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Sergeant Jacob Perkins (bp. 1624–1700), son of John Perkins and Judith Gater

Elizabeth Unknown (d. 1685)

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Jacob, the son of John and Judith (Gater) Perkins, was baptized on 12 July 1624 in Hillmorton, Warwickshire. [1] He died on 29 January 1699/1700. [2] He married first Elizabeth ___. He married second Damaris, the widow of Nathaniel Robinson. [1]

The wife of Sergeant Jacob Perkins died on 12 February 1685 in Ipswich. [3]

Elizabeth is widely said to be Elizabeth, the daughter of Matthew and Anne (Hawkins) Whipple. See, for example, Anderson and Brayton. [4][5] However, Fiske says he has been unable to find confirmation of this. [6] Matthew Whipple gave only her first name in his will of 7 May 1645 (codicil 13 November 1646). [6]

Damaris moved to Boston after Jacob died. She died in 1716, age 80, leaving her estate to the children of her previous marriage. [2]

Jacob, age seven, arrived in Nantasket with his parents on the Lyon on 5 February 1631. [7]

Jacob's father left him his dwelling house, its out housing, and all his land after the death of his wife in his will of 28 March 1654.

Jacob was on the trial jury on 25 March 1656, 30 March 1658, 25 March 1662, 28 March 1665, 29 March 1670, 26 September 1671, 30 September 1673, 27 September 1681. [8, 1: 414; 2: 61, 347; 3: 228; 4: 214, 419; 5: 224; 8: 150] He was on the grand jury on 27 September 1659. [8, 2: 168]

Jacob Perkins of Ipswich was made a freeman on 27 March 1660. [8, 2: 196] He was chosen sergeant of the Ipswich military company in 1664. [2]

Jacob and Elizabeth went to town one summer afternoon in 1668, leaving their 16-year-old maid Mehitable Brabrooke in charge of their house. The Essex County Court records say

About 2 or 3 aclocke in the afternoone she was taking tobacco in a pipe and went out of the house with her pipe and gott upon the oven on the outside & backside of the houe (to looke if there were any hogs in the corne) and she layed her right hand upon the thatch of the house (to stay herselfe) and with her left hand knocked out her pipe over right arme upon the thatch on the eaves of the house (not thinking there had been any fire in the pipe) and imediately went downe into the corne feild to drive out the hogs she saw in it, and as she was going toward the railes of the feild ... she looked back, and saw a smoke upon her Mistress' house in the place where she had knocked out her pipe at which shee was much frighted.

The wife of a neighbor testified that she came running over; looked into both fireplaces in the house and saw no fire, only a few brands nearly out under a great kettle hanging in the chimney. Mehitable was brought to court on suspicion of willfully setting the house on fire. A young man, testifying against her at her trial, said that Mehitable had told him that her mistress was angry with her but that she had "fitted her now" by putting a great toad into her mistress's kettle of milk. The court ordered Mehitable to be severely whipped and ordered her to pay Jacob £40 in damages on 29 September 1668. [8, 4: 56–56]

Jacob rebuilt his house. On a sabbath in 1671, when many people had gathered there after the sermon, it was hit by lightning. [9]

Jacob Perkins and Matthew Perkins of Ipswich posted bond on the estate of Jacob Perkins on [?] February 1699/1700. Inventory was taken on 9 February 1699/1700 and Jacob and Matthew made oath to it on 10 June 1700. [10]

Children of Jacob and Elizabeth Perkins:

ii. John Perkins was born on 3 July 1652. [2] He died in 1718. [2] He married Mary Fiske. [2]

iii. Judith Perkins was born on 11 July 1655. [2] She died after 1743. [4] She married Nathaniel Brown on 16 December 1673 in Ipswich. [3] Nathaniel, the son of John and Mary Brown, was born about 1652 in Ipswich and died there in 1717. [4]

Nathaniel and Judith were the six times great-grand parents of President Calvin Coolidge through their son Jacob Brown (c. 1680–1767). The descent is as follows, Jacob was the father of Adam Brown (bp. 1721–1775), who was the father of Adam Brown (c. 1748–1837?), who was the father of Israel Putnam Brown (1781–1867), who was the father of Sally Brown (1801–1884), who was the mother of Sarah Almeda Brewer (1823–1906), who was the mother of John Calvin Coolidge (1845–1926), who was the father of President Calvin Coolidge. [4]

iv Mary Perkins, the daughter of Jacob, was born on 14 May 1658 in Ipswich. [3] She married Thomas Wells on 10 January 1662. [2]

vi. Captain Matthew Perkins, the son of Jacob was born on 23 June 1665 in Ipswich. [3] Captain Matthew died on 15 or 19 (grave) April 1738 in Ipswich, age 72 years, nine months, and 23 days. [3] He married Esther Burham. [2] The widow of Captain Matthew died on 6 October 1749 in Ipswich. [3]

Matthew bought land in Norwich with his brothers Joseph and 5ez, but he later returned to Ipswich. [Ref]

Matthew was the ancestor of the actor Montgomery Clift. [5]

vii. Hannah Perkins, the daughter of Jacob, was born on 11 November 1670 in Ipswich. [3]

viii. Francis Perkins, the son of Jacob, was born on 18 December 1672 in Ipswich. [3]

ix. Deacon Joseph Perkins , the son of Sergeant Jacob, was born on 21 June 1674 in Ipswich. He died on 6 September 1726 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut. He married Martha Morgan.

x. 5ez Perkins, the son of Sergeant Jacob, was born on 15 May 1677 in Ipswich. [3] Capt. 5ez Perkins Esqr. died on 15 January 1741/2 in Norwich. [11] He married first Hannah Lathrop of Norwich on 30 June 1698. [2] She died on 14 April 1721 in Norwich. [2] He married second Charity Leonard in 1722. [2]

5ez and Hannah were the five times great-grandparents of President Franklin D. Roosevelt through their daughter Hannah. Hannah (b. 1703) was the mother of Lydia Huntington (b. 1727), who was the mother of Lydia Bill (b. 1753), who was the mother of Susan Howland (b. 1779), who was the mother of Mary Rebecca Aspinwall (b. 1809), who was the of James Roosevelt (b. 1828), who was the father of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. [11][12]

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), 1432.

2. George Augustus Perkins, The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Mass. (Salem: Salem Press, 1889). Signature, p. 19. Perkins says that the birth dates of the children and the deaths of Jacob and Elizabeth are from a family bible.

3. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1910), vol. 1: 285–91, vol. 2.: 334–340, 644–7.

4. Robert Charles Anderson, "Ancestry of President Calvin Coolidge," The American Genealogist 53 (1977), 65–74, 160–7.

5. John Anderson Brayton, "Notable Kin: 'Hollywood Gothic' and the Alabama Three," NEHGS NEXUS: New England Across the United States 10 (1993): 110–115.

6. William Wyman Fiske, "Whipple Family of Bishops Stortford," The Genealogist 20 (2006), 191–217.

7. Alicia Crane Williams, "Early New England Families, 1641–1700," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > John Perkins (m. 1636).

8. George Francis Dow, ed., and Harriet S. Tapley, trans., Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, 9 vols., digitized books, Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project (http://salem.lib.virginia.edu).

9. "Some Notices of the Perkins Family in America," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 10 (18560: 211–6.

10. "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638–1881," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, case 21321.

11. Vital Records of Norwich, 1659–1848 (Hartford: Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Connecticut, 1913), 1:8, 12.

12. Alvin Page Johnson, Franklin D. Roosevelt's Colonial Ancestors (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, c.1933).

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19-Jan-2023