Humphrey Turner (abt. 1593 - 1673)

Born about 22 Oct 1593 in Kent, England

Husband of Lydia (Gaymer) Turner — married 24 Oct 1618 in Sandon, Essex, England

Descendants

Died 5 Jan 1673 at about age 79 in Scituate, Plymouth Colony

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Humphrey Turner migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 1843) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Humphrey Turner was an important man in early Scituate. He was deputy to the Plymouth General Court from Scituate 13 times between 2 Jun 1640 and 7 Jun 1653. He was Constable for Duxbury three times between 5 Jan 1635/6 and 4 Jun 1639. He was on the grand jury three times between 7 Jun 1642 and 6 Jun 1643. He was on the Plymouth jury on 4 Sep 1638. He was on the Committee to Divide Lands in Scituate on 30 Nov 1640. He was Supervisor of the Highways in Scituate on 1 Jun 1647 and on 7 Jun 1648. He was on a Coroner's jury on 5 Jun 1666. [1]

Humphrey Turner was born "about 1595, based on estimated date of marriage". ^[1] He died after November 1, 1672, and before May 29, 1673.

Humphrey Turner's last residence before he immigrated to Plymouth, Massachusetts was Little Baddow, Essex, England.^[2] Two years after the 1995 publication of The Great Migration Begins, Vol I - III, which included a biography of Humphrey Turner, a detailed study of his wife Lydia Gamer and her origins and their children, authored by Vernon Dow Turner, was published in NEHGR Vol 151 (1997), pp 286. When Robert Charles Anderson published his Great Migration directory in 2015, the entry for Humphrey Turner reads:

"Little Baddow, Essex; 1632; Plymouth, Scituate [ Great Migration Begins 1843 - 46; PM (The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620 - 1633) 466-70" (Boston 2004). This would appear to indicate acceptance by Anderson of Humphrey's relationship to Lydia Gamer as his wife.

He was from southeastern Essex, in the area of Terling and Little Baddow. He was a tanner in New England, and probably learned the trade in Essex.

According to Stratton, he was in Plymouth by 1633, when he appears on the Freemen list, but then moved to Scituate almost immediately afterwards, since he was one of nine men with a house there in Sept. 1634. His daughter was baptized there on 25 Jan. 1634/35. Deane places him in Plymouth in 1628, saying he had a house lot assigned to him in 1629, living there until 1633 "probably, the latter being the date of the laying out of his house lot on Kent street, viz. the 4th lot from the corner of Satuit brook." [3, 6].

Humphrey was a tanner in England. He arrived at Plymouth in 1628, and lived there until 1633, erecting a tannery as early as 1636.

Humphrey was a founding member of Scituate church, 8 January 1634/5 ^[3]

Offices

Deputy for Scituate to Plymouth General Court:

2 June 1640, 1 June 1641, 7 June 1642, 5 June 1644, 20 August 1644, 28 October 1645, 3 March 1645/6, 7 July 1646, 1 June 1647, 4 June 1650, 5 June 1651, 3 June 1652, 7 June 1653 [PCR 1:155, 2:16, 40, 72, 74, 94, 95, 104, 117, 154, 167, 3:8, 32].

Constable for Duxbury:

5 January 1635/6, 5 March 1638/9, 4 June 1639 [PCR 1:36, 83, 116, 125].

Grand jury:

7 June 1642, 7 March 1642/3, 6 June 1643 [PCR 2:41, 53, 56].

Plymouth jury:

4 September 1638 [PCR 1:96]

Committee to divide lands in Scituate:

30 November 1640 [PCR 1:168]

Supervisor of highways, Scituate:

1 June 1647, 7 June 1648 [PCR 2:115, 124].

Coroner's jury:

5 June 1666 on the body of Maray, wife of Thomas Totman [PCR 4:130].

In Scituate section of 1643 Plymouth list of men able to bear arms [PCR 8:191].

Burial, Men of Kent Cemetery, Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Children of Humphrey and Lydia Turner

1. John was baptized in Terling, Essex on March 24, 1621. He married Mary Brewster on November 10 or 12, 1645, and had thirteen children. Mary was the daughter of Jonathan Brewster and granddaughter of William Brewster.^[1] John died in Scituate between March 4. 1695 and May 20, 1698. Mary died after March 23. 1697/8.
2. John [called young John] was born by about 1624. He married Ann James at Scituate on April 25, 1649^[1] and had eight children.
3. Thomas was born about 1627. He married Sarah Hiland on January 6, 1651/2, in Scituate and had nine children.
4. Lydia was baptized on February 17. 1629/30, in Little Baddow, Essex. She married James Doughty on August 15, 1649 in Scituate and had nine children.
5. Mary was baptized on January 25. 1634/5, in Scituate. She married William Parker on November 13, 1651. as his second wife in Scituate and had six children.
6. Joseph \was baptized on January 1, 1636/7, in Scituate. He died after 1681, unmarried.
7. Nathaniel was baptized on March 10, 1638/9 in Scituate. He married (1) Mehitable Rigby on March 29, 1664/5, and had five children. He married (2) Abigail(Eames?) Stockbridge by 1691 and had one son. She died in March 1709/10 in Scituate. He died on January 31. 1715/6 in Scituate.
8. Daniel was born about 1641. he married Hannah Randall, daughter of William Randall^[1] on June 25, 1665 or 1666 in Scituate and had children.

Will

In his Will: Dated February 1669/70 and proved 5 June 1673, Humphrey Turner of Scituate, tanner, "being weak in body" bequeathed^[1][4]

to "my eldest son John Turner of Scituate" his farm;

to "my son Joseph Turner" 40 pounds, also 12 pounds;

to "my son John Turner" 5 pounds;

to "my son Daniel Turner" 12 pounds;

to "my son Nathaniel Turner" 50 pounds;

to "my daughter Mary (illegible)" 10 pounds;

to "my daughter Lydia Doughtey 12 pounds";

unto "my grandchild Humphrey Turner" 5 pounds;

to "my grandchild Mary Doughtey" 10 pounds;

to "my grandchildren Jonathan Turner, Josiah Turner and Elizabeth Turner, being the fruits of my eldest son", 10 shillings a year;

to "son Nathaniel Turner" all my livestock both cattles, horses, sheep, etc.;

to "my son Thomas Turner" all my wearing clothes, one wood bed and blankets".

Research Notes

'Facts' lacking Evidence

"Baptism: 29 Oct 1598 - St. Peter Upon Cornhill, London, England." ^{[citation needed]} Probably someone named Humphrey Turner was baptized on said date at said place: if there were any evidence linking it to Humphrey Turner the resident of Plymouth and Scituate, Anderson would have cited it, if only as a possible connection.

Not the son of John Turner of the Mayflower

Although often cited as the son of John Turner, a Mayflower passenger, Humphrey was not. John Turner sailed on the Mayflower with two sons (first names not known). According to Wikipedia, all three died in the first winter at Plymouth, likely between January and March 1621. Humphrey Turner arrived in New England in 1632; ship unknown.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, pp 1844-5
2. ↑ The Great Migration Directory by Robert Charles Anderson, (2015), page 343
3. ↑ NEHGR, "Goody Turner", presumably his wife, joined the same church 10 January [1635/6], Vol 9, Page 280 # 31
4. ↑ "Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records, 1633-1967," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L97D-VQ9D : 9 March 2023), Wills 1633-1686 vol 1-4 > image 341 of 616; State Archives, Boston.

See Also:

• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). Humphrey Turner, pages 1843 - 1846
• "Pilgrim Families Sketch: Humphrey Turner" By Robert Charles Anderson accessed at americanancestors.org (Link via Wayback Machine, capture date 7 Dec 2014.)
• Anderson, Robert Charles, F.A.S.G., The Great Migration Directory, (Boston, Massachusetts, NEHGS, 2015), "Concise entries for all immigrant families for the entirety of the Great Migration, from 1620 to 1640." Includes all entries from The Great Migration Series, the Study Project, The Pilgrim Migration 1620-1633 and the The Winthrop Fleet 1629-1630. Page 343
• Lydia Gaymer, the Wife of Humphrey Turner of Scituate, Vernon Dow Turner, NEHGR Vol 151 (1997), pages 286 - 290. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013.)
• Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts to 1850 , F. Apthorp Foster, ed., (New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston, MA), 2.456 (just gives year). "Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: Humphrey Turner", Robert Charles Anderson
• The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) Vol 9, page 280, #31
• Turner, Jacob Genealogy of the Descendants of Humphrey Turner (Turner, Boston, 1852), 23.
• Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, (New York: Lewis), 916.
• Plymouth Colony: It's History & People, 1620-1691, Eugene Aubrey Stratton, (Ancestry Publishing), 364-65.
• History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its First Settlement to 1831, at Archive.org, by Samuel Deane, (Boston: James Loring, 1831), pp. 360-61.
• "A Genealogical Profile of Humphrey Turner", Plymouth Ancestors, a collaboration of A collaboration between Plimouth Plantation and the New England Historic Genealogical Society