John Mayo, Immigrant 1629-1688

First, let me say this.  Our ancestor John Mayo is not the Reverend John Mayo of Boston.  He is not the John Mayo of Barnstaple.  He is not the Deacon John Mayo of Roxbury.  He is, however, the father of the Deacon John Mayo of Roxbury.

Our John Mayo was born probably at or near Malling, Kent, England in 1629,  His parents were Thomas Mayo and Elizabeth, as yet unidentified although I have seen her name given as Wing.  John came to America when he was about 3 years old, probably in 1633, with his stepfather, Robert Gamlin, and his mother, Elizabeth.

John was more fortunate than some children who came to America because his father had left him some property, presumably in England.  His stepfather was appointed power of attorney to sell it, in 1641, when John was 12.  It is speculation as to what happened to that money but perhaps it was used to set him up in a trade or apprenticeship.  The family settled near Stony River, a part of Rochester. As he was growing up, John had four half brothers and sisters, and one can hope it was a good, loving family.  John was not mentioned in his step father's 1663 will, perhaps because he had his own father's bequest or perhaps because Robert had granted him something outright, earlier.

I have not been able to locate much information about John's early life.  It is believed he lived in Roxbury from the time he arrived in America, but that may not be correct, especially if he was an apprentice somewhere.  We do know he was in Roxbury on May 24, 1654, when he married Hannah Graves, the daughter of John and Judith Alward Graves, and he apparently lived there all the days of his married life, for he died there, also.  He purchased land near Spring Street in Roxbury in 1657, just a few years after he married.  This sounds like he was a townsman more than a farmer, so he may have had a trade or may have been a merchant of some kind (speculation only).

Just about all we know of his life in Roxbury is that he had a large family, either nine or ten children.  We also know that when he died April 28, 1688, he had an estate valued at almost 509 pounds.  This wasn't a fortune, but it wasn't a pitiful amount, either.  (Clarification:  I haven't located a copy of the will or the inventory, but apparently someone has).

There is a book about John Mayo and his descendants at the Allen County Public Library, that appears to be about our John Mayo.  I will update this post when I get a chance to look at it, if there is additional information to help us understand this ancestor.

 One more find, but I cannot state with certainty that he is our John Mayo:  There is a John Mayo who served in King Phillip's War, in 1675, under Captain Mosely.  Our John Mayo's son John would have been pretty young although it is possible that it was John Jr. Our John would have been less than 50 years old, so it is possible it was our John.  It is also possible it was another John Mayo entirely.  At any rate, it's a reminder that these were perilous times that our ancestors lived, and we should be grateful for their lives.

Our line of descent is:

John Mayo-Hannah Graves
Mehitable Mayo-Samuel Morris
Abigail Morris-John Perrin
Benjamin Perrin-Mary
Mary or Mercy Perrin-David Fay
Luceba Fay-Libbeus Stannard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Update May 24, 2020  John Mayo, Hannah Graves, and Mehitable Mayo are now "former ancestors".  See my post about Samuel Morris for a further explanation.  I am leaving this post ;up so it can possibly help someone else.