John Masters

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John Masters (c. 1581–1639)

The origins of the immigrant ancestor John Masters are unknown. He was born about 1581. He died on 21 December 1639 in Boston. He married by about 1606 (if she was the mother of all of his children) Jane Unknown. Jane Masters died on 10 December 1639 in Boston. [1]

John’s correspondence, said to be in excellent handwriting, suggests that before he came to New England he had been in the service of one of the Puritan gentry families in Essex. [2]

John came to Watertown in 1630. As “Mr. John Maisters” he was a freeman on 18 May 1631. In July 1632 John Winthrop described strife in the congregation in Watertown. The separatists were given a day to return and they all did except for John, who had turned his back on the sacrament. John was given an extra day but remained obstinate and was excommunicated. Two weeks later he submitted himself and was accepted back. [2]

John was a tavern keeper and on 3 September 1635 he was licensed to keep an ordinary in Cambridge. [2]

John wrote his will on 19 December 1639. He mentions his wife, his daughter Sarah Dobyson, his daughter Lidya Tabor, his grandchild John Lockwood, Nathaniel Masters, Abraham Masters and his daughter Elizabeth Latham. It is curious that he mentions his wife. Either he was unaware that she had died days before or the death record for Jane Masters is for a different Jane, perhaps a daughter. [2]

Children of John Masters: Names in [3]

i. Unknown Son (possibly) was the father of Nathaniel and Abraham Masters.

ii. Sarah Masters married Unknown Dobyson.

iii. Elizabeth Masters married first Edmund Lockwood. She married second Cary Latham.

iv. Lydia Masters married Philip Tabor by 1639. Philip was born about 1605. He died after 3 June 1671 and probably after 24 February 1671/2 and before 27 April 1682. He married second Jane Unknown by 1669. [7]

Endnotes:

1. David Pulsifer, “Early Records of Boston,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 4 (1850), 181.

2. "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), 1234–6.

3. Frances Mainwaring Caulkins, History of New London, Connecticut (New London: H.T. Utley, 1895), 312.

4. "Great Migration Begins," 1792.

Revised July 13, 2023