Holbrook line: Elder John Strong, Immigrant

I just have to love John Strong.  He was financially successful and although not very well-educated,  he rose to become Elder in his church, he had a not very desirable profession, and, he had 18 children.  Two were with his first wife (one died shortly after birth, as did the mother), and 16 were with his second wife, Abigail Ford.  For Abigail, I have the deepest admiration and respect also.  16 children!  But the best thing about John Strong is that there is a lot of documented information about him, too much to put into this blog post.  This will be the condensed version, taken largely from Robert Charles Anderson's Great Migration Project. 

John was born about 1605 (some say 1610), in Chard, Somerset, England.  His parents were John Strong and Eleanor, most likely Eleanor Deane, although there is some confusion about that.  Also there is confusion about when John came to New England.  It is possible that he first came in 1630 and then returned to England to marry Margery Deane in 1632.  She was the daughter of William Deane.  Whether or not John had earlier been to America, the family immigrated together in 1635 on the Hopewell.  The family included son John, and probably an infant who was perhaps born at sea, or shortly after arrival in New England.  Margery also died, and John was left with a one year old son to raise. 

John was at this time living in Hingham, and he soon married Abigail Ford, who was the daughter of Thomas Ford and probably Elizabeth Charde.  Abigail was only 16 when she married, but had lived in Massachusetts since about 1630 and at least knew a bit about life in the Colony, and probably knew how to run a household. 

There doesn't seem to be an original source for this, but several secondary sources report that he was a tanner.  This was a smelly, hard, time consuming job, but someone had to do it and John apparently did it well.  Basically it involved turning the skins of domestic animals into leather, to be used for  anything from saddles to clothing. 

While skins were in process, John apparently had time to do a lot of other things also.  One of the things he did was move.  By 1638 he was in Taunton, where he served as Deputy to Plymouth Colony General Court at least 6 times.  He was also on various petit juries, and a constable while at Taunton. 

By 1647 the family had moved to Windsor, Connecticut, where he again was on the petit jury, and a constable.  Then, in 1661 he moved the family once more to Northampton, north on the Connecticut River, in Massachusetts.  Here he was chosen ruling elder of the church, and as such, assisted in the installation of the pastor when one was finally obtained in 1663. Although I haven't found supporting documentation, others have made the claim that he helped protect Northampton during King Philip's War in 1675-76.  He would have been old to have actually left the town with the militia, but he may well have stayed behind to help the colonists who hadn't left their homes.

John had been granted, or purchased, land in each of the villages he had lived in, but all of the land was apparently gone, sold to his sons, when John died in 1699. He provided for his daughters in his will, but charged their bequests with money he had already given them, down to the last shilling, it appears.  Abigail had died earlier, on July 6, 1688, at the age of 74.  She had 16 children, and still lived into her seventies, which makes her a very strong woman, to my way of thinking.  When John died, his estate was valued at about 210 pounds, with 61 pounds of debts charged against it.  With 16 children raised and provided for, and a testimony of a godly life, I would say "Well lived, John Strong".

The line of descent is

John Strong-Abigail Ford
Thomas Strong-Mary Hewett
Maria Strong-Samuel Judd
Elizabeth Judd-Ebenezer Southwell
Eunice Southwell-Medad Pomeroy
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants