesting that former inhabitants of Lancaster be allowed to resettle there. [6]

Josiah was commander of a garrison in Lancaster on 15 April 1704, during Queen Anne's War. Among others, [his sons] Josiah, David and Hezekiah Whitcomb, were in the garrison. [6]

He was a selectman in Lancaster in 1705. He was a representative to the general court in 1710. [1]

Josiah Whitcomb, yeoman of Lancaster, made his will on 20 March 1718; his witnesses swore to it on [6?] April 1718. His heirs were his wife Rebecca, his eldest son Josiah Whitcomb, his second son David Whitcomb, his youngest son Hezekiah Whitcomb, his daughter Rebecca Houghton, his daughter Joanna Joslin, his daughter Mary Farnsworth and both the children she had with Simon Willard and the children she had with Samuel Farnsworth, his daughter Damaris Wilder, and his daughter Abigail White. [7]

Children of Josiah Whitcomb and Rebecca Waters: Births recorded in Lancaster [M4]

i. Josiah Whitcomb was born and died on 12 November 1665.

ii. Josiah Whitcomb was born on 7 January 1666/7. He died on 12 April 1718 in Lancaster. [4] He married first Mary Unknown about 1690. [3] He married second Elizabeth Unknown. [3] She died on 11 May 1755, aged 80 years and seven months, and is buried in the Old Burying Field in Lancaster. [4] Elizabeth Whitcomb married second Josiah Fairbanks, Sr. on 25 March 1719 in Lancaster. [3][4]

Bond was posted on the estate of Josiah Whitcomb, Jr. of Lancaster, who died intestate, on 13 May 1718. An estate paper, died 14 March 1721/2 refers to his widow as now the wife of Jabez Fairbank. [7]

iii. David Whitcomb was born on 20 February 1668[/9?]. He died on 11 April 1730. [4] He married the widow Mary (Hayward) Fairbanks on 31 May 1700 in Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. [3][4] She died on 5 January 1733/4 at age 67. [4] Mary married first Jonathan Fairbanks. He was killed in the 11 September 1697 Indian attack on Lancaster, along with two of his children. [3]

David and Mary's tombstones in the Old Common Burial Ground Lancaster say [4]

Mary was taken captive by the Indians in the attack that killed her first husband and two children. She was returned on 17 January 1699. In captivity, she acquired a knowledge of herbs and was afterwards called "Doctress" and dispensed medicine. [3]

David and Mary kept a tavern in Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. [3]

v. Joanna Whitcomb was born on 8 March 1673/4. She died on 24 September 1717 in Lancaster, age 44. [4] She married as his second wife Peter Joslin on 26 December 1708. [3] Peter, the son of Nathaniel and Mary Joslin, was born on 22 February 1665/6 in Lancaster. [4] Peter married first Sarah Howe. She died on 18 July 1692. Peter married third Hannah, who is said to be Hannah (Farwell) Woods. [8]

Three of Peter and Sarah (Howe) Joslin's young children were killed in the 18 July 1692 Indian attack on Lancaster. Peter and Sarah's six-year-old son Peter was captured and killed in captivity. [4, 16]

vi. Mary Whitcomb was born say 1677 ("between 1675 and 1682"). She married Simon Willard in 1700. [4] The widow Mary (Whitcomb) Willard married Samuel Farnsworth on 12 December 1706 in Lancaster. [4]

vii. Damaris Whitcomb was born say 1679 ("between 1675 and 1682"). She married Nathaniel Wilder in 1707(?). [3][4] Nathaniel, the son of Nathaniel and Mary (Sawyer) Wilder, was born in 1675 in Lancaster. [4]

Damaris, the wife of Nathaniel Wilder, was recommended to the communion of the Church of Christ in Nichewaug on 5 August 1739. [4]

viii. Hezekiah Whitcomb was born on 14 September 1681. He died on 6 May 1732. He married Hannah Green.

ix. Deborah Whitcomb was born on 26 December 1683. She probably died young as she was not mentioned in her father's will. [7]

Endnotes:

1. "Massachusetts: Legislators of the General Court, 1691–1780," database, AmericanAncestors.org, entry for Josiah Whitcomb.

2. Records of Littleton, Massachusetts: Births and Deaths (Littleton: Littleton, 1900).

3. Charlotte Whitcomb,  The Whitcomb Family in America (Minneapolis: C. Whitcomb?, c1904), 396–8.

4. Henry S. Nourse, Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1850 (Clinton, MA, W. J. Coulter, Printer, 1890).

5. "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), 250–7.

6. Henry S. Nourse, The Earliest Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643–1725 (Lancaster: J. Coulter, 1884),

7. "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648–1871," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, case 2440 (Josiah, Sr.), 2441 (Josiah, Jr.).

8. Alfred L. Holman, Blackman and Allied Families (Chicago: privately printed for N. L. Blackman, 1928), 103.

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Last revised: 19-Dec-2023