Return to main file

122. Robert Parish (Parris) (say 1635–1709)

Robert Parish was born say, 1635, based on the age of his first wife. He died between 21 August and 5 September 1709. He married first Seaborne Cromell on 22 May 1663 in Chelmsford [1, 282] Seaborne was the daughter of William Batchelder and the widow of John Cromwell. She was born about 1635. [2] Seaborne, the wife of Robert, died on 28 September 1664 in Chelmsford. [1, 418] He married second Mercy Crispe on 11 April 1667 in Chelmsford. [1, 282] He married third Elizabeth Blanchard about 1685. [2] Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Hannah (Hills) of Dunstable. [2]

123. Mercy Crispe (d. by 1686), daugher of Benjamin Crispe

Mercy Crispe, the daughter of Benjamin and Bridget Crispe, died before 1 April 1686. [3]

Savage conjectured that Robert was the son of the Thomas Parish who arrived on the Increase in 1635. This is not true. [2]

On 28 October 1670 Robert Parish was charged with selling liquor to the Indians and on 7 November John Waldo testified that Robert kept his son-in-law [stepson] John Cromwell very badly in apparel prior to remarrying. John Cromwell, age 15, testified that he had lived for years with Robert and that Robert sold rum to the Indians. The court found Robert guilty and ordered John Cromwell to live with friends in Charlestown or Boston and found Robert guilty. [4]

Robert signed a 1673 petition for Dunstable to be incorparated as a town. [5, 9]

After King Philip's War a party of 60 "praying Indians" were put under the care of Jonathan Tyng and his assistant Robert Parish. [5, 25]

Rober was a selectman in Dunstable in 1682. [5, 27] He was a representative to the general court from Dunstable in 1689. [5, 212]

There is a tradition that Robert, his wife and his eldest daughter were massacred by Indians during Queen Anne's War. [5, 34] It has no basis in fact. [2]

Robert moved from Dunstable to Rumney Marsh (Chelsea) about 1705. On 21 August 1709 Robert Parish of "Rumbledemarsh" and formerly of Dunstable made his will. He named his wife Elizabeth and his daughters Marcy Richardson and Hannah Goff. The will was probated on 5 September 1709. [2]

Children of Robert Parish and Seaborn Cromell:

i. Thomas Parish was born on 23 July 1663 in Chelmsford. [1, 104] He died on 18 April 1668 in Groton. [6, 2:250]

Children of Robert Parish and Mercy Crispe:

ii. Mercy Parish was born on 5 January 1667/8 in Groton. She died on 25 April 1743 in Chelmsford. She married first Josiah Richardson. She married second Jonathan Butterfield, Jr.

iii. Anna (Hannah) Parish was born on 2 April 1669 in Groton. [6, 1:167] She died on 8 June 1671, age about two, in Chelmsford. [1]

iv. Robert Parish was born on 20 November 1670 in Groton. [6, 1:167] He probably died young.

v. Anna Parish was born on 10 September 1672 in Groton. [6, 1:167] She probably died young and the Hannah who married John Goff was a younger sister.

vi. Hannah Parish was born about 1676. She married John Goff of Boston in 1699 (?) in Chelmsford. [1, 289, record torn] John and Hannah are buried together in the Old Bedford Cemetery in Bedford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. Their joint headstone says that she died on 28 January 1748, age 74 and he died on 18 September 1748, age 68. [7]

Hannah and John were the parents of the famous French and Indian War soldier Colonel John Goff. [2]

Endnotes:

1. Vital Records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1914).

2. Walter Goodwin Davis, Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, vol. 3 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1996), 79–83.

3. Frederick C. Warner, "Mary Green and Mercy Parish, Daughters of Benjamin and Bridget Crispe of Watertown," The American Genealogist 62 (1987), 25–27.

4. "Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Files, 1649–1675," database with images, AmericanAncestors, vol. 2: 112.

5. Elias Nason, History of the Town of Dunstable ... (Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1877).

6. Vital Records of Groton, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols. (Salem: Essex Institute, 1926, 1927).

7. "Hannah Parish Goffe," Findagrave, 67913985.

Revised 21-May-2022

©2019 A. Buiter