Nicholas Mosher (bef. 1596 - aft. 1660)

Born before 19 Dec 1596 in Cucklington, Somerset, England

Husband of Lydia (Maxson) Mosher — married 1631 in England

Descendants

Died after 1660 after age 63 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island

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Nicholas Mosher migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Nicholas Mosher was born in Somerset, England.

Nicholas Moger/Mosher is the son of John Moger and Edeth Crosse. Nicholas was born in 1596 at Cucklington, Somerset, England and baptized there at the Anglican parish church of St Lawrence.

"Nicholas Moger the sonne of John Moger was baptized XIXth. of Dec 1596"^[1][2]

Nicholas’s father, John Moger, was buried at St. Lawrence, Cucklington, Somerset, England, 15 Jan 1611/2.^[1][3] In 1613, Nicholas Moger, “son of John (decd), yeoman of Cucklington, Som,” was living in Bristol, about 35 miles north of Cucklington. According to the following records, Nicholas was a haberdasher and his wife’s name was Ann:

1613: Nicholas Moger, son of John (decd), yeoman of Cucklington, Som, was bound as an apprentice on 2 Dec 1613 to Thomas Hurtnoll, haberdasher.^[4]

1622: Joseph Cooke, son of Joseph, fuller, of Lacock, Wil, was bound as an apprentice on 20 Nov 1622 to Nicholas Moger, haberdasher. Nicholas’ wife is recorded as Ann.^[5]

1622: Nicholas Mogier, haberdasher, was admitted as a burgess of the City of Bristol. The mode of admission was apprenticeship and his patron was Thomas Hurtnoll.^[6]

1623: Anna, daughter of Nicholas Moger, was baptised on 8 Mar 1623/4 at St Nicholas, Bristol.^[7]

1626: John Adderley, son of Cornelius (decd), clerk, of Hereford, Hef, was bound as an apprentice on 31 May 1626 to Nicholas Moger, haberdasher. Nicholas’ wife is recorded as Ann.^[8]

It appears that Nicholas’s wife, Ann, and their daughter, Anna, passed away in England before he married Lydia Maxson, and emigrated to Rhode Island with Lydia and sons Hugh, John and Daniel.

Based on the approximate dates of birth of his sons in England, Nicholas Mosher went to Rhode Island between 1636 and 1640. Evidence showing Nicholas in Rhode Island includes the birth of his daughter Mary in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1640/1.^[9] His son Hugh, born in England in 1633, married Rebecca Maxson in Rhode Island about 1664, while Mary married John Maxson of Portsmouth in 1667. On 24 Oct 1677 John Maxson was excused from jury duty because his wife and mother-in-law were both ill (Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island).^[9] The mother-in-law was probably the Lydia Mosher [wife of Nicholas] who was a member of the Tiverton Baptist Church in 1680 when Hugh was pastor (Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 8:507).^[10]

Nicholas Mosher's nephew, Hugh Moger, son of his brother Hugh, arrived in New England in 1632.^[11] He sailed to Portland, Maine on the James.

"Portland, Maine. Hugh Mosier from Cucklington, Somersetshire. (Ship James sailing April 1632)."^[12]

In 1657, Nicholas Moger and his son Hugh were named in the will of his brother, Hugh Moger of Wincanton, Somersetshire, England. The will was proved in the Perogative Court of Canterbury: Hugh Moger, gentlemen, of Wincanton, 1657 folio 228. It was dated 9 July 1656 and proved 30 June 1657 by Margaret Moger, one of the executors. In his will Hugh names his wife Margaret, sons Hugh Moger and John Moger, daughters Edith, Maybella ("late deceased") and Mary ("late deceased"). He leaves bequests to sons-in-law, grandchildren, a brother Tristram, kinswoman Margarett Lambert and:

"To godson, Hugh Moger, son of brother Nicholas Moger: £5."^[1][13]

Note: While Hugh Moger refers to two daughters as “late deceased,” he does not refer to his brother Nicholas Moger as “deceased”.

Nicholas and Lydia probably had sons John and Daniel, too, for the notice of a 'fortune' in 1836 mentioned descendants of Hugh, John, and Daniel Mosher. Tradition is that Daniel and all his family, and John, single, were massacred by the Indians, leaving descendants of Hugh the only claimants to the 'fortune.' Hugh may have been remembering them when he named two later sons Daniel and John.^[1]

Children of Nicholas Mosher and Lydia Maxson

1. Hugh Mosher, b. abt 1633 in England; d. bef. 10 Nov 1713 at Dartmouth, Bristol, MA; m. Rebecca Maxson about 1664 at Newport, RI
2. John Mosher, d. 1656
3. Daniel Mosher, d. 1656
4. Mary Mosher, b. 1640/1 at Portsmouth, RI; d. abt 2 Feb 1718/19 at Westerly, RI; m. John Maxson at Westerly in 1667;^[14] John Maxson m. Mary Mosher, of Hugh Mosher, b. 1641, d. 2 Feb 1718^[9] Note: see Stephen Mosher which explains that Nicholas Mosher (Mary’s father) was erroneously called in some books Hugh Ezekiel Mosher and Ensign Hugh Mosher (who was actually Nicholas’s son).

Historical Background

Fear of religious persecution drove Nicholas Mosher, and so many others, to flee England for New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640). Nicholas lived at “one of the darkest and saddest periods in the history of the Church of England. The Church was persecuted with a rancour and bitterness without a parallel in her history” : ^[15]

Although King Charles I was firmly Protestant, many people opposed the high church rituals, regarded as Catholic, he was determined to impose in England and Scotland. In a period dominated by the Thirty Years War, there were concerns Charles was failing to support Protestant Europe, when it was under threat from Catholic powers.^[16]

A body of Commissioners, called "Triers," went from place to place "to ascertain each clergyman's spiritual state," and took measures to eject from their livings and imprison all who could not satisfactorily answer their questions. “William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, was 72 years old on 10 January 1645 when he was executed on Tower Hill amidst the revilings of the mob. The Independents, the Presbyterians, and other opponents of the Church, acting under the protection of the government of the day, seized upon every available appointment and living throughout the country.”^[15]

Charles I was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England was established as a republic. The monarchy was restored to Charles's son Charles II in 1660.

English Ancestry

“The Mosher family had not lived long in England, perhaps 50 or 60 years. Most of them seem to have lived in London, where they were silk weavers and merchants. The only certain clew (sic) as to his [Hugh Mosher]’s relatives is when he named Jeremiah Clarke one of the overseers in his will, October 12, 1709, calling him his kinsman...Although Clarke was descended through both his father and his mother from families well known in England, no relationship with the Mosher family has been found.” ^[17]

The following is excerpted from an authoritative source, accepted by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson Through Seven Generations (rev. ed 1990):^[1]

Moger Family of Somersetshire

In an attempt to find the forebears of the two Hugh Moshers (variant spelling), the first coming to Boston in 1632 and soon settling in Falmouth [Portland], Maine, and the Hugh Mosher whose appearance in Rhode Island in 1660 is announced by a purchase of land, one is confronted by an enormous number of contradictions, of which none is supported by any evidence whatever. Some assumed that they were father and son; at least it would seem that they were close relatives because of the common first name. [They were first cousins, sons of brothers Hugh and Nicholas.]

Researcher, Mr. M.T. Medleycott, found records in Cucklington and in Wincanton, the nearest town to Cucklington, at this time often called Wincalton. Mr Medleycott abstracted the wills of Hugh and Margaret Moger, proved in the Perogative Court of Canterbury: Hugh Moger, gentlemen, of Wincanton, 1657 folio 228. It was dated 9 July 1656 and proved 30 June 1657 by Margaret Moger, one of the executors.^[1][13]

When the widow Margaret, her son Hugh, and others, were sued by William Talbot [son-in-law] 28 February 1656/7 (Chancery Depositions, Public Records Office, London, C21/T36/5), two of the witnesses to the will said that they knew only Talbot and Margaret Moger among the defendants, presumably because Hugh Moger had been long gone [the Hugh Mosher who sailed to Maine on the James in 1632].^[18]

Hugh Moger's will suggests the identity of Hugh Mosher who purchased land from the Indians in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1660. Hugh, Sr., selected his namesakes for special bequests. There were two: Hugh, son of son John, who had not reached the age of fourteen, so whould have been too young in 1660, and Hugh, son of Hugh Sr.'s brother Nicholas, presumably considerably older. Mr. Medleycott found no records of Nicholas other than his baptism in 1596 and his mention in the will.

When Margaret, widow of Hugh Moger of Wincanton, made her will (Perogative Court of Canterbury, 1658, folio 718), dated 22 July 1658, proved 6 December 1658, she added more names: Ann, wife of son John; their children Margaret, Hugh, and John; Margaret Moger, daughter of son Hugh.

Research Notes

In the 1980 version of Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson through seven generations, Chamberlain, Mildred Mosher, 1915-: Clarenbach, Laura McGaffey, joint author, discuss much of the erroneous information that has been circulated on the Internet for years. They give the names of those books, articles etc. that have provided this information, while Chamberlain and Clarenbach state there are no sources in the records of Rhode Island or Massachusetts to support it.^[19]

Under Hugh Mosher’s Disputed Ancestry, pages ix-xii, the authors write, the reports of “persons said to have researched English records…are rather frustrating for…sources of the information are not given, and few dates are found.”^[19]

The authors continue as follows:^[19]

“The Mosiers are said to have been Huguenots living in Northeastern France until the persecution culminating in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day in 1572 resulted in their flight to Germany and England. It appears that only one family had gone to England by 1600 and it had settled in Manchester, where it engaged in the weaving and selling of silk. The names of Stephen and James Mosier appear in Manchester in 1580 and Ezekiel in 1607 (said to have died in 1640). Samuel and William were in 1614 records…William made his Will 20 September 1620, and it was proved in the District Probate Registry of Chester, Chester Consistory Court, 21 June 1621.”

Although Chamberlain and Clarenbach were, in 1980, frustrated by the absence of sources for the above-noted information, most of the records for this information about the Mosier family (also called Mosyer) have subsequently come to light. Mosyer brother Wills even point to the distinct possibility the family were indeed French Protestants/Huguenots.

John Moger, born about 1545 (place unknown) and recorded as living at Cucklington, Somerset, England from 1566 until his death in 1611/12, is the earliest known Mosher ancestor in the line of Hugh Mosher. John is the father of Hugh Moger and Nicholas Mosher, and grandfather of the two Hugh Moshers who, in the early 1600s, arrived in Maine (Hugh Moger baptized 5 Mar 1608/9 at Cucklington, Somerset, England) and Massachusetts (Hugh Mosher born about 1633 in England).

There is an earlier known Mosyer ancestor, William Moger (Moger alias Mosyer), born about 1525 (place unknown). William’s grandsons were the silk-weaver brothers. To date, no connection has been made to the ancestors of these brothers and the ancestors of the two Hugh Moshers of Massachusetts and Maine.

In the 1990 version of the Chamberlain Clarenbach Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson through seven generations, the authors state the following about Nicholas Mosher:^[1]

“Mr. Medleycott found no records of Nicholas other than his baptism in 1596 and his mention in the [his brother’s] will. He would fit admirably as the father of Hugh of Rhode Island, who gave the name Nicholas to his firstborn. Nicholas and his family probably went to Rhode Island before 1660, for Hugh’s sister Mary married John Maxson of Portsmouth, Rhode Island about 1665, and on 24 October 1677 John Maxson was excused from jury duty because his wife and mother-in-law were both ill (Austin, Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island).^[9] The mother-in-law was probably the Lydia Mosher who was a member of the Tiverton Baptist Church in 1680 when Hugh was pastor (Arnold, Vital Record of Rhode Island, 8:507).”^[10]

“Nicholas probably had sons John and Daniel, too…Tradition is that Daniel and all his family, and John, single, were massacred by the Indians…Hugh may have been remembering them when he named two later sons Daniel and John.”

In 1980, Chamberlain Clarenbach also wrote the following:^[19]

“The first mention of the three brothers that has come to the attention of the compilers is in the day book of Christopher Mosher (1796-1866) of Albany, New York. He wrote that three Mosher brothers, Hugh, John and Daniel, were the ones who came to America.”

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Chamberlain, Mildred (Mosher), and Laura (McGaffey) Clarenbach, comps. Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson Through Seven Generations. Revised ed. Madison, Wisconsin: Laura M. Clarenbach, 1990
2. ↑ Cucklington Parish Register 1558-1670 : Free Reg Nicholas, son of John Moger : accessed 5 Apr 2021
3. ↑ Cucklington Parish Register 1558-1670 : Free Reg : Burial Jhon Moger
4. ↑ Transcripts & Indexes of the Bristol Apprenticeship Books, 1532-1724, Bristol & Avon Family History Society, 2019. Transcript of Book 1(D) 1609-1626. Vol 1D. Page 75. No 8.
5. ↑ Transcripts & Indexes of the Bristol Apprenticeship Books, 1532-1724, Bristol & Avon Family History Society, 2019. Transcript of Book 1(D) 1609-1626. Vol 1D. Page 275. No 8.
6. ↑ Index to the Bristol Burgess Books, 1557-1995, Bristol & Avon Family History Society, 2005. Bristol Burgess Books. Vol 2. Page 129. No 4.
7. ↑ Ancestry.com. Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812. Image.
8. ↑ Transcripts & Indexes of the Bristol Apprenticeship Books, 1532-1724, Bristol & Avon Family History Society, 2019. Transcript of Book 1(E) 1626-1636. Vol 1E. Page 6. No 5.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3} Austin, John Osborne. The genealogical dictionary of Rhode Island comprising three generations of settlers who came before 1690 : with many families carried to the fourth generation. J. Munsell's sons in Albany, 1887. Maxson, pg. 342
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} Arnold, James Newell. Vital Record of Rhode Island: 1636-1850 : First Series : Births ..., Volume 8. Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, Providence, R.I., 1896. Tiverton Baptist Church: Mosher, Lydia, Rebecca, pg. 507
11. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633. Three Volumes. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995. 2386p. Page: 1302
12. ↑ Emigrants who Settled in Maine 1620-1650; taken from: TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF 2885 ENGLISH EMIGRANTS TO NEW ENGLAND 1620-1650 By C.E.Banks. Edited, Indexed and Pub. by E.E. Brownell. 1937 Hugh Mosier : Directly below the name, indented and in ( )'s, is infomation found in Planters of the Commonwealth by C.E. Banks
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} The National Archives Will of Hugh Moger, Gentleman of Wincanton, Somerset; 30 Jun 1657
14. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985. Page 498.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} Proceedings by Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Publisher Dorchester, Eng, 1849. pp 87-88 (442-3)
16. ↑ Wikipedia : Caroline era Religion
17. ↑ THE NEBRASKA AND MIDWEST GENEALOGICAL RECORD Vol. XXII. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, JULY-OCTOBER, 1944. No. 3-4. Edited by RAYMOND E. DALE, Nebraska Historical Library, Lincoln, Nebraska Hugh Mosher, Newport, Rhode Island and Some of His Descendants
18. ↑ The National Archives Margaret Moger
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3} Chamberlain, Mildred Mosher, 1915-: Clarenbach, Laura McGaffey, joint author. Descendants of Hugh Mosher and Rebecca Maxson through seven generations. Publisher Warwick, RI : Chamberlain ; Madison, WI : 1980, pp. ix-xii

• Mosher, William Collins, Origin and History of The Mosher Family (Times-Mirror Print, Los Angeles, Calif., 1898) Note: There are some errors in this book, but also much accurate information. See Stephen Moshier for a review of the contents.

Acknowledgments

• Researched by Sara V Mosher, 2019, 2021
• Thanks to Reese Spicer for starting this profile
• WikiTree profile Mosher-299 created through the import of L.R.Hubbard_2011-07-29.ged on Jul 29, 2011 by Alexis Connolly
• WikiTree profile Mosher-314 created through the import of EBENSTEIN-GRANGER.GED on Aug 19, 2011 by Merryann Palmer