Return to main Cummings file
Return to main Harding file
Major John Freeman, son of Edmund Freeman
Mercy Prence, daughter of Governor Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster
In 1644 the Court granted land to "those that goe to dwell at Nausett [Eastham]." John was an early settler of Eastham and his name appears on a 22 May 1655 list of inhabitants. [FSE]
John was propounded to take up his freedom on 5 June 1651. He was made a freeman on 3 June 1652.[PC01]
Mr. John Freeman was chosen to be on the grand inquest jury on 2 June 1651. [PC06]
John was chosen a surveyor of the highways for Eastham on 7 June 1653. [PC07]
He was appointed to be the ensign bearer of the Eastham military company on 6 March 1654/5. [PC08]
Children of Major John Freeman and Mercy Prence:
i. John Freeman was born in December 1651 in Eastham. [geb] He died on 27 July 1721 in Harwich. [geb] He married first Sarah Merrick on 18 December 1672 in Eastham. [geb] Sarah, the daughter of William Merrick, was born on 1 August 1654 and died on 21 April 1696. [geb] He married second Mercy ___, the widow of Elkanah Watson of Plymouth before 1698. [geb] Mercy was born about 1658 and died on 27 September 1721, age 62. [geb] John and Mercy are buried in Brewster (then in Harwich). [geb]
ii. Lieutenant Edmond Freeman was born in June 1657. [AAD] He married Sarah Mayo. [AAD] Sarah, the daughter of Captain Samuel Mayo and granddaughter of Reverend John Mayo, was born on 19 December 1660. [AAD]
iii. Thomas Freeman married Rebecca Sparrow.
iv. Patience Freeman married Samuel Paine on 31 January 1682. [ASG]
v. Bennett Freeman married Deacon John Paine.
vi. Mercy Freeman married Samuel Knowles in December 1679 in Eastham. [CTL]
References:
FSE. David Hamlin, "First Settlers of Eastham, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 6 (1852): 41–46.
ASG. Mrs. M.L.T. Alden, "The Snow Genealogy," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 102 (1948): 47.
CTL. Charles Thornton Libby, “The Knowles Family of Eastham, Mass.,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 79 (1925): 286–97.
geb. George Ernest Bowman, "John Freeman of Eastham and Harwich," Mayflower Descendant 33 (1935): 100–14.
PC01. Nathaniel Shurtleff, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth: Court Orders, vols. 2–3 (Boston, William White, 1855), vol. 2: 167; vol. 3: 7.
PC06. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 2: 168.
PC07. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 3: 33.
PC07. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, vol. 3: 74.
AAD. Alfred Alder Doane, The Doane Family and Their Descendants, 2nd Edition (Boston: the author, 1960), 52–52.
Last revised: 18-Jul-2023