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Michael Bacon (bp. 1579–1648)
Alice Unknown (d. 1648)
Michael Bacon, the immigrant, was baptised on 6 December 1579 in Winston parish in Stowmarket, co. Suffolk. [1, p. 125] He died on 18 April 1648 in Dedham. [1, p. 26] He married Alice Unknown.
Alice died on 2 April 1648 in Dedham. [1, p. 25–26]
There was a small pox epidemic in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1648. Apparently, Michael's daughter Alice died on 29 March of small pox, followed by her mother on 2 April and then Michael on 18 April.
Michael went to Ireland briefly, before going to New England. [1, p. 25] He came to New England in 1639 or 1640. The records of the 26 May 1640 town meeting in Dedham say, "... the Town of Dedham shall enterteyne ... Mr. Bacon ... from Ireland." [1, p. 125] On 24 June 1640 he was granted permission to inhabit. [1, p. 25] He was granted land in Dedham in 1644. [1, p. 26]
Michael Bacon of Dedham signed his will on 14 (2) [April] 1648. He left his oldest son Michael "one tipped pot (torn) silver spoons" [that his father left to him], his "stuffe coate" and stockings; he left his second son Daniel his best "kowe", his best steer, an iron kettle, three pewter dishes of middle sort in value, his best coat and his wife's best gown; he left his third son John upland called "the twelve Acre Lott", meadows and swamps, his best feather bed except one, bed clothes, a pot and a trammel; he left his daughter Sarah Bacon his tenement, where he dwelled, and land, cattle, swine and household goods. He left his son-in-law Thomas Bancroft 20 shillings. He will was proved on 26 (2) [April] 1649 and inventory was taken on 20 (2) [April] 1649; his estate was valued at £54.15.04. [1, p. 27–28][2] The silver pot and spoons are important in identifying Michael of Winston as the father of Michael of Dedham.
Children of Michael and Alice Bacon:
i. Michael Bacon died on 4 July 1688. [3] He married first Mary Jobo on 31 August 1624 in Winston. [4] She died on 26 August 1655 in Woburn. [3][5] He married second Mary Richardson on 26 October 1655 in Woburn. [3][6] Mary was the widow of Thomas Richardson. [7] She died on 19 May 1670. [3] He married third Mary Noyes on 28 November 1670. [3, p. 30] Mary was the widow of Thomas Noyes of Sudbury. [7] She was the daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Hayes. [3, p. 30] Thomas Noyes was the son of Peter Noyes who came to New England in the Confidence in 1638. [grm, p. 96]
Michael came to Dedham in 1640 with his father. [3] He was of Charlestown on 18 Dec 1640. [3]
On 13 Apr 1644 he was surveyor of highways in Woburn. [3] He bought a farm in the northwest part of Cambridge (now Bedford) from Robert Shaw in 1648. [3] On 8 Jun 1675 he was referred to as a citizen of Billerica in a mortgage. [3] He was assigned to garrison 10 in Billerica during King Philip's War. [3] He is said to have built a mill before 1677. [3] He is on a 1679 Billerica tax list. [8] In Oct 1685 "Daniel Mackginney" sued Michael Bacon of Billerica over a land transaction; the verdict was for the defendant. He (or a son?) is on a 24 August 1688 tax list. [9]
Michael was an ancestor of President Calvin Coolidge. [5]
ii. Daniel Bacon was born about 1615. He died on 7 Sep 1691 in Newton. He married Mary Reed.
iii. John Bacon was probably born in England. [3] He died the 17: 4: 1683 in Dedham. [10] He married Rebecca Hall of Dedham on 17 Dec 1651. [3] She died on 27 Oct 1694. [3] John and Rebecca had five sons and four daughters. [3]
John came to Dedham with his father in 1640. [3] He was a freeman in 1647. [3]
"Rebecka ye wife of br: Bacon was received into the Church ye 5d 12m 1664" in Dedham." [10] John Bacon y sone of ____ Bacon was received into ye [Ch.] 7d 4m 1646" in Dedham. [10]
iv. Alice Bacon died on 29 March 1648. [3][11] "Our sister Bacon died 1647[!]" in Dedham. [3, this may refer to her mother] She married Lieutenant Thomas Bancroft of Dedham on 31 Mar 1647 in Dedham. [3 date only][11] Thomas married second Elizabeth Metcalf of Dedham, on 15 September 1648. [3][11]
v. Sarah Bacon died in 1652 [3] in Dedham. [10] She married Anthony Hubbard of Dedham on 14 Apr 1648 (the day her father made his will). [3] Anthony married second Jane Ely on the 5th of the 11th month 1652 in Dedham. [10]
References:
1. Thomas Williams Baldwin, Bacon Genealogy: Michael Bacon of Dedham, 1640 and His Descendants (Cambridge, MA, n.p., 1915.)
2. William Trask, "Abstracts from the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 7 (1853): 230.
3. Leon Brooks Bacon, "Michael Bacon and his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 56, 1902, 364; Errata by Leon Brooks and Horace Davis 57, 1903, 223.
4. Eliza Buckingham Bacon, "Michael Bacon of Dedham: His Probable Ancestry," Notes and Queries Section, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 57, 1903, 329.
5. Robert Charles Anderson, "Ancestry of President Calvin Coolidge," The American Genealogist 53 (1977): 65–75, 160–70.
6. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Part 1 (births), Part 2, (deaths) Part 3 (marriages) (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890).
7. J. Gardner Bartlett, "Bacon Family of Helmingham and Winston County, Suffolk, England and Dedham and Salem, Mass.," Notes section, New England Historical and Genealogical Register 90 (1936): 300.
grm. Gladys Redfield McPherson, Ancestry of Addie Clark Harding: Daughter of Abner Clark Harding, Jr., and Maud McCain (Chicago: unknown, 196-?)
8. Lucius R. Paige, "Middlesex Statistics. 1680," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 5, 1851, 171.
9. Walter Lloyd Jeffries, "Town Rates of Newton and Billerica, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 31 (1877): 302–7.
10. "Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620–1850," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Dedham.
11. John Kermott Allen, "Thomas Bancroft of Dedham and Reading, Mass. and Some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 94 (1940): 215.
07-May-2023