Robert Smith

1626-1693 · Topsfield MA

Born 1626

Died 1693

Children include Amy

Robert Smith testified in a civil suit in 1659, when his age was given as thirty three, so he was born about 1626. In an earlier lawsuit of 1655 he gave evidence about something that happened on his voyage to New England. From that testimony he seems to have come from near Boston in Lincolnshire, and to have crossed in 1638 as the apprentice of a Mr. Whittingham, at about twelve. A Robert Smith was baptised at Boston in 1626, but that child was buried within a year.

The 1659 deposition says he had been living with Mrs. Tuttle, the mother of Simon Tuttle, at Ipswich "eight or nine years ago." In 1652 he and Edmund Bridges were witnesses in an Ipswich suit. He married Mary French, a daughter of Thomas and Mary French of Ipswich, before March 1656/7, when both of them testified in an action brought by Henry Kemball against Thomas Smith and others.

Within a few years they moved to Rowley Village, which was then closely tied to Topsfield and later became the town of Boxford. In 1673 some of the villagers tried to join the village to Rowley, and Robert Smith headed the petition to the General Court against it. He took the oath of allegiance in 1678. When Mr. Capen became minister of Topsfield in 1684, Robert's wife was one of the members in full communion.

His children were Thomas, born about 1656; Mary, born at Ipswich on 28 October 1658; Phebe, born on 26 August 1661; Amy, born on 16 August 1668; Samuel, Ephraim, Jacob and Nathaniel; and a daughter "Meriah." Three daughters married Townes.

He made his will on 7 August 1693 and it was probated on 26 September. He left his property to his wife Mary, his sons Samuel, Ephraim and Jacob, and his daughters "Mary Towne, Phebe Towne, 'Emey' Towne and 'Meriah' Smith." His son Nathaniel, an invalid, was left in his brother Samuel's care. His son Thomas, who lived "with his grandfather ffrainch," had no legacy. Administration was granted to Samuel on 3 October 1698, with his brother Ephraim and his uncle John French as sureties. John French and John Gould appraised the estate at 189 pounds 7 shillings 3 pence. Mary survived her husband twenty six years.

Children

Amy Smith 1668-1756

Sources

James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, 1862), vol. IV, under TOWNE

Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne (Portland, 1927), p. 25, archive.org ancestryoflieuta1927davi

Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne (Portland, 1927), p. 26, archive.org ancestryoflieuta1927davi

Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne (Portland, 1927), archive.org ancestryoflieuta1927davi, pp. 25-26, citing Essex Probate 25729

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Cite: Heirology, "Robert Smith (1626-1693)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/robert-smith-1626-1693-2bd931.