Holbrook line: Joseph Morse 1637-1676/77

 This sketch would be about two paragraphs long, I imagine, if I hadn't had a middle of the night thought.  Now I'm wondering if I've stumbled across something interesting, or if it was just a bit of indigestion that prompted this thought.

First, the basics.  Joseph Morse was born April 30, 1637 and died March 10, 1676/1677.  His parents were Joseph and Hester (Esther, Ester) Pierce Morse, and he was born in Watertown, Massachusetts.  He had at least seven siblings, and would have been raised to follow the occupation of his father, a weaver.  It is likely that weaving was a second occupation, to support the family during lean times, and the looms worked primarily when weather and farm chores permitted.  Joseph also would probably have received at least a rudimentary education, perhaps at home because Watertown in the early 1640s may not have had a school yet.   

We know that Joseph married Susannah Shattuck, daughter of William and Susanna (possibly Hayden) Shattuck, on April 12, 1661 in Watertown.  It looks like the young family had at least two of their children in Watertown, before moving to Groton, Massachusetts in 1666. Joseph was considered an original proprietor of Groton, which was founded in 1655 but apparently built up slowly.  He was granted 5 acres as an original proprietor, and in December of 1673, he also had meadow lands on the Pine Plains "near the fordway" of the Nashua River.  He may well have had other land.  We know that he likely had land earlier than the 1673 date because in 1672 he applied for and was admitted as a freeman to the settlement, meaning he owned property and now had the right to vote in matters concerning the town.  

Joseph and Susanna had at least 6 children, one site says 10, during their 15 years of marriage.  The youngest that I have knowledge of would have been just four years old, or possibly five, when Joseph's life came to an end. 

This is where it gets interesting, or at least it was in the middle of the night. Joseph's date of death is variously given, but the Early New England Families Study Project, in a biography of William Shattuck, gives his date of death as March 10, 1676/1677.  The town of Groton, where the Morses were living, was attacked by native Americans on March 9, 1676 and one man was killed, another captured but escaped.  Might this man have been Joseph?  Indications are that the family had gone back to Watertown, but we don't know when that was, and we don't know whether Joseph stayed behind to man one of the five garrisons protecting the town.  Joseph left no will, and an inventory (no inventory, just a record of inventory) gives a date of 1677 and the location of Groton.  So there is a possibility that the inventory was completed until 1677 because that's when people started returning to the burned out town, and that the March 10, 1676 death date is as accurate as someone's memory was.  All that we really know for sure is that he died without a will, on or about March 10, 1676/77 and his property was in Groton at the time of his death.

Joseph's wife, Susannah, married John Fay on July 5, 1678 and had four children with him, including David Fay, another of our ancestors.  Her final marriage was to Thomas Brigham on July 30, 1695. She died March 16, 1716. 

I would love it if someone has researched Joseph Morse's records on site in Massachusetts or in the state archives and has more complete information than I am able to provide.  

The line of descent is 

Joseph Morse-Susannah Shattuck

Esther Morse-Nathaniel Joslin 

Israel Joslin-Sarah Cleveland

Sarah Joslin-Edward Fay

David Fay-Mary or Marcy Perrin

Euzebia Fay-Libbeus Stanard

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants