Holbrook line: John Clough 1648-1718

 John Clough (also found as Cluff, and pronounced as Cluff) was a first generation ancestor.  His parents, John and Jane (possibly Sanders  or possibly Dummer) Clough, came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 and settled in Salisbury, Essex County.  This is at the very tip of northeastern Massachusetts, where the border now touches New Hampshire.  It's a seacoast town, and would have been a good location to start a new town and to raise a family.

Our John was one of at least 8 siblings, and was the first son.  As such, one might have expected him to follow the occupation of his father, a house carpenter, but John is referred to as a yeoman in his will.  He probably had some carpentry skills, also, just from helping his father as a young boy, but he seems to have preferred the farming life. He did, however, follow his father in civic duties, serving as a selectman for the town in 1695, 1696. 1700, 1702, 1703 and 1705.  It would be interesting to understand why he was chosen for the position some of those years, and not others.  Was there conflict, or did he merely wish to take some time for his family?

He took the oath of allegiance and fidelity in 1677, and was made a freeman in 1691, which were fairly routine actions, but part of the process of becoming eligible to serve. 

 John married Mercy Page, daughter of  John and Mary Marsh Page of Haverhill, on November 13, 1674, at Salisbury.  These two towns are only about 12 miles apart, and depending on the location of each of the families, they may have been nearer neighbors than 12 miles because town boundaries stretched far.  She was about six years younger than John, which was not an unusual age spread at the time.  

John and Mercy appear to be somewhat rare in this time frame, at least as far as our family goes, in that it doesn't seem that their life was radically affected by King Philip's War.  I've not found his name, nor for that matter, that of other Salisbury men, on lists of soldiers during the war, and Salisbury doesn't seem to have been attacked or possibly even raided during the conflict.  Perhaps the location on the coast protected them.  We can wonder, though, how the witch trials in Salem, which was about 40 miles away, might have affected the family.  Surely if nothing else, this is a topic of whispered conversation between the adults of the family, and a time to pray. 

John and Mercy had at least 12 children together, which would keep a yeoman busy.  Mercy joined the church in 1691.  There doesn't seem to be a record of John joining the church, but many of the early church records have been lost so it's entirely possible that he was a member.  At any rate, he would have been expected to attend church and to support the pastor whether or not he was in full communion with the church body.  Their sons, at least, would likely have been taught to read and write, and probably the girls would have been taught to read, because is was expected that everyone would be able to read the Bible, if nothing else.  If we judge by the Biblical names he gave all of his children (Benoni, Mary, John, Cornelius, Caleb, Joseph, Sarah, Jonathan, Mercy, Moses, Aaron, and Tabitha), and by the language in his will, John was certainly a devout man. 

John may have sensed that he was nearing the end of his life in 1715, when he wrote his will, but he lived until April 19, 1718.  I was excited when I found the will but a bit disheartened to note on the front page "Inventory Missing".  I guess the glass is half full.  In his will, he leaves everything to his wife during her widowhood and also leaves her some property to dispose of as she wishes.  (That was, in my opinion, a smart move because it would encourage her children to continue caring for her, in hopes that they would receive some of her small estate.) He left land or money to each of his children, but it appears that his youngest sons, Moses and Aaron, received the most.  It's possible that the older children had already received gifts from him.  Mercy died in 1719; there is a probate record for her that disposes of her goods and land to her children and grandchildren.   

John is another of the ancestors in our line who worked hard and raised a large family and helped to settle the country.  

The line of descent is 

John Clough-Mercy Page

Benoni Clough-Hannah Merrill

Benjamin Clough-Faith Hart

Lydia Clough-John Whittemore

Joisah Whittemore-Lucy Snow

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants