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SERGEANT JOHN PLYMPTON (d. 1677/8)

JANE DAMON (c. 1625–aft. 1680)

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John Plympton died about 1677/8. He married Jane Damon on 13 March 1644 in Dedham. [1]

Jane Damon was born about 1625. She married second Nicholas Hyde on 16 March 1679/80 in Medfield. [2]

Jane's mother Abigail ___ married John Eaton on 5 April 1630 in St. James, Dover, England. [3]

Chase's account of John's early life is unabashedly fictionalized; he suggests he was a Puritan who fell out with his staunchly Catholic English family. [4]

In 1635 Abigail, the wife of John Eaton and widow of Unknown Dammant came to New England on the Elizabeth & Ann with her children Jane Dammand, age nine, Marie Eaton, age four and Thomas Eaton, age one, enrolling as passengers on 13 April 1635 in London. [3][4][5] Her husband John Eaton and son John Dammant also came to New England and the family settled in Dedham. [4]

John Eaton of Dedham made his will on 2 November 1658. Among his heirs were his wife Abigail and John Dammant of Reading, and John Plimpton, to whom he left five pounds each. [6]

Jane Damat, the daughter of "our sister Eaton" of the church at Watertown was received into the church at Dedham on 4 December 1640. [4] [Her brother] John Damat joined on 9 March 1645. [4]

In his will of 22 December 1640 (or 22 January 1640/1), George Alcock of Roxbury gave his servant John Plimpton his time from midsummer. [7]

John was admitted to the church in Dedham on 20 January 1642/3. [8] He was admitted freeman on 10 May 1643. [4] In 1643 he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. (then the Incorporated Artillery Co.). [4]

John bought two acres of meadow in Fowle from Eleazar Lusher of Dedham for five shillings on 20 November 1646. [4]

John was taxed in Medfield in 1652. [4] At the end of 1652 John's estate, which included two cows a calf and a pig, amounted to a meager 46 pounds and his household included six persons. Ten years later his estate was valued at 102 pounds and there were nine people in his family. In 1669 his estate amounted to 238 pounds. [4]

John received 3£ 5s. 2 d. for sweeping the meeting house in 1661 and 1662. He held several minor public offices. He was surveyor of the highways in 1661. He was one of three men to burn the woods for herd walks in 1666. He was constable in 1667. [4]

John was one of the inhabitants of Medfield who signed a 19 October 1664 letter to the General Court stating their loyalty. [9]

At a 4 December 1672 December proprietors' meeting at Pocomtuck (Deerfield), it was decided that John should be allowed to buy land if he would settle there. [4] In the spring of 1673 the Plymptons moved to Deerfield. [4] He was appointed Sergeant there. [4] John's house in Deerfield was a garrison surrounded by palisades. [4]

During King Philip's War the residents of Deerfield fled to Hatfield. [4] John returned to Deerfield in September 1677. [4] He was captured by the Indians [10, "two yrs and one day aft. d. of [son] Jonathan" and "carr. towards Canada and k."] and killed. [4] Benjamin Waite wrote from Albany to his friends in Hatfield on 23 May 1678, "Three of the captives are murdered: old Goodman Plympton, Samuel Foot's daughter, Samuel Russell." [4] "One report says, by burn. at the stake. [10]

Inventory on John's estate was presented by his widow Jane on 24 September 1678; it amounted to only 29 pounds and 11 shilling, including some land in Deerfield. [4]

John Plympton had the signature (reproduced in Chase [4]) of an educated man. The inventory on his estate included books. [4]

Children of John Plympton and Jane Damon:

i. Hannah Plympton was born on 1 March 1645 in Dedham. [11] She married Nathaniel Sutlieffe on 31 January 1664/5 in Medfield. [2] Nathaniel was killed on 19 May 1676 at the Fall's Fight, where he served under Captain Turner. [4] She married second Samuel Harrington of Deerfield in 1677. [4][12] He died on 25 July 1719 in Branford, New Haven, Connecticut. [12][13]

ii. John Plympton was born on 21 Mar 1646 in Dedham. [8][10] He was baptized on 5 April 1646 in Dedham. [4][10] He died on 26 April 1646 in Dedham. [1]

iii. Mary Plympton was born on 9 April 1648 in Dedham. [1] She was baptized on 16 April 1648. [10] She died on 27 November 1736 in Marlborough. [14] She married Nathaniel Johnson on 14 November 1671 in Medfield. [2] Nathaniel, the son of Solomon Johnson, was born on 3 February 1639 in Sudbury. [14] He died on 24 July 1718 in Marlborough. [2][14]

iv. John Plympton was born on 16 Jun 1650. [10] He was baptized on 23 June 1650 in Dedham. [8, s. br. John] He died on 30 January 1703/4 in Medfield. [2] He married Elizabeth Fisher on 2 January 1677/8 in Medfield. [2] She died on 13 May 1694 in Medfield. [2] He married second Sarah Turner on 28 February 1696. [10] She might be the Sarah who married John Metcalf on 30 December 1708 in Medfield. [2]

John was in Captain Moseley's company in Dedham on 12 December 1675. [10][15]

v. Peter Plympton was born in 1651 in Dedham. [1] He was baptized on 7 March 1652 in Dedham. [8, s. br. John] He died on 27 March 1717 in Marlborough. [10][16] He married Mary Munden on 2 July 1677 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts. [17] Mary was the daughter of Abraham. [10]

vi. Joseph Plympton was born on 7 October 1653 in Medfield. He died on 20 June 1702 in Medfield. He married Mary Morse.

viii. Jonathan Plympton was born on 23 November 1657 in Medfield. [2] He was killed by the Indians on 18 September 1675 at Bloody Brook. [4 during King Philip's War][10]

viii. Eleazar Plympton was born on 20 February 1659/60 in Medfield. [2] He died there on 15 July 1660. [2]

ix. Eleazar Plympton was born on 7 May 1661 in Medfield. [2]

x. Lede Plympton was born on 2 February 1662/3 in Medfield. [2] She died there on 14 February 1662/3. [2]

xi. Jane Plympton was born on 3 June 1664 in Medfield. [2] She died there on 12 June 1664. [2]

xii. Henry Plympton was born on 9 January 1665/6 in Medfield. [2] He died there on 4 January 1668. [2]

Endnotes:

1. "Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620–1850," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Dedham.

2. Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts: To the Year 1850 (Boston: New England History Genealogical Society, 1903).

3. "Great Migration 1634–1635, C–F," digitized book, AmericanAncestors.org, originally published as:  Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, Volume II, C–F (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001), 280 (Jane Damon), 403–7 (John Eaton).

4. Levi B. Chase, A Genealogy and Historical Notices of the Family of Plimpton or Plympton in America: and of Plumpton in England (Hartford: Plimpton Mfg. Co. Print., 1884).

5. John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality ... who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600–1700, reprinted (New York: Empire State Book Co., n.d.), 58.

6. William B. Trask, "Abstracts from the Earliest Wills on Record in the County of Suffolk, Mass.," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 9 (1855): 38.

7. "Abstracts of the Earliest Wills Upon Record in the County of Suffolk, MS," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 2 (1848): 104.

8. Don Gleason Hill,  The Records of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, and Admissions to the Church and Dismissals Therein (Dedham: n.p., 1888).

9. Charles H. Morse, "Medfield Memorial," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 13 (1859): 346.

10. James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, 4 vols., (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1860–1862), vol. 3: 447-8.

11. David Pulsifer, "Early Records of Boston," New England Historical Register 8 (1854): 347: Plimton, Hannah dau. of John & Jane borne 1 (1) 1645 Dedham.

12. Bennett Hurd Sutliffe, A Genealogy of the Sutcliffe - Sutliffe Family in America (Hartford: R. S. Peck & Co., 1903), 9–11.

13. "Connecticut: Vital Records (The Barbour Collection), 1630–1870," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org > Branford, p. 77 Harrington, Sam[ue]ll, Sr., d. July 25, 1719.

14. Mrs. Ellwood D. Kimble, "The Solomon Johnson Family," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 11 (1912): 233–43.

15. William B. Trask, "Indian War Papers," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 8 (1854): 239–43.

16. Vital Records of Marlborough, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester: F.P. Rice, 1908).

17. "New England Marriages to 1700," digitized books, AmericanAncestors, originally published as Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015).

18. Alfred L. Holman, Hinsdale Genealogy (Lombard, IL: printed for Alfred Hinsdale Andrews, 1906), 68.

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© A. Buiter 2014

23-Oct-2023 6:39 PM