Renold Foster

RENOLD FOSTER (say 1593–1681)

JUDITH WIGNOL (say 1596–1664)

Renold Foster was born say 1593. He married first Judith Wignol in 1619 in Theydon Garnon, county Essex. [1] He died between 5 March 1680/1 and 30 May 1681. He married [second?] Sarah Unknown.

Judith Wignol was born say 1596. Judith, the wife of Renold, Sr., died in October 1664 in Ipswich. [2]

Theydon Garnon is about eight miles south of Harlow, where a John Foster made his will in 1601, making his son Reynold his chief heir. This Reynold made his will in 1622, naming his—from the context—grown son Reynold. The name Renold comes from the patronymic Reynolds and it is tempting to conclude that Renold was the son and grandson of the Reynold and John who made the wills. [1]

"Reginald came from England 1638. He had 5 sons and 2 daughters, viz. Abraham, Reginald, William, Isaac, Jacob, a dau. who m. ___ Peabody, a dau. who m. ___ Story." [3]

On 26 September Renold bought a house and lot in Ipswich—near the great cove beneath the falls of the town river—from John Tuttle. It was bounded by the land of William Avery and Robert Kinsman. He also bought an eight-acre planting lot from Tuttle on Heartbreak Hill. [4]

Renold Foster settled in Ipswich with his wife, five sons and two daughters and lived to extreme old age. [5]

One of Renold's daughters married a Wood and then a Peabody; one married a Story. [5]

Renold is on a 19 December 1648 list of taxpayers in Ipswich. [6]

Renold and his sons Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Renold are on a 2 December 1679 list of those allowed by law to vote in Ipswich town affairs. [7]

Sarah made yarn and bedding.

Renold Foster, Sr. of Ipswich made his will on the "last day of Aprill" 1680. He left his wife Sarah the use of his house, orchards and gardens and five pounds a year for life. He also left her two cows, three sheep and two pigs and the keeping of them, the bed and bedding in the parlor, the linen and wool yarn she had made, the brass pot, the cheese press, the kneading trough, the utensils in the lean-to, the "great Kettle & two skillets," the provisions in his house and the table for life. He left her what she brought into the marriage for life and to dispose of.

He left his son Abraham Foster his house, orchard and three-acre grounds; half his barn; half the land in the field between John Dension and Philip Fowler's land; ten acres on his side of the Muddy River between Major Denison's and John Edward's land; six acres of salt marsh, four acres of marsh at Plum Island and six acres at Hogs Island, respecting his wife's rights. He left his son Renold Foster the land he had given him at the Falls, where he had built a house, both upland and marsh, amounting to about fifty acres. He was to pay his daughter Sarah Story some of her bequest out of this. He left his son Isaac Foster eight acres of fresh meadow at the west meadows joining his four-and-a-half acre meadow of salt marsh at Hog Island. He also left him his husbandry instruments. Jacob was to have the use of the salt [sic] until his wife died. He left his son William Foster the six acres he bought from Thomas Smith, six acres of marsh at Hog Island and the marsh that was to go to Jacob until his wife's decease. He left his son Jacob Foster the house he lived in and the land around it, two lots of about ten acres beyond Muddy River and the rest of the salt marsh at Hog Island. He also left him his land "at home" and barn during his wife's life, the pasture on the south side of the river by Simon Tompsons, the pasture by Caleb Kimball's, and a featherbed. He was to pay his wife's annuity and do her repairs.

He left his daughters Sarah, the wife of William Story, and Mary, the wife of Francis Peabody, ten pounds in the form of bedding. If Sarah's bedding was not worth ten pounds, Jacob was to pay her the remainder. He left his grandchild Hannah Story six pound in bedding, which his wife made, if she continued to live well with his wife.

He appointed his sons Abraham and Jacob to be his executors and asked his friends Simon Stacey and Nehemiah Jewett to be his overseers. He wrote a codicil on 5 March 1680/1 qualifying that the things he left to his wife for her life were for her widowhood and allowing her to cut wood at his land at Muddy River. His will was proved on 9 June 1681. Inventory on his estate—amounting to £744–16–00—was taken on 30 May 1681 and attested to on 9 June 1681. [8]

Children of Renold Foster and Judith Wignol:

i. Sarah Foster was born about 1620. [1] She married William Story. William was born about 1614, possibly in Norwich, county Norfolk. [1]

Sarah's son Samuel was the great-great-great-grandfather of Millard Fillmore, President of the United States. [9]

i. Abraham Foster was born about 1622. Abraham, Sr. died on 15 January 1710/1, age 89, in Ipswich. [2] He married Lydia, the daughter of Caleb and Martha Burbank of Rowley. [10]

Renold is on a 19 December 1648 list of taxpayers in Ipswich. [6] Abraham is on a 14 February 1664 list of Ipswich inhabitants to have shares in Plum Island, Castle Neck and Hogs Island. [11] He is on a 1678 list of those who had a right to commonage in Ipswich. [11]

iii. Mary Foster died on 9 April 1705 in Topsfield. [12] She married first Daniel Wood. [13] She married second Francis Peabody.

iv. Renold Foster was born in 1630. He died on 28 Dec 1707. He married Elizabeth Dane.

v. William Foster died on 17 May 1713 in Boxford. [14] He married Mary Jackson of Rowley on 15 May 1661. [10][15] Mary ,the daughter of William and Joanne Jackson of Rowley, was born on 8 February 1639. [10] She was born on 8 Feb 1639. [10]

vi. Isaac Foster was born in 1630. He died on 8 February 1691 in Ipswich. He married Mary Jackson.

vii. Deacon Jacob Foster was born about 1635. Deacon Jacob died on 9 July 1710, age 74, in Ipswich. [2] He married first Martha Kinsman on 12 January 1658 in Ipswich. [2] Martha, the wife of Jacob, died on 15 October 1666 in Ipswich. [2] He married Abigail Lord on 26 February 1666 in Ipswich. [2] Abigail was the daughter of Robert and Abigail (Wait) Lord. [10] Abigail, the widow of Deacon Jacob, died on 4 June 1729. [2]

Jacob's gravestone in the Old Burying Ground in Ipswich says, "Here lies Doctr Jacob Foster who died July ye 9th 1710 in 75 year of his age." [16]

References:

1. William Goodwin Davis, "Renold Foster," The American Genealogist 18 (1941): 13–15.

2. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1910), vol. 2: 167–73, 557–60.

3. Records of Littleton, Massachusetts: Births and Deaths (Littleton: Littleton, 1900), 442.

4. "Ipswich Court Records and Files," Essex Antiquarian 8 (1904): 1.

5. "The Foster Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 1 (1847): 352–4.

6. "Ipswich Proceedings," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2 (1848): 50–52.

7. Thomas Franklin Waters, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Ipswich: Ipswich Historical Society, 1905): 95.

8. "Essex County, MA: Early Probate Records, 1635–1681," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org, vol. 3: 419–22.

9. Gary Boyd Roberts, "Ancestry of Millard Fillmore," The American Genealogist 63 ( 1988): 46–55.

10. Edward Jacob Forster, "Genealogy of the Fo(r)ster Family: Descendants of Reginald Fo(r)ster of Ipswich, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 30 (1876): 83-102.

11. "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2495) > Ipswich > Town Records, image 215 (1664 list), image 307 (1678 list), image 314 (1679 list).

12. Vital Records Topsfield, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield: Topsfield Historical Society, 1903), 236–8.

13. "Great Migration 1634–1635, M–P," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as: Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, Volume V, M–P (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007), 400–10.

14. Henry Edwards Scott, "Fanny Foster," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 90 (1936): 307–11.

15. Vital Records of Rowley, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, vol. 1 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1928): 297.

16. Find a Grave, database and images, memorial page for Jacob Foster (1635–9 Jul 1710), Find a Grave Memorial ID 43190890, citing Old Burying Ground, Ipswich, Essex County, MA; Maintained by Julie Backous (contributor 46780472), accessed 28 November 2022.

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26-Dec-2022