William Spooner
William Spooner came from Colchester in Essex. On 27 March 1637 he bound himself apprentice to John Holmes of New Plymouth for six years. An apprentice's indenture was a written contract: he gave his labour for a fixed term, and his master fed, housed and trained him. On 1 July 1637 Holmes assigned the indenture to John Coombs. In March 1643/4 the court ordered him to pay his master's debt to William Hanbury "by a bushell of wheate, & a bushell & a half of barley".
When Mrs. Coombs, his master's wife, went to England, she left a child with him. In October 1646 he undertook before the court to keep it. In August 1648 the court ordered him to keep "the children of the said Mrs Combe" for the present and not to place them elsewhere without its order.
His first wife, Elizabeth, died on 28 April 1648, soon after the birth of their son John. A Spooner family history of 1883 calls her Elizabeth Partridge, without giving a source. On 18 March 1651/2 he married Hannah Pratt.
He was admitted a freeman of the colony in 1654. He served as a surveyor of highways and sat on the grand jury in 1657 and 1666. On 26 December 1657 he bought half of Benajah Pratt's share of the purchase land at Coaksett "for the consideration of a Cow". In 1662 he bought twenty acres at Acushena. Both lay in the territory that became the town of Dartmouth, and he moved there.
He made his will on 8 March 1683/4, signing it with his mark. He named as overseers "my two friends, Seth Pope & Thomas Taber". He died at Dartmouth in 1684, and his inventory was taken on 14 March.
Children
Sources
If William Spooner is in your family, start your own tree.
Cite: Heirology, "William Spooner (d. 1684)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/william-spooner-1684-e54a8a.