Esther Witter

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2752

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 2721

Notes:

recevied a grant for two hundred and three acres of land.

mortgaged one hundred and one and a half acres

deeded ninety-two acres to his son "John Witter Jr"

Memo:
"John Witter's home was in the present Washington County, Rhode Island, then known as King's County. Westerly was incorporated on May 14, 1669. Its Indian name was Misquamicutt. For a brief period it was called Haversham, but the name of Westerly was restored in 1689, this name having been given
because it was the most western town in the Colony. It is probable that the ninety-two acres of land, which, as above stated, John Witter gave to his son, John, was in the part of Westerly, which, on March 19, 1757, was incorporated as the town 55]of Hopkinton, named in honor of Governor Stephen Hopkins of
Rhode Island."

John married Sarah Tefft about 1703. Sarah (daughter of Samuel Tefft and Elizabeth Jenckes) was born about 1668. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Sarah Witter
• Reference Number: 2749

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: 2750

Samuel married Elizabeth Jenckes. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Elizabeth Tefft
• Reference Number: 2751

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