Holbrook line: John Whittemore 1638ish-1694

 I did quite a bit of research for this post, and then found almost all of it tied up quite neatly in an article "The Whittemore Family in America" in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 106, page 89.  So although I've found other sources, if you are interested the above article is the place to go for a "correct", more scholarly version of what I will write.  As my reader knows, I tend to speculate a little and try to get into our ancestor's shoes, if I can, or at least, see what his or her neighbors would have seen.  

John was actually an immigrant.  He was baptized February 11, 1638 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, and was probably born shortly before that date.  His parents were Thomas and Hannah Chawkley Whittermore, and when they immigrated to New England in 1642, they brought their five children with them.  Five more children were born to this couple after their arrival, so John had as many as nine siblings to grow up with.

John was fortunate to be taught a trade, that of wheelwright.  I've not found who his master was, but the family lived mainly in Malden so it's possible that is where his apprenticeship took place.  However, he was married in Charlestown, so perhaps that is where he learned his trade.  His first wife was Mary Upham, daughter of Deacon John and Elizabeth Slade Upham.  Mary had seven children before dying 12 days after the birth of her last son, likely of complications from childbirth.  With seven young children to care for, John remarried quickly, to Mary Miller, who was the daughter of Rev. John and Lydia Miller, on November 8, 1677.  John and the second Mary had six children together, and she out-lived him by many years.

John began acquiring land in Charlestown as early as 1665 and perhaps sooner.  By 1666, he was able to sell a property in Charlestown that included a dwelling house with outhouses, barn, orchard, and garden, plus 42 acres of land for "a valuable sum".  This may have been his father's estate; his father had died in 1661 and his mother remarried in 1663, so this may have been John's inheritance.  

He was able to purchase 15 acres of land in Cambridge in 1670, another 60 acres in 1671, and 20 acres in Cambridge in 1673. By 1681 he was considered a proprietor of Charlestown and received smaller parcels of land in land divisions.  He seems to have moved to Watertown for a few years about 1690, and agreed to help pay for repairs to the Watertown church in 1694, apparently shortly before his death.  However, in his estate records he is consistently noted as being "of Charlestown", so the Watertown John may be another John, or it may be that John was there for only a short time.

John served on juries, gave testimony in some trials, and had various civic jobs within Charlestown.  In 1668 he was a fence viewer, in 1675 a hog reeve, in 1678 a tythingman, in 1679 fence viewer again, a surveyor of highways in 1681, and constable in 1684 and again in 1692, indicating he was no longer in Watertown, if he had ever indeed been there.  These positions indicate that he was respected but not necessarily in the very top tier of citizens of the town, since he seems to have never been a selectman.

John died December 8, 1694, seemingly without a will.  He would have been about 58 years old, so perhaps his was a sudden death.  I found no mention in the estate papers of his wife or her support, but there is a distribution of 234 pounds to be divided among the children or their guardians, and son Thomas apparently got the house and land.  Some of the writing was difficult for me to read so I may have missed something, since Mary would have needed support in some fashion.  The inventory had a value of 333 pounds.  It included books and household goods, as well as livestock and farm goods and equipment.  I didn't see mention of guns, or of any servants or slaves.  

John seems to have made a good life for himself, coming as such a young child to a new colony, and learning a trade, then raising 13 children (well, the youngest was just three when his father died, but he was provided for in the estate, anyway), and participating in church and community life.  We can be proud to be his descendants.

The line of descent is:

John Whittemore-Mary Upham

John Whittemore-Elizabeth Annable

John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd

John Whittemore-Lydia Clough

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