Holbrook line: John Larkin 1640-1678

This man should be in my husband's line, but as far as I know John is my ancestor only.  But husband should at least have a deep and heartfelt liking for the man, because he was a turner by trade.  His father was a turner, also, and John passed his tools on to his sons so they could continue the trade also.  A turner was someone who worked on a wood lathe, making whatever was needed (his father made wheels and it's possible that's what John did, too).  It's interesting to find a family where the family business was passed from father to son like this.

To start at the beginning, John was the son of Edward and Joanna Butler Larkin (mother's name is not certain; some say her name was Cutler or Cutter,  This genealogy stuff is never easy).  Edward and Joanna were immigrants but John was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, sometime on or before March 10, 1640, which is his baptismal date.  He was the oldest son, one of at least seven children of the couple, which is why he received the tools and training from his father. 

John married Joanna Hale, daughter of Robert and Joanna Cutter Hale on November 9, 1664 in Charlestown, and the couple set up their home there.  Actually, John apparently already had his own home in 1658, when he was listed on a tax list in Charlestown along with the notation 0-4-0.  That may or may not mean that he was taxed 4 shillings, which was more than some and less than other residents of the town on this list. 

John and Joanna had at least six children together, but their time together was regrettably short.  John reportedly died of smallpox on February 17, 1678.  Although I haven't been able to document his cause of death, there is good reason to believe this is accurate because it's known that a great epidemic hit Boston and surrounding areas in 1678.  The wonder is that, as far as I know, no one else in the family died of the disease.  Other families were not so "lucky", to lose just one family member. 

In between his marriage and his death, not much is known about John.  I did locate a book, "From Deference to Defiance" that lists John as a constable in 1673, but he seems not to have been otherwise involved in public service.  Roger Thompson, the author of the book mentioned, would likely have mentioned him had he been in serious trouble with the courts, so he probably complied with the laws and likely attended church regularly.  That, and his trade of turning is all that I could find about him. 

That is, until I located his will on Ancestry.  That's where I learned that his son Edward was to have a double portion of the estate, plus John's turning tools, if he became a turner.  If not, son John was to have them, if he became a turner. 

Joanna was left her widow's third, plus partial control of the estate until the children were old enough to receive their bequests.  Edward, the oldest, was just 12 when his father died, and Sarah, the youngest, was just a year old.  Joanna had her hand's full with six children, but remained single for 7 years, when she married William Dodge of Beverly, Massachusetts. 

John left his family enough money to live on, so Joanna probably felt less pressure to remarry quickly than some other widows.  John's estate was appraised with a value of over three hundred poounds, as nearly as I can tell.  When it was re-appraised in 1691, so Edward could receive at least part of his inheritance, it was noted that there was a dwelling house, wharf and warehouse.  There was also an old boat, which perhaps wasn't so old when John had it.  The picture I have in my mind is that he was a turner, yes, but also a merchant of sorts.  Whether he sold his own goods to other towns and villages, or whether he did some trading, I'm not sure as there is much of the inventory that I can't make out.  However, this is not the inventory of someone just getting by.  I was pleased to see that there was mention of books in the inventory, so he or someone in his family must have been literate. 

It looks like the final settlement of the estate didn't occur until 1698, when some of the children petitioned to receive their share.  Among the names on the document are David and Sarah Larkin Fay.  Sarah, the youngest child, was now 21 and there was no legal reason why the estate could not be divided as John had planned.  Joanna, John's widow, had died in 1694, between the time Edward claimed some of his inheritance and the time the estate was finally divided.

It's been fun to find this story.  I love the father to son to son trade, and I love knowing that John was relatively successful. But most of all, with my hsuband really enjoying learning to "turn" on his new lathe, I love hearing it hum and thinking back to the way it would have been done when foot pedals were the means of turning.  The sawdust probably smells the same! 

The line of descent is:

John Larkin-Joanna Hale
Sarah Larkin-David Fay
Edward Fay-Sarah Joslin
David Fay-Mary Perrin
Euzebia or Luceba Fay-Libbeus Stanard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants