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Lieutenant Griffin Crafts (c. 1603–1689)

Alice Unknown (c. 1599–1673)

Lieutenant Griffin Crafts was born about 1603. [1] He died on 4 October 1689. [2] He married first Alice ___ by 1628. [1] He married second Ursula Adams on 15 July 1673 in Dorchester. [1][3, "wid. __ Robison"] He married third Dorcas French. [1][4] Dorcas married first Christopher Peake on 3 January 1636 in Roxbury. [3] She died on 30 December 1697 in Roxbury. [3]

The Streeter Family Bible records give a birth date of 21 May 1600 for Griffin. [5] In the late 1920s, Milford Streeter placed an advertisement offering to buy the bible mentioned in the inventory of Ursula Adams' first husband, Stephen Streeter, taken in 1652. He related that John Haynes Goodwin responded to his ad, saying that he had found in a used bookstore an old bible, printed in Edinburgh in 1693, with Streeter records. While not the bible in question, Mr. Streeter purchased a copy of the records from Mr. Goodwin. A later attempt to locate the bible in the bookstore was not successful. Mr. Streeter published a transcription of the copy of the bible records in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1931. Some of these records are known to be erroneous. At worst, the story of the records is a fabrication, or the bible was fraudulent, and none of the records not found elsewhere are true. At best, the records are a transcription of a copy of records that were copied into the bible long after the events occurred.

Alice was born about 1599, based on her age at death. Alice, age 73, was buried on 26 March 1673 in Roxbury. [3]

On 24. 1m 1673 Reverend Samuel Danforth wrote, "Alice Craft smitten wth an Apoplexie & died next day." [6]

Griffin probably came in the Winthrop fleet in 1630 with his wife and daughter Alice. [6, fn.] He and Alice were admitted to the Roxbury church as members 45 and 46. [1]

Griffin was a freeman on 18 May 1631. [1] He was deputy to the General Court from Roxbury 8 times between 13 March 1638/9 and 15 May 1667. [1] He was a selectman from 1650 to 1673, except during 1665 to 1667, when he was on committee of three to give the selectmen orders. [7] He was the commissioner to end small causes from 1659 to 1670. [7] He was confirmed lieutenant of the Roxbury military company on 8 or 9 September 1653. [1] He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston in 1669. [7] He asked to resign his military commission on 21 February 1675/6 and this was accepted. [7]

An census taken in Roxbury between 1634 and 1643 has Griffin with a ten-person household and 30 acres. [8]

Inventory on the estate of Lieutenant Griffin Crafts was taken on 27 November 1689. He left a house with seven acres and an orchard, a 33-acre adjoining parcel, bedding, furniture, worn table linen, kitchen utensils, a plow, an old handsaw, a musket, books, money, and clothing. It was valued at £288-10-00. [2]

On 9 December 1690, a will signed by Griffin Crafts of Roxbury, signed with his mark, was produced for probate. According to the will, he left his wife Dorcas 50 shillings a year for three years and a book; his son Moses Craft ten pounds and his clothing; his son-in-law Nathaniel Wilson 15 pounds; his son-in-law Edward Adams five pounds; his daughters Hannah Wilson and Abigail Wilson each ten pounds if they outlived their husbands; his grandchild Ephraim Craft a cow. The will named his son Samuel his sole executor and left him the residual—the bulk of the estate. As Samuel had died by then, administration was granted to Elizabeth Crafts, Samuel's widow, and their son, Samuel Crafts. Elizabeth and Samuel posted bond on 27 January 1690/1. [2]

On 8 November 1692 Moses Crafts complained that his father had died intestate. He said that Griffin had been blind for several years prior to his death and the will was written in the executor's hand. The parties were ordered to appear and on 10 November 1692, it was apparently decided to refer the matter to the Governor and Council. [2]

Children of Lieutenant Griffin Crafts and Alice Unknown: Births of all but Hannah recorded in Roxbury as the children of Griffin. [3]

i. Hannah Crafts was born say 1628. She died on 18 August 1692. She married Nathaniel Wilson.

ii. John Crafts was born on 10 July 1630. He died on 30 October 1685, age 55, in Roxbury (town record) or he was buried on 3: 7m: [September] 1685 (church record). [3] He married first Rebecca Wheelock on 7 June 1654. [3] Rebecca was the daughter of Ralph and Rebecca Wheelock of Dedham and Medfield. [7] She died in childbirth and was buried on 24 (town record) or 28 (church record) November 1667 in Roxbury. [3] He married second Mary Hudson of Lynn on 30 March 1669 in Roxbury. [3] She was was probably the daughter of Thomas Hudson of Lynn. [7] The widow Mary died on 3 January 1724 in Roxbury. [3]

John's is the earliest mentioned birth in the Roxbury town records. [6]

iii. Mary Crafts was born on 10 October 1632. She died on 30 June 1653 in Roxbury. [1] She married Joseph Griggs about 1652. [1][9] Joseph, the son of Thomas Griggs, was born about 1624 and died on 10 February 1714, age 90, in Roxbury. [9] He married second Hannah, the daughter of Samuel and Anna (Norcross) Davis, on 8 November 1654 in Roxbury. [9]

iv. Abigail Crafts was born on 28 March 1634. She died on 19 January 1706/7 in Medfield. [10] She married first Sergeant John Ruggles on 24 January 1650 in Roxbury. [3] John was the son of Thomas and Mary (Curtis) Ruggles. [7] He died between 9 and 20 September 1658. She married second Ralph Day on 15 November 1659 in Roxbury. [1] Ralph married first Susan Fairbanks. She married third Edward Adams on 7 December 1678 in Dedham. [1][10]

John Ruggles, son of Thomas Ruggles, made his will on "9th 7 ber 1658." He named his wife and his father Crafts his executors. Inventory of the estate of Sergeant John Ruggles was taken on 20 September 1658 and amounted to £185-11-00. Abigail Ruggles and Lieutenant Griffin Crafts deposed on 15 October 1658. [11]

v. Samuel Crafts was born on 12 December 1637.] He died between 9 December 1690 and 29 January 1690/1. He married Elizabeth Sever on 16 October 1661 in Roxbury. [3] Elizabeth, the daughter of Robert Sever of Roxbury was born on 19 November 1643. [7] Elizabeth, the widow of Lieutenant Samuel, died on 9 December 1731, age 87, in Roxbury. [3]

vi. Moses Crafts was born on 28 April 1641. He married Rebecca Gardner on 24 June 1667 in Roxbury. [3] Rebecca, the daughter of Peter and Rebecca (Crooke) Gardner, was baptized on 9 November 1674 in Roxbury. [3][7]

References:

1. "The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620–1633, Volumes I-III," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, 3 volumes (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 489–1.

2. "Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, case 1773.

3. Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1925), vol. 1, vol. 2.

4. Melinde Lutz Byrne and John Edward Hardy, "Three French Daughters and Their Husbands ... ," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 175 (2021): 104–19.

5. Milford B. Streeter, "Streeter-Adams Family Records From a Streeter Family Bible," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 85 (1931): 382–5.

6. William B. Trask, "Rev. Samuel Danforth's Records of the First Church in Roxbury, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 34 (1880): 361.

7. John William Linzee, The History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles of Roxbury, Mass. and Their Ancestors and Descendants (Boston: privately printed, 1918).

8. "Early Records of Roxbury," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2 (1848): 53.

9. H. Minot Pitman, "Early Griggs Families of Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 123 (1969): 169–73.

10. Wm Addams Reitweisner, "A Hitherto Unnoted Descendant of Henry Adams of Braintree: Leka I, King (Claimant) of Albania," The American Genealogist 18 (1977): 18–20.

11. William B. Trask, "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9 (1855): 139.

13-Dec-2023