Holbrook line: John Clough, Immigrant, 1613-1691

Oh, how I love this ancestor of ours!  Why, you may ask?  The primary reason is that there is a lot of information about him, more than I can use, and so research isn't needed.  I'm just compiling some of what I've found here.  For more information, go to Robert Charles Anderson's Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-35, or to "The John Clough Genealogical Society" on-line.  There, you will find more details about his story than I can use here. 

Even though there is a lot of information about him, he is another one of those "origin unknown" men.  I have temporarily listed his parents as John Clough and Susanna, but that is not documented at all, so far as I can tell.  This "fantasy father", as I call him, is reputed to have died at Jamestowne, Va., so if it could be proven, there would surely be an interesting story there. 

He is believed to have arrived in 1635 on the ship Elizabeth, although others say he may have arrived in 1634.  There were two John Cloughs in Massachusetts Bay Colony at the same time, so the matter may be debated until reasonable proof is found.  I'm saying he arrived in 1634 because there are references in 1638 to him having served either as an apprentice or as an indentured servant for four years, and he was released from that relationship then. 

John was a house carpenter and also seems to have been some sort of sawyer, because he was asked to help make up 12,000 feet of merchantable boards in 1673.  The two occupations would have worked well together; perhaps he prepared the wood for the homes he built. His first residence was at Ipswich but he was in Salisbury, Essex County, by 1639.  His house lot is shown on a map dated to about 1640, although his name is not on a list of first settlers that I found.  Surely his talents would have been needed, in building homes for the families that would settle there.  Salisbury is on the most northern of the towns in Massachusetts, right on the Atlantic Ocean.  If you go further north, you're in New Hampshire.  It would have been a very pretty location, as well as practical because there was also a river there. 

John served on various juries as required by law but he doesn't seem to have been generally active in civic affairs.  He was the constable in 1662 and served as some sort of arbiter in 1679.  He married Jane, whose last name is unknown, sometime in or before 1642, and the two had seven known children.  Jane died in Salisbury on January 16, 1679/80.  John waited seven years and then married Martha Blaisdell Bowden Cilley.  They had no children.  John died at Salisbury on July 26, 1691.  He left a will because Robert Charles Anderson has had access to it, but it isn't in the Essex County probate records that are on line.  However, Anderson reports that his estate was valued at 284 pounds, 8 shillings, of which 215 pounds was real estate, and also reports that his inventory included books.  He provided for his second wife in his will, and also mentioned children and grand children. 

Apparently not much is known about his religious beliefs, or his education (he did sign his will), or whether he was involved in any type of militia during his earlier years.  There was a garrison in town, so presumably he would have at least helped defend the garrison, in case of attack.  He may even have been involved in its construction.  He is another of our mostly unsung heroes who helped build and protect the first settlements in New England.  Thank you, sir!

The line of descent is:

John Clough-Jane
John Clough-Mercy Page
Benoni Clough-Hannah Merrill
Benjamin Clough-Faith Hart
Lydia Clough-John Whittemore
Josiah 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