Abigail Witter

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Abigail Freeman
• Reference Number: 2724

Abigail married John Freeman on 06 Feb 1706. John (son of Joseph Freeman and Dorothy Haynes) was born in 1680; died about 1725. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Dorothy Freeman was born on 31 Mar 1709.
2. Elizabeth Freeman was born about 1710; died on 17 Aug 1804 in Montgomery, MA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2715

Josiah married Sarah Crandall about 1672. Sarah (daughter of Rev John Crandall) was born about 1650; died about 1685. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Sarah Witter
• Reference Number: 2720

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2713
• Will: 06 Aug 1657

Notes:

Memo:
At the time of the controversy between the Massachusetts Bay Colony authorities and the leaders of the Baptist movement, William Witter was one of those whose adherence to the Baptist tenets brought him into disagreement with the former. He was haled to Court more than once because of his opposition to infant baptism. He also gave offense because of his entertainment of the Baptist leaders, Obadiah Holmes, John Crandall and .John Clarke, the first-named being an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln. In the narrative of their journey to Rhode Island, because of the persecution of the Massachusetts government, John Clarke wrote: "It came to pass that we three ... came into the Mathatusetts Bay about the 16 day of the 5th Moneth 51; and upon the-19th of the same, ... we' came into a Town ... called Lin, where we lodged at a Blind-man's house, neer two miles out of the Town, by name William Witter .... " From this we see that William Witter, in his old age, had become blind.

Memo:
William Witter's homestead at Swampscott was on "the spot where Joseph Blaney's house now stands,"--or where it was standing in 1844, about two miles from Lynn. The land on which it stood was purchased by William Witter from an Indian, according to the following deposition made by him, and recorded in the files of the Salem Court, under the dates April 15 and 27, 1657:
"Blacke will, or duke william, so called; came to my house (which was two or three miles from Nahant), when Thomas Dexter had bought Nahant for a suit of clothes; the said Blacke will Asked me what I would give him for the ' Land my house stood vppon, it being his land, and his ffather's wigwam stood their abouts .... " and he adds that he "bought Nahant and Sagomer Hill and Swamscoate of Black William for two pestle stones."

Will:
William Witter's will was dated August, 1657. In it he bequeathed to his wife, Annis, half of his estate, and to his son, Josiah, the other half. Of his daughter, he says: "Hannah shall have a yew and lamb this time twelf mounth." He died two years after making his will, in 1659.

William married Hannah "Annis" Churchman about 1630 in New England. Hannah (daughter of Hugh Churchman) was born about 1616 in England; died about 1659 in Stonington, New London County, CT. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Hannah "Annis" Witter
• Reference Number: 2714

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2748

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2730
• Immigration: 1640, Lynn, MA

Notes:

Memo:
WIlliam Witter's wife also appears with the Christian name,
Annis, probably a form of Anna or Hannah. Her maiden name
is said to have been Churchman. and it has been thought that she
was a daughter of Hugh Churchman, an early settler of Lynn,
Massachusetts. A well-known authority on early New England .
genealogy states that Hugh Churchman of Lynn, 1640, died in
1644, that his will was probated July 9, of that year, and that
Ann Churchman, perhaps his daughter, married John Rogers
on April 16, 1639, at Weymouth. In Hugh Churchman's will
he mentions Josias, son of William Witter, leaving the latter his
homestead in Lynn, which, on William Witter's death, is to pass
to Josias Witter. (Josias was often used interchangeably with
Josiah in old records.) It may be that the wife of William
Witter was a sister of Hugh Churchman instead of his daughter.
Hugh Churchman's will, from the Essex Court files, is here
given in abstract in the quaint old orthography of the original
document: "I Hugh Churchman of Len do make this my last
will ... first my howse and Lot in Len ... and aU other appurtenances
there unto belonging to wilyam Wenter (sic.) tel his
son Josias shae atayn the age of twenty one years and then to
his son Josias and his Ayeres for ever; with this condicon that...
he shale paye to his sister haimah winter (sic.) ten pounds within
one hole ?year ... And if Josiah and hannah shall both dy before
they shale atayen the age of twenty one yeres that then William
Winter or his now wif or the longer liver of them to have it ..."
He makes William Witter his Executor.