Holbrook line: John Tidd 1655-1743

 John was the son of John and Rebecca Wood Tidd, and the grandson of John and Margaret Greenleaf Tidd.  All of these families lived in Woburn, Massachusetts; both his father and his grandfather were immigrants.  Because Woburn kept decent records, and because those records have survived, we know a little more about John than about some of our other ancestors.

John was born in Woburn February 26, 1655, the second child and first son of his parents.  He had at least 6 siblings, plus there were likely cousins of his living in the town, also, so he grew up surrounded by family.  Woburn was a small village; in 1790 the population was less than 1800 and during John's lifetime the population may have been only a few hundred people.  Everyone likely knew everyone then, and church attendance, at least in the early years, would have been expected of all. This was a Puritan town, so we can expect that John learned to read and write.  He had a few books in his inventory when he died, so he probably read what he needed to during his lifetime.  

Before John married in 1678, John had taken on some of the aspects of adulthood.  He served in King Philip's war, specifically at the garrison of Groton in December 1675, when he was paid 3-06-00.  Compared to other men on the page, it would seem that he had been there longer than some, who were paid considerably less.  Groton was about 30 miles west and north of Woburn, and was attacked by natives in March of 1676.  We don't know whether John was still there, or whether he was called back to duty when the attacks came (the town of Groton was for the most part abandoned after the attacks, at least by the women and children), but he was serving somewhere in June of 1676.  We do know he was a sergeant in the militia from 1694 to 1737, but don't know if he was a part of any of the recurrent wars of that time period. 

John's other milestone on the way to marriage was learning a trade.  He was a cooper, like his father, and as the oldest son would have probably begun his training at a young age.  We don't know, however, whether he worked in his father's business until his father died in 1703, or whether he was able to start his own business earlier.  (It's always possible that one or both men worked for someone else, instead of owning their own shop(s), but I've not found an indication of a larger operation.

John married Elizabeth Fifield, daughter of William and Mary (maiden name unknown) Fifield on January 12, 1678 in Woburn.  She was from Rockingham, New Hampshire. Rockingham is about 45 miles directly north of Woburn, so it's something of a mystery as to how the two met (Elizabeth's father died in Rockingham in 1700, so the family had not moved south.)  John and Elizabeth had at least 7 children together, with one daughter dying as an infant.  And yes, they had a son John, which means at least four generations of men in the same town with the same name!  

John was a selectman for the town.  It could be his father who was selectman in 1697 and 1701, but it was definitely this John who served as selectman in 1709 and 1717.  He also served on various committees to help find a minister for the church and to petition the general court to verity the land grant of 2000 acres that had been made earlier in the town's history, but not acted on by the town.  They were in need of land to expand on by 1716.   

Elizabeth died October 6, 1732, when she was 75 years old, and John died August 3, 1743 at the age of 88.  He left a will, in which he identified himself as a cooper.  He owned several parcels of land in "Willmington" at the time of his death, which was formed partly from land formerly included in Woburn.  I didn't see a mention of a house or dwelling in the will, so it's possible that his dwelling had already been disposed of and he was living with one or another of his children.  The inventory isn't totaled but included farm animals and household goods.  I hope it says "black mare" and not "black man", but my eyes won't assure me it's one or the other.  

It seems that John Tidd was a good man, a soldier when he needed to be, a husband and father, a civil servant, and (probably) a business man of sorts.  He's a good person to have in the family!

The line of descent is

John Tidd-Elizabeth Fifield

Elizabeth Fifield-Joseph Stevens

Elizabeth Stevens-William Snow

Lucy Snow-Josiah Whittemore

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants