Founders of Amesbury — 1642

August 7, 2022 | Amesbury, MA

My dad is related to at least 9 of the 18 first settlers of Amesbury, MA, so we had to make a stop in this town. Many children of these families married into the other founding families, which made tracing their ancestry very complex!

From Britannica: Amesbury, town (township), Essex county, northeastern corner of Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the Merrimack River at the New Hampshire border. Settled in 1642 as part of Salisbury, it was named for Amesbury, England, became a separate precinct in 1654, and was incorporated as a township in 1668.

1) Richard Currier and wife Ann Turner — my 10th great grandparents

2) Orlando Bagley — married Sarah Colby, Anthony’s daughter (my 9th great grandaunt). Their son, Orlando, married Dorothy Harvey, daughter of John Harvey, my 9th great grandfather.

3) Anthony Colby — My 10th great grandfather. See Macy-Colby post.

4) John Hoyt — his daughter Frances Hoyt married John Colby, Anthony’s son. John & Frances Hoyt’s son, Deacon Thomas Colby, married Mary Rowell, Thomas Rowell’s daughter and Valentine Rowell’s granddaughter.

5) John Colby — son of Anthony Colby.

6) William Barnes — and his wife Rachael are my 10th great grandparents, two times. 1) Their daughter, Sarah Barnes Rowell (widow of Thomas Rowell, Valentine’s son) married John Harvey —- John & Sarah Harvey are my 9th great grandparents. 2) William & Rachael’s other daughter, Rachael, married William Sargent’s son Thomas — Rachael & Thomas are my 9th great grandparents.

7) George Martin — he and his wife Hannah are my 10th great grandparents. George and Hannah’s daughter Hannah married Ezekiel Worthen — they are my 9th great grandparents. George’s second wife, Susannah Martin, was one of 19 men and women hanged during the Salem Witch Trials (see Salem post).

8) Valentine Rowell — he and his wife, Joanna Pinder, are my 9th great grandparents. Joanna is Henry Pinder’s daughter. (See Ipswich post.) Joanna married second, William Sargent. She married third, Richard Currier.

9) William Sargent — he and his wife, Elizabeth Perkins, are my 10th great grandparents. (Sargent also founded Ipswich — see also Ipswich post.) Married second, Joanna Pinder, my 9th great grandmother. William & Elizabeth’s son, William Sargent, married Anthony Colby’s daughter, Mary — they are my 9th great grandparents. Their daughter Elizabeth, married Samuel Colby, Anthony’s son — they are my 9th great grandparents. Their son, Thomas, married Rachel Barnes.

10) John Weed — his son George (?) married Margerite Worthen, daughter of Ezekiel & Hannah (George Martin’s daughter) Worthen.