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JOHN KNOWLES (d. 1675), son of Richard Knowles and Ruth Bower
APPHIA BANGS (1651–aft. 1722), daughter of Edward Bangs and Rebecca Unknown
John Knowles, the son of Richard Knowles, was born in Plymouth. [1] He was slain by Indians near Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts on 3 June 1675. [1][2] He married Apphia Bangs on 28 December 1670—the same day her twin sister married—in Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. [1][3][4]
Apphia Bangs was born on 15 October 1651 in Eastham. [4] She died after 12 July 1722, when she made oath to her second husband's inventory. She married second Stephen Atwood on 6 March 1677 in Eastham. [4]
On 3 March 1662/3, [John's future brother-in-law] Ephraim Doane, Thomas Ridman, John Knowles, and John Wilson were fined 25 shillings each for selling liquor to the Indians on Cape Cod. Ephraim and John were bound pending investigation into the death of Josiah, sachem at Eastham. The matter was later dropped. [1] John may have been a teenager at the time.
In June 1675 Taunton was attacked by Indians. On 3 June Captain John Freeman reported to Governor Winslow: [1, transcription]
This morning three of our men are slain close by one of our courts of guard (two of them Samuel Atkins and John Knowles of Eastham); houses are burned in our sight; our men are picked off at every bush.
The guilty Indians were later sold into slavery as "prisoners of war." [1]
The October 1676 court recorded [5]
This court being informed of the low condition of Apthya, the relice of John Knowles, of Eastham, whoe was lately slayne in the collonies service, towards the releiffe and support of the said widdow and her children, have ordered to receive ten pounds out of the proffitts of the fishing at Cape Codd, wherof five pounds to be payed to her this yeer, and the other five the next year.The March 1676/7 court appointed Lieutenant Jonathan Sparrow and Jonathan Bangs to assist the widow in settling her husband's affairs. [1] When Apphia married Stephen Atwood, the court released them from this obligation and appointed Stephen ("Stephen Wood, Jr.) in their place on 6 March 1676/7. [5] Inventory was taken on 8 March 1676 and included a house with three or four acres and a small parcel of sedge and meadow. [1]
Children of John Knowles and Apphia Bangs:
i. Deacon Edward Knowles was born on 7 November 1671 in Eastham. [1] He died on 16 November 1740. [1] He married first Ann Ridley on 27 February 1699/1700 in Eastham. [1] He married second as her second husband Sarah (Elkins) Mayo. [1] Sarah, the daughter of Thomas Elkins, was born in Salem and died on 28 February 1753 in Eastham. [1] She married first James Mayo. [1] She married third as his third wife Hezekiah Doane after 24 March 1743/4 (intention) in Eastham. [1] Hezekiah was Edward's first cousin, the son of Ephraim Doane and Edward's aunt Mary Knowles. [1]
ii. Colonel John Knowles was born on 10 July 1673 in Eastham. He died on 3 November 1757 in Eastham. He married first Mary Sears. He married second Mrs. Rebecca Chanly (Chanle).
iii. Rebecca Knowles was born on 2 March 1674 in Eastham. [1] She probably married Thomas, the son of Thomas Tobey, and died on 4 March 1758 in Yarmouth. [1] Thomas was born on 2 February 1676 and died by 15 March 1757. [1]
References:
1. Charles Thornton Libby, "The Knowles Family of Eastham, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 79 (1925): 286–97, 379–92.
2. Alicia Crane Williams, "Stephen Wood alias Atwood of Eastham, Massachusetts," Mayflower Descendant 46 (1996): 131–6.
3. Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620–1691 (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1986), 238–9.
4. "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), 86–89.
5. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Records of Plymouth Colony: Court Orders, 6 vols. (Boston: William White, 1855, 1866), vol. 5, 177, 220.
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03-Aug-2023