William Crosby

b. 1673 · Eastham MA

Born 1673, Eastham, Massachusetts

Children include Thankful

William Crosby was a yeoman of Harwich, on Cape Cod. On 26 April 1711 he married Mercy Hinckley at Harwich. Joseph Doane, justice of the peace, performed the marriage. The town clerk entered the births of their seven children in the town book.

Their first child, Thankful, was born on 7 February 1714. Tully, called Tuley by the clerk, followed in January 1716. Then came Mehitable in 1718, William in 1720, Nathan in 1723, Seth in 1725 and Huldah in April 1726.

In June 1721 his wife was admitted to the Harwich church and baptized. A deed survives in which "William Crosby of Harwich .... yeoman" sold Benjamin Small five acres in the North Parish of Harwich for seventeen pounds. The North Parish is now the town of Brewster.

His wife Mercy died on 3 September 1735. Their daughter Thankful had married Scotto Clark, a Harwich mariner, two years before. She named her third son Tully, after her brother. That boy was killed by a sperm whale off George's Bank in 1766, in a whaleboat his father commanded.

The Eastham town book records that "William Crosby the sonne of Mr Thomas Crosby was borne in march in the year. 1673." He was one of twelve children of Mr Thomas Crosby, among them two sets of twins and a set of triplets. He is probably the Harwich yeoman. His brothers Ebenezer and Joseph also raised families at Harwich. He was probably a son of Thomas Crosby, though nothing says so outright.

Children

Thankful Crosby 1714-1802

Sources

Vital Records, Town of Harwich, Massachusetts, 1694-1850 (typescript transcript of the town books), archive.org vitalrecordstown00unse, p. 11 (original p. 52).

Vital Records, Town of Harwich, Massachusetts, 1694-1850 (typescript transcript of the town books), archive.org vitalrecordstown00unse, p. 54 (original p. 189).

"Eastham and Orleans, Mass., Vital Records", The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 4 (Boston, 1902), archive.org mayflowerdescendv4mass, p. 31.

Vital Records, Town of Harwich, Massachusetts, 1694-1850 (typescript transcript of the town books), archive.org vitalrecordstown00unse, p. 11 (marriage, children), p. 54 (wife's death); "Eastham and Orleans, Mass., Vital Records", The Mayflower Descendant, vol. 4 (Boston, 1902), archive.org mayflowerdescendv4mass, p. 31; The Mayflower Descendant, vols. 5 and 17.

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Cite: Heirology, "William Crosby (b. 1673)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-crosby-1673-0ba7f7.