Allen line: Ensign John Hitchcock 1670-1751

 Too much information?  Not enough information?  Both of the above apply now that I am looking a little more closely at the life of John Hitchcock.  On the one hand, we have good vital records for his birth, marriage, and death.  His will and inventory are on line.  We know he was an ensign.  But what military service did he have that he would be called ensign, and why would his executors refuse to serve, and well, there are always questions.  

John was the second John Hitchcock to be born, and to die, in Springfield, Massachusetts.  By the time he died, he was connected by blood or marriage to many of the families of Springfield.  His parents were John and Hannah Chapin Hitchcock, and the Chapins also were very early Springfield residents.  So John grew up with not only a large family of brothers and sisters, but also aunts and uncles and cousins galore.  One grandfather lived until John was 6 years old and his two grandmothers died when John was in his teens, so he had roots in this town and a sense of permanence.  Except for military reasons, he may have never left Springfield.

As the oldest son of his father, he would have learned to read and write at the local school, and then he would have been his father's shadow, learning all he could of how to run a farm that was spread out over several locations, observing his father's business interests, and watching his father perform the civic duties of selectman, among others.  He also would have been part of the training band from the time he was 16, and he would have grown up with memories of sting in the garrison during the time of King Philip's War, and watching the town rebuild after the sad burning of 2/3 of the town.  

It's little wonder, then that he caught the eye and captured the heart of Mary Ball, daughter of Samuel and Mary Graves Ball.  The Balls were settlers of Springfield just a little later than the Hitchcocks and the Chapins, but they were there by September 24, 1691, when John and Mary were married.   John was just 21 and Mary not quite eighteen when they married, so it's likely that they lived with one family or the other for the first years of their marriage.  John and Mary are credited with as many as eleven children, so they added to the many cousins already living in town. 

John was not as active, or at least not as political, as his father in civic affairs.  He was selected as constable, as fence-viewer, and as surveyor of the highways at various times during his life.  Sometimes it's a little confusing in the Springfield records because it's hard to know for sure which John Hitchcock Jr was being mentioned.  John;s father John died in 1712 so one would think he would have then become John or John Sr.  And by the middle 1730's, there is John Jr. again.  Is this our John or his son John?  I'm not always sure.

I'm also not sure why John is listed as a colonial soldier from Springfield in the year 1709.  This was during the period of the second of four wars known as Queen Anne's Wars, in which the British and the French were fighting for control of what became Canada.  The French had Indian allies and being pretty much on the frontier, Springfield men would have been expected to join the fight.  He was apparently paid for a period of service in 1709, but I don't know how long he served or how far from home the British soldiers might have gone.  (Remember, John was a British colonial soldier.)

We are extremely fortunate to have a copy of John's will and inventory available on American Ancestors website.  Well, we have most of his will.  He adds a rather odd codicil referring to what he had left his daughters, but the will only refers to one daughter, Mary.  A closer examination shos that we have pages 1, 2, 3, 6 and a codicil (written 4 1/2 years after the will), but pages 4 and 5 seem to be missing.  

John had a lot of land to dispose of, various parcels on both sides of the Connecticut river, rights to the commons, a tract of land he inherited from his father including land granted for service at Turner Falls, and more. He gave his wife Mary good portions of land, plus a room in the dwelling house, 2 cows, parts of the bujldings on his home lot, as much room as son Samuel could spare in the cellar (Samuel got one of the houses).  Son John got what appears to be pretty much a double portion, but sons Samuel and Nathaniel were provided for, also.  His daughter Mary received 25 pounds and because of those missing pages, his other daughters probably also received something.  My understanding of the codicil is not very good, but it looks like he is giving more land to Samuel.  Whether this is land he acquired after he wrote his will or whether he has taken land from John and Nathaniel, I can't say.  

For whatever reason, his sons Nathaniel and Samuel refused to serve as executors, as did his wife Mary, finding it "inconvenient" to serve.  There are no actual distribution papers in the probate record, so I'm not sure whether John stepped in or whether someone else was appointed to oversee the distribution.  There is, however, a wonderful inventory, very detailed down to the number of spoons in the house.  But to me, tghe treasure is that the appraisers didn't just say "old books"; they listed the volumes that composed the Hitchcock library.  Because I'm a book lover, this just melted my heart.  He had "One Old Province Law Book", a Testament,  Mr. Henry on the Sacrament, (Doc?) Edwards's Whole Concern of Man, Mr. Dyar's Believers Golden Chain", Mr. Flavel's Token for Mourners. an Old Psalm Book, Mr Williams' History of His Captivity, Dr Cotton Mather on the Christian Religion, Assembly's Catechism, Proofs, The Second (     ), Monmouth on Military Discipline, Countryman's Guide to Good Husbandry, a Farrier's Book, Mr. Sergeants on the Causes and Dangers of Delusions in Religion, one spelling book, an old Bible, and 10 pamphlets.  We can almost take a walk through his mind, looking at this list, and we can get a clue as to how his children were raised, also.  

John died July 4, 1751 and Mary died October 14, 1760.  I didn't find a will for Mary, so apparently all of John's wishes were carried out as far as the final dispensation of what he had allotted Mary.  I enjoyed learning about John but of course there's that question of the military service, nagging at me.  But we know he served his country, raised a large family, acquired land and personal property, served his town and loved his God, and worked to learn what he needed to know to prosper.  He's a good ancestor to have on our side.

The line of descent is:

John Hitchcock-Samuel Ball

Samuel Hitchock-Ruth Stebbins

Margaret Hitchcock-Richard Falley

Samuel Falley-Ruth Root

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbreook

Their descendants