Holbrook line: Joseph Rockwood 1671-1718

 Mendon, Massachusetts was the home of many of our early Holbrook and Holbrook related ancestors.  Joseph Rockwood is one of those who was born and who died there.  The small village was closely connected by blood, and if Joseph wasn't already connected to a settler there, his descendants soon would be.  

Joseph was born May 27, 1671 to John and Joanna Ford Rockwood (often seen as Rockett or Rocket in this generation).  Some of his great grandparents had been immigrants to Massachusetts, so Joseph already had roots here when he was born.  Even so, Mendon was a frontier town and as such, was one of the first towns to suffer when King Philip's War broke out in 1675. Several residents were killed and the mill was burned.  What was left of the town was burned by natives, and those families that were still in Mendon mostly moved to Medfield or to Braintree.  Joseph's parents chose Medfield, about 15 miles northeast of Mendon, and roughly halfway to Braintree.  Unfortunately, the town of Medfield was also burned during the war and it's possible that the family went to Braintree, or elsewhere, for a time.

By 1678, the town was starting to rebuild and it seems that the Rockwood family returned about this time, so most of Joseph's childhood memories would have been of the town as it was newly rebuilt, although it's also likely that he had traumatic memories of his earliest childhood.  

Joseph married at a relatively young age.  He was about 18 years old when he married Mary Hayward, daughter of Samuel and Mehitable Thompson Hayward.  She was also just 18, if the couple married in 1689 as Torrey's Supplement indicates.  The Haywards were also Mendon residents so the two had grown up knowing each other.  I don't know if this statement applies in this particular case, but it's been said that those men who married young came from relatively well to do families, as they didn't have to work so hard to establish themselves first.  

Joseph and Mary had at least ten children together, starting in 1690 and ending in 1711.  Mary was kept busy with her family and doing all the chores that women of those days were responsible for.  Joseph was busy raising crops and doing whatever else he might have done to support his family.  He died before his father so didn't inherit anything from that estate, although of course John may have helped him with a land purchase or gift of land when Joseph married, or early in the marriage.

There is not a lot to be gleaned about Joseph's life.  It is quite possible that he served in the military, on one or more of the military expeditions against the French and Indians that were part of the ongoing wars of that time period.  He may, for example, have gone to Fort Royal or other locations in what became Nova Scotia.  As of this date, I have no definitive information about that.  

Joseph and his family regularly attended church, because his name is on a petition to have his "rate" (tax) assigned to a church that was nearer to him than the church in Mendon.  This petition was denied, until eventually, years after Joseph's death, it was agreed to.  

We are fortunate to have Joseph's will and inventory, but it leaves me wondering.  Is there a page missing from the will?  There is none of the usual language about being of sound mind, leaving one's soul to God, and so on.  Nor is there a mention of his wife, Mary, who according to what I think I know, outlived him by four years.  

All of the children are given either land (the boys) or money, generally 8 to 10 pounds, to the girls.  Most of the value is in the land, and the total is about 545 pounds.  One son had been given "working tools", and that carries a value of twelve pounds so it may be that Joseph had a trade of some sort.  His livestock is all lumped together in one lot, so it's hard to know whether this was stock raised purely for his family's use, or whether he also would have had an income from it.  He did have some books, and a gun and two powder horns. 

Joseph died at the age of 48, on November 18, 1718.  We don't know the cause of death.  Mary still had young children to raise, but it appears that she died in 1722.  I am left wondering what happened to the children.

Fun fact: Joseph and Mary are ancestors of William Howard Taft, President of the United States.  Taft is therefore our cousin!

The line of descent is:

Joseph Rockwood-Mary Hayward

John Rockwood-Deborah Thayer

Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson

Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell

Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants