Digging Down East: 52 Ancestors: #37 Jonathan Turner (1646-1724)

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Jonathan Turner, my eighth great grandfather, was born on this date in 1646, in the Scituate Settlement of Plymouth Colony, the oldest of thirteen children born to John Turner and Mary Brewster, and their first son.

Jonathan's grandfather, Humphrey Turner, had been a tanner, and was one of the early Scituate settlers, one of only 17 organizers of the church at Scituate in 1634/5. This occupation carried through three generations to Jonathan.

Jonathan's mother, Mary Brewster was the granddaughter of William Brewster of Mayflower fame.

"Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor"

Jonathan married first Martha Bisbee of Scituate in 1677. The couple had five children:

Deborah, b. 1678

Jemima, b. 1680

Isaac, b. 1682

Keziah, b. 1685

and

Jonathan, b. 1687

He married a second time to Mercy Hatch, also of Scituate, around 1690. Together, they had six children:

Mercy, b. 1690

Ruth, b. 1693/4

Ignatius, b. 1697/8

Martha, b. 1700 (my 7th great grandmother)

Jesse, b. 1704

and

Mary, b. 1706

His third marriage was to Lydia Hayden of Braintree, a widow who was raising four daughters on her own. They had no children together.

Jonathan died on April 18, 1724, in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

Photo credit:

"Shoemaker," Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Summer 2007, Goods, by J. Hunter Barbour. (http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/Summer07/trades.cfm)

"Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor," By William Halsall (http://www.artcom.com/Museums/vs/mr/02360-38.htm) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sources:

Ancestry.com. Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997.

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. Mayflower Births and Deaths, Vol. 1 and 2 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Ancestry.com. U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2012, pp. 458-459.

Ancestry.com. Vital records of Scituate, Massachusetts to the year 1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Deane, Samuel. History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831 (Boston: J. Loring), 1831, pp. 360-363.

Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp. Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Early Scituate Families, http://scituatehistoricalsociety.org/early-scituate-families/

Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 20 Sep 2014), memorial page for Humphrey Turner (1593-1672), Find A Grave Memorial no. 21760860, citing Men of Kent Cemetery, Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

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This is the 37th in a series, “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks,” coordinated by Amy Johnson Crow at
No Story Too Small.