Benjamin Hubbard (abt. 1604 - 1660)

Born about 1604 in England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Alice Ward — married about 1633 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 28 Oct 1660 at about age 56 in England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message] and Homer Hopper [send private message]

Benjamin Hubbard migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 2, p. 1032) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Benjamin Hubbard immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for England.

1604 born in Mendlesham, Suffolk. England ^[1] 1608 is the birth year estimated by Robert Charles Anderson in "The Great Migration Begins" and he gives no place of birth.^[2]

1633 emigrated and settled in Charlestown, MA. Admitted as members of the Charlestown Church by December 1633; becoming a Freeman on September 3, 1634. ^[2]

by 1633 married Alice, named as mother of all his children in baptism records. Anderson makes no mention of his wife's surname.^[2]

"Dedham HUBBARD, Benjamin (returned to Eng) t; Alice [WARD]; b 1633" ^[3]

by 1635 he had been granted a houseplot and hayground on October 26, 1635. By 1637 his hayground had increased and he held fifty-one acres in Waterfield by 1638.^[2]

about 1637 He wrote to Roger Williams indicating his and others' interests in joining Williams in Rhode Island because of his religious convictions. He recanted, however, and in Nov 1637, he was one of eight Charlestown men who "did all acknowledge their sin [in signing the seditious writing in favor of Wheelwright]" and desired to have their names crossed out, which was allowed. ^[2][4]

December 1641 made clerk of the writs ^[1][2]

9 September 1644 his last child, James, was born in Charlestown ^[2]

22 December 1644 returned permanently to England ^[1]

after October 1645 his wife Alice and their five children followed him back to England ^[1][4]

1654 living in Ardleigh ^[1]

1656 Hubbard published an essay on navagation; dedicated to the master, wardens and assistants of Trinity House. He described himself as a "late Student of the mathematicks in CharlesTowne in New England."^[4]

28 October 1660 dies in England ^[5]

Styled as Mr., Benjamin Hubbard was an "artist" (surveyor) and the evidence strongly suggests he was well educated.

Writing to John Winthrop Sr. and Jr., on February 25, 1644/5, Benjamin Hubbard indicated that he had recently gone to England with the aid of the Winthrops.^[2] Leaving his wife and family in New England, Hubbard, after receiving testimonials from the Winthrops, had gone back to England to "procure me the more favourable acceptance in the sight of sundry gentlemen, I have not yet made tryall of my Invention concerning Longitude before Artists, but a time is appointed for it." Moore in her book "Abandoning America..." writes that John Winthrop Jr. had written for Hubbard a letter of introduction to Samuel Foster, the noted mathematician.^[4]

A man of status and wealth, the quick conveyance of his land indicates he was not dependant on agricultural as his means of support.^[2]

There is no indication he returned to New England and no further record of his wife or children in New England either, past her letter written from Charlestown in October 1645 stating her intentions to return with the children to England.^[2]

Children

Children of Benjamin and Alice Hubbard (all born/baptized in Charlestown, MA): ^[2][6]

1. Benjamin b 24 Mar 1634
2. Elisabeth, b 4 Apr 1636
3. Thomas, b 31 May 1639
4. Hannah, b 16 Dec 1641; m. Richard Brooks of Boston ^[1]
5. James, b 9 Sep 1644

Benjamin Hubbard and Samuel Hubbard

Several letters connect Benjamin Hubbard to Samuel Hubbard, who immigrated in 1633, and who is documented as the son of James Hubbard and Naomi (Cocke) Hubbard.

These letters were a part of Samuel Hubbard's letter book which, along with Samuel Hubbard's journal, have been used extensively by historians to document this period, and the author of the article notes that the writer Alice Hubbard's husband was Benjamin Hubbard, Samuel's brother, older by two years, and that the sister Sarah mentioned was Samuel's older sister Sarah, b. 1593, who had married John Jackson.

Setting aside the author's commentary and looking only at the letter itself, the dates and facts seem to line up very well with the letters written in 1644/1645 by Benjamin Hubbard to John Winthrop Sr. and John Winthrop Jr. So I think we can conclude that the Alice Hubbard who wrote this letter is indeed the Alice Hubbard married to Benjamin Hubbard.

From Alice Hubbard

Dearly beloved brother and sister

My love to you both remembered, hoping that you are well and yours, as I and mine are at this time, this is to satisfy you that my husband is gone to England, he went from me the 22 day of Dec. 1644 and ye Lord was pleased to carry him safe thither, so that day and month yt they weighed anchor here they cast anchor at Deal in Kent in England, and there as soon as he came out of the boat, he met my brother Thomas Hubbard, though neither my husband had ever been there before nor my brother. At present the Lord hath cast my husband into Ipswich, at your cousin Joseph Hubbard's, and there are four of that stock that are very honest Christians. The Lord is pleased by his providence to call me thither and my five children; I wod have been very glad to hear from you before I had gone, but now the time is so short, I can't expect it: my husband also desires yt all his Christian friends might see wt God hath done for his soul since he hath time thither by blessing the changes he hath brought him under. Sister Sarah of Yarmouth is dead, her son Robert Jackson is well; my husband saw him, being returned from the war after 4 years service under Col. Cromwell’ in all weh he hath not been maimed or wounded. When you send to us, send to my brother Thomas Hubbard's house in Freeman lane near Horsly down in Southwark, London.

Your loving sister,

Alice Hubbard

From Charlestown this 24 of October, 1645. ^[1]

In another set of records I find a passing reference to Samuel Hubbard's brother Benjamin Hubbard and his wife Katherine. Did Alice die and Benjamin remarry? Or are these two different Benjamin Hubbards?

Benjamin & Katherine Hubbard, Copdoke, Suffolk to Samuel and Tacey Hubbard, 12 Apr. 1652: Hubbard MSS, pp. 178-9. (text of the letter not included) ^[5]

There are three other letters connecting Benjamin Hubbard and his son Thomas to Samuel Hubbard.

Benjamin Hubbard wrote to his brother again on 8 Mar. 1654 apparently from New England; his son Thomas wrote to Hubbard from Boston on 31 July 1662 informing him of his father's death nearly two years before, on 28 Oct. 1660, leaving five children born in New England, including himself, "and I being now come over about the land at Seekouk [Rhode Island], having been there to demand my right." Thomas Hubbard informed his uncle from Boston on 29 July 1663 that he had brought over his sisters and was returning to England: Hubbard MSS, pp. 33-4. ^[5]

Father's will

Will of James Hubbard of Mendlesham, Suffolk, 1611

Research Notes

• Warning: In 1895, Edward Warren Day made a number of claims about this Hubbard, "but this author's work is generally unreliable."

• Robert Charles Anderson in his "Great Migration Begins" sketch of Benjamin Hubbard indicates:

1. No place of origin for Benjamin Hubbard.
2. No parents.
3. No surname for Benjamin's wife, Alice.
4. No mention of a brotherly relationship to Samuel Hubbard.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Tilley, R. Hammett, Ed. Magazine of New England History, Volumes 1-2. "Extracts from the Letter Book of Samuel Hubbard." R.H. Tilley, 1891. Page 175-177.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10} 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). Sketch of Benjamin Hubbard. pp 1032-1035.subscription needed
3. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1985. Page 396.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} "Abandoning America, Life-Stories From Early New England" Susan Hardman Moore. Boydell Press, New York (2013) p. 147.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Katz, David S. Sabbath and Sectarianism in Seventeenth Century England. Brill, 1988. Page 141.
6. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register: Volume IV, 1850. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1992 (reprint). Page 267.

See also

• Pope, Charles Henry. The Pioneers of Massachusetts: A Descriptive List, Drawn from Records of the Colonies, Towns, and Churches, and Other Contemporaneous Documents. Heritage Books, 2010. Page 245.