John Williams (abt. 1680 - bef. 1776)

• Elusive 1702 record. About most Lydia (Norman) Bishop's children, in Walter Goodwin Davis' Norman entry, he reports about those who were living in 1702. (See, HathiTrust.) A similar reference date is found in The Essex Antiquarian article, "Descendants of Richard Bishop of Salem" (1904), see HathiTrust. I am not able to identify the 1702 record on which those claims are based. Has anyone found that record?

• Odd, highly detailed FamilySearch indexed record (below; also appears on this profile). The indexed item is based on a digital image which I have not been able to find on the linked film--(cataloged as ["Holland (Massachusetts] Town Records, 1783-1854," FSL film 886998, digital collection (DGS) 7010773; 747 images). I have paged through hundreds of the images, yet am unable to find the image on which this indexed entry is based. (FamilySearch has bundled that film in a collection "Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1925"--yet this item carries a date of 1705, more than a century earlier.

"Massachusetts State Vital Records, 1841-1925", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FCML-R8C : 28 December 2022), Elizabeth Bishop in entry for John Williams, 1705.

X-3336 Note: The entry reports a birth at Bisco, Me.; which perhaps refers to Casco, Maine; Casco being the location where Jenkin Williams and his family resided before removing to Salem before about 1675. (Jenkin Williams was admitted a inhabitant of Salem on 11th : 11 mo : 1675; see Internet Archive.

John was the son of Jenkin Williams and his wife, Abigail Cloyes.

I am still working on the birth order of Jenkin/Abigail's children. --Gene

Edited to add: Beverly town clerk compilations has a list of children, see John Williams and Elizabeth family entries in "Beverly Town Births, Marriages and Deaths 1653-1890," 4 bound vols., 4:94 (penned on left side page); digital images, FamilySearch, FSL film 760604, digital collection (DGS) 4934217, image 579 of 589; note on file, "June 17, 1754, John Williams, and aged man, in a declining state, ch'd at ____ house." Children,

• John, born 5 April 1711, baptized 11 November 1711
• Thomas, born 24 October 1712, baptized 13 September 1713
• Ebenezer, born 8 March 1715, baptized 17 July 1715
• Mary; married George Pierce, Tailor, Ipswich, 21 November 1754; they deed land to her brothers John & Ebenr Williams.

Edited to Add. For the baptism, see William P. Upham, Records of the First Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, 1667-1772 (Salem, Mass., Essex Institute, 1905), 212; digital images, HathiTrust, "[June] 17th [1754]. John Williams, an aged man and in a weak declining state, was baptised in a private House, tho in the presence of many, who attended, publick notice of it having been given the Lords Day before."

Of interest, the next entry, dated June 23, 1754, reads, "Daniel Williams a very old man was baptised."

Edited to add. I think John died before 18 March 1755, date of a partition of "land that was John Williams, dec'd." See John Williams et al. (Indenture) in Essex County (Massachusetts) Deeds, 110:119; digital images, FamilySearch, FSL film 866064, digital collection (DGS) 7463307, image 130-131 of 587; dated 18 March 1755, recorded 8 April 1762; partition of land held by John Williams and Ebenezer Williams, land that was John Williams, dec'd.

Following the 1755 partition, we have Essex County (Massachusetts) Deeds, 140:160; digital images, FamilySearch, FSL film 866061, digital collection (DGS) 7463304, image 167 of 601; grantor is John Williams of Beverly with consent of Mary my wife; sale is to John Pearce of Beverly, "Maraner"; sale is of woodland containing two acres and six pols ... in Beverly; bounded by Robert Roundey and Capt. Robert Haskell; witnesses are Robert Roundy, William Pearce and Nehemiah Presson.

Misc. Notes: Beverly vital records has three marriages of interest,

Mary Williams and George Pierce, at Ipswich, 1 February 1732, HathiTrust.

Ebenezer Williams and Priscilla Presson, 11 April 1738, HathiTrust.

John Williams and Mary Wales, int., 30 October 1748, HathiTrust.

Edited to add. Two deaths in Beverly vital records that seem promising.

• John Williams 1754 death, citing "P.R. 1 [Record of deaths made by Col. Robert Hale, formerly in the possession of James Hill, town clerk]," in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, 2 vols. (Topsfield, Mass., Topsfield Historical Society, 1906-07), 2:602 (Williams); digital images, HathiTrust, [Williams] "John, July 21, 1754."
• ____ Williams 1758 death. citing "P.R. 1 [Record of deaths made by Col. Robert Hale, formerly in the possession of James Hill, town clerk]," in Vital Records of Beverly, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, 2 vols. (Topsfield, Mass., Topsfield Historical Society, 1906-07), 2:604 (Williams); digital images, HathiTrust, [Williams] "-----, wid John, -----, 1758, a. 82 y." (X-3336--calculates to birth about 1676.)

Edited to Add: