Category: Edward Starbuck

No marriage record was found in England or New England which could be positively identified as Edward’s. Marriage records for an Edward, which predated his immigration to Dover, were found near Edward’s English origin but none were to a lady named Katherine. There is no doubt he had a wife named Katherine when he lived in Dover and on Nantucket. Beginning with a deed in 1653, three original records identified Katherine as Edward’s wife. The deeds are the only original records found thus far which include her given name. As with most records made on a woman after her marriage, no mention was made of her maiden name.

Date	Location	Transaction
20 Jul 1653[1]	Dover (in Rockingham County Deeds)	Edward & Kathren sold ½ Edward’s grant of Cochecho upper falls to Peter Coffyn p. 1 & 2
6 Mar 1659/60[2]	Dover (in Rockingham County Deeds)	Edward & Kathren sold land to Peter Coffin
19 June 1678[3]	Dover (in Rockingham County Deeds)	Edward & Katherine sold land to Peter Coffin (p. 1 & 2)

Despite the lack of a marriage record, Katherine has been identified with the surname Reynolds in several compiled sources, sometimes with the addition, “of Wales.” Clarence A. Torrey listed many of the histories in his New England Marriages to 1700.^[4]

Of the nine books and four issues of The Register Torrey used (all printed between 1870 and 1988), each identified Edward’s wife as Katherine Reynolds but without an original source to back their statements up.^[5]

Continue reading “Edward Starbuck and Katherine Reynolds”

Most family historians credit Katherine as the mother of all of Edward’s children. That may be true, but it is also possible Katherine was Edward’s second or possibly third wife. She may have been the birth mother of all or just some of Edward’s children:

• Sarah, possibly born in Derby in 1631, or as late as approximately 1633^[1]
• Nathaniel likely born in 1634 or 1635 based on his death in 1719 while “in his 85^th year”^[2]
• Abigail born between 1635 and 1638, but possibly as late as 1639^[3]
• Gap of up to 15 years
• Dorcas mostly likely born in the 1640s, possibly as late as 1648-50^[4]
• Jethro born in 1650 if his traditional age at death is correct, but possibly between Abigail and Dorcas instead^[5]

As noted above, there could have been a gap of up to fifteen years between Abigail and Dorcas. That spread could also have been as few as eight or nine years if Abigail was born in 1639 and Dorcas before 1648. If Jethro was born earlier than 1651, his birth could conceivably fill an eight- or nine-year gap since Edward’s wife (or wives) were having children approximately every three or four years.

Continue reading “Was Katherine Edward’s Second Wife?”

Is it possible to give the same land away twice? Is it legal? Usually, the answer to those questions is a resounding, “NO!” But in the case of land apportioned to Edward Starbuck in colonial Dover the quick answer is, “Yes, he did.” But the real question is why and how did he do that? To find a reason, we must study Edward’s land grants in the Dover town records and Rockingham County deeds.

Edward Starbuck’s Back River Land

This is the timeline of the land Edward Starbuck received along the Back River which flowed on the west side of Dover Neck:

• 1642-Edward Starbuck received 20 acres on the Back River (entered in the town books at some point after 1647 when they restarted after the early records were lost)[1]
• 1652-The twenty acres were still in Edward’s possession (entered in the town books in the 1690s)[2]
• 1652-1662-Edward Starbuck gave Joseph Austin the Back River land during this period (no record of the event was placed in the town records until a later one which implied the action)[3]
• 1663-Joseph Austin’s probate inventory includes his Back River property[4]
• 1664-Edward Starbuck regifted the Back River land to Humphrey Varney (recorded in Dover town records, and in Rockingham deeds in 1699)[5]
• 1696-Humphrey Varney sold the land he received as a gift to William Blackstone (recorded 1699)[6]

Other important facts to know are:

Continue reading “Did Edward Starbuck grant the same land twice?”

Unfortunately, Edward Starbuck did not leave us a neat and tidy answer for this question. Since it isn’t possible to ask him, we must examine Edward’s actions and what he wrote for clues.

To begin, we need some background on Dover before and during Edward’s time there and provide evidence of how the town’s religious leanings shifted from non-allied or Church of England conformist to puritan:

Dover’s Early Years

1621-1626 Wealthy merchants set up a council in the southwest of England to establish profit-making plantations in North America.^[1] A fishery was created near what later became Dover, but no church was built, and no minister was brought in.^[2] The business failed financially because costs outweighed profits and many of the early residents left.

1627-1629 Edward Hilton helped renew efforts to make Dover profitable.^[3] His brother, Richard (who’d had disagreements with Plymouth Colony’s separatists), moved north to join him.^[4] The Hiltons were Church of England conformist.

Continue reading “What Religion was Edward Starbuck?-Part 1”

Although the previous post asserted Edward Starbuck was a puritan, that term is nebulous in colonial America. By the 1640s, the English Reformation (Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church) had been evolving for over 100 years.^[1] The monarchs covering that span had variously supported and tried to reverse the course of religious reform. It is little wonder the average members of the Church of England espoused a variety of religious concerns. Those who wanted to see the services and ordinances of the church less ritualized and more “pure,” gained support from both commoners and gentry. However, by 1633 William Laud was the Archbishop of Canterbury and he was pushing back against those who supported reform, with the aim of imposing his Arminian forms of worship.^[2]  

Separatists and Puritans

Two groups in particular, the Separatists (who founded the Plymouth Colony) and Puritans (who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony) left England respectively in 1620 and 1630. They both left for religious reasons, but those reasons were not identical. The authorities fined and imprisoned Separatists to the extent than many had to leave England, fleeing first to Holland and then to what became Plymouth Plantation. They did not want any nationally established Church of England.

Continue reading “What Religion was Edward Starbuck?-Part 2”

The first two posts in this series showed Edward Starbuck was essentially a puritan, and that he also had a belief in credobaptism, for which he got into trouble with the Massachusetts Bay authorities. (See Parts 1 and 2.)

Edward’s adherence to believer’s baptism and the later association of the Starbuck surname with Quakers in both Dover and on Nantucket has led some family historians to label him a Baptist or Quaker. There was, however, no established Baptist or Quaker congregation in Dover nor on Nantucket during Edward’s lifetime, so it’s easy enough to answer this question with a simple, “no,” but this is also an opportunity to dive a little deeper into what it is about Edward’s life that caused some to connect him with those denominations.

Baptists

Edward arrived in Dover about 1638 and is connected to the establishment of the first church by Hansard Knollys.^[1] Edward was one of the first Elders in the Dover church.^[2] Hansard Knollys did not stay in Dover for long. Conflicts with another minister, Thomas Larkham, was a significant factor in Knollys’ return to England about 1641.^[3] Knollys went on to work as a chaplain in Oliver Cromwell’s army, survived arrest during the Restoration, and then left England for a while.^[4] Upon his return he preached in London, was arrested again, and later released. The doctrine he taught was most closely aligned with Baptist beliefs and he took part in efforts in the late 1600s to consolidate the Baptists. Edward’s association with Hansard Knollys coupled with his belief in credobaptism may have led some to believe he was a Baptist.

However, the first Baptist church in America was not organized until approximately 1638, when Roger Williams’s Providence congregation was labeled Baptist.^[5] Although Baptist doctrine and congregations grew from there, Dover did not have a Baptist church until 1824 and Nantucket did not have one until 1841.^[6] There were obviously individuals in Dover who held anabaptist beliefs before 1824, Edward being one of them, but they were not organized into a group calling themselves Baptists before 1824.^[7] While Edward can be described as an anabaptist, and he was associated with the church Hansard Knollys established, it is too much of a stretch to call him a Baptist.

Continue reading “What Religion was Edward Starbuck?-Part 3”

Edward’s Taxes

For any discussion of colonial taxes, it’s important to determine when and why they were levied. The New Hampshire colony started small with Piscataqua Plantation and other settlements on the Atlantic. Those took root between 1623 and 1641. A slow slide into the grip of Massachusetts Bay took place between 1641 and 1643, but the residents received an exemption from Massachusetts taxation and protection from royal patent holders in the area.[1] That did not, however, exempt them from paying taxes to support local infrastructure, churches, and schools.

Dover taxes

Local taxes were raised for community-wide benefits. They included property tax, a head tax (also called a poll tax) on adult males aged sixteen and older, an income tax, and taxes on specific items. Dover residents paid taxes based on wealth, which included personal and real property. Like other town residents, Edward paid his taxes with commodities such as wooden staves and easily stored food items because coins were in short supply in early New England. Then, as now, residents tried to have their property assessed for as little as possible, which meant paying less in taxes.

The taxes of Dover went for maintaining and making town improvements, supporting the local clergy, and eventually to schools. Edward also paid import and export duties as did other New Englanders. His sawmill was specifically assessed for the ship masts he produced.

1648

1649

Jul 1657

Nov 1657

1658

1659

Continue reading “Edward’s Taxes”