John Witter 8th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

John Witter was born on March 11, 1677 in New London, Connecticut. His grandparents arrived from England in the 1630s. His parents Sarah Crandall and Josiah Witter shared a history when on July 21, 1651 preachers “John Clarke, John Crandall, and Obadiah Holmes, came from Newport, and went to the house of William Witter”, at Swampscot, Massachusetts. The preachers administered the sacrament, and re-baptized Witter. Their illegal acts were reported, constables came, and the preachers were arrested for disturbing the peace, put in a Boston prison and ordered to pay a fine. It was illegal to hold Baptist services, in that place and time.

John Witter married Sarah Tefft in 1703, They settled in Westerly, Rhode Island, also Misquamicutt and Hopkinton, where they were both members of the First Sabbatarian Church, which turned in to the Seventh-day Baptist church. On February 28, 1710 John received a grant of 203 acres, on January 24, 1715 he mortgaged 101 acres and on December 22, 1743 he deeded 92 acres to his “Son John Witter Junr.”

John was a widow in 1720, he married a 2nd wife Mary. John died in August 1757 in Westerly, Rhode Island and is probably buried with both his wives at Witter Cemetery, also called First Hopkinton Cemetery near where the original Sabbatarian Church Cemetery stood.

Sources

• History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts at HathiTrust
• Witter genealogy; descendants of William Witter at HathiTrust
• A history of the Baptists in New England at Archive.org
• Rhode Island Historic Cemetery “the old Sabbatarian Church Cemetery”