Child

Benjamin Child b. 1631

/ Kirstin Miller

Benjamin Child 9th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Benjamin Child was born in 1631 in Cotesbach, Leicestershire, England. Some family trees state this Child family has “genealogy going back to William the Conqueror”. There’s no records to show this.

Benjamin was 3 when his dad died. His uncle Ephraim Child left England for America and probably convinced his nephew to migrate too. By 1652 Benjamin was in Roxbury, Massachusetts and married to Mary Bowen. Benjamin and Mary had 12 kids. They were members of the First Church of Roxbury. “In the records of Roxbury, Mr. Benjamin Child is stated to have been of the thirty who contributed for the erection of the First Church of Roxbury.” Roxbury was a town in the 1600s, today it’s a Boston neighborhood.

Inventory, Genealogy of the Child, Childs and Childe families

Benjamin died on October 14, 1678 in Roxbury. He didn’t have a will. His estate was settled in May of 1679 and included an inventory with a house and barn, 92 acres of land, “money in the House and in good hands”, 3 silver spoons, a wine cup, a trundle bed, wearing clothes, blankets and rugs; and more.

Benjamin is most likely buried at Eliot Burying Ground Cemetery “one of the three oldest [cemeteries] in Boston” named for John Elliot “Apostle to the Indians” and founder of Roxbury. The cemetery is next to a former fire station, “The Eustis Street Firehouse, the oldest standing firehouse in Boston”, and a few yards east of Benjamin’s church, the First Church of Roxbury.

Benjamin’s granddaughter Grace married Timothy Walker, whose granddaughter Cynthia married Asa Angell. Asa’s great granddaughter Matilda Flood in Iowa married Richard Mockford and their great granddaughter Elizabeth was born in Iowa in 1917.

Sources

Grace Child b. 1689

/ Kirstin Miller

Grace Child 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Grace was born October 27, 1689 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Benjamin Child and Grace Morris. Grace’s ancestors came to America from England and Wales in the early 1620-40s. Grace married Timothy Walker on May 14, 1713. Grace’s sister Mary married Timothy’s brother Peter Walker. in 1715. The Walker family ancestors were early colonial immigrants too. Grace and Timothy had 6 children, 5 daughters and a son. Grace and her family belonged to the original church in Rehoboth, today it’s the Newman Congregational Church, they practice and preach “radical hospitality”, established in 1624.

Grace died October 30, 1729, she was 40 years old and is buried at Newman Cemetery, a mile or so north of the Walker House where she and her family lived.

Snapshot of Grace Child’s ancestors, Ancestry family tree

Timothy started building the Walker House in 1724. The house is still there, open for tours and a house study site. Just announced at the site, it will be a farm again in Spring 2021. “When Philip Walker [Timothy Walker’s grandpa] died in 1679 his estate included 177 acres of land,” said Val Talmage, executive director of PRI. “By 1891, the farmland associated with the antique dwelling was 96 acres. And by 1960, the land was reduced to the current configuration of just over one acre. It’s so exciting that this most significant historic place will once again be a productive farm.”

Source

Ephraim Child b. 1654

/ Kirstin Miller

Ephraim Child 9th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Ephraim was born on February 27, 1654 in Roxbury to Benjamin and Mary Bowen Child. He was the first born of 12 children. Ephraim grew up in Roxbury and at age 21 he fought in King Philips War and died in a battle on September 4, 1675.

Capt. Beers and men killed in battle.
Soldiers in King Philip’s War at HathiTrust

King Philips War has an incredible history that changes as perceptions change. Metacom, English name King Philip, was the sachem, chief of the Wampanoag tribe following his dad Massasoit who aided and was friendly with the Mayflower Pilgrims. Metacom aided and was friendly with the New England colonists, tensions rose as the colonist moved further on to Wampanoag lands. In January 1675 there was a murder, 3 Wampanoag men were found guilty and hanged, Metacom was rumored to have plotted the murder. Wampanoag and Indians from other tribes began raiding towns, New Englanders gathered into troops and the war began. On both sides 1 of 10 soldiers was killed. On both sides homes, commerce and stored food were destroyed; citizens killed.

Ephraim joined up with Captain Richard Beers. On Friday, September 3, 1675 Captain Beers with thirty-six men headed for Northfield, Massachusetts to rescue townspeople after an attack. They camped overnight and on the morning of September 4 crossed Sawmill Brook where Indians had set up an ambush and the “company was most exposed, was furiously attacked in front and flank, and all were thrown into great confusion, but soon rallied and fought bravely for their lives, but were forced back by superior numbers some three-quarters of a mile to a narrow ravine on the south of a hill now known as Beers s Hill. Here a stand was made, and here the little band fought about their leader, with the courage of desperation, till their ammunition was exhausted and the captain with nearly every man had fallen”.

Sources

Mehitable Child b. 1669

/ Kirstin Miller

Mehitable Child 9th great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Mehitable was born on June 29, 1669 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Her parents, Benjamin Child and Mary Bowen, migrated to America and married in Boston. They had 11 children: 8 sons, 3 daughters. Mehitable and siblings grew up in Roxbury, today it’s a neighborhood of Boston.

Mehitable married Samuel Perrin who was born in 1671 near Roxbury. His parents came to America from England around the same time as the Child family. Mehitable and Samuel moved to Woodstock Connecticut where Mehitble’s uncle Henry Bowen lived. Mehitable’s younger bother John Child and his wife Abigail Morris went to Woodstock too. The Bowen, Child and Morris families are ancestors of Elizabeth Speedy, the Perrin family are in-laws. They all lived there in Woodstock. Woodstock lands changed acmes and boundaries, sometime New Roxbury, Massachusetts, sometimes Woodstock, Connecticut, all the same spot, today officially Woodstock, CT.

Woodstock homes and lands

On a map of the early days of Woodstock, Mehitable and Samuel are home no. 46, John Child and Abigail Morris are No. 35. with relatives all around. Their church was the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, still there today. Mehitable and Samuel are both buried next to the church, in Woodstock Hill Cemetery. This cemetery has 24 Perrin, 61 Child, 16 Morris and 57 Bowen burials recorded at Find a Grave. Samuel and Mehitable’s headstones are still standing and works of art, I think. Somewhere in a New England library is a dusty old book about the artist who carved these headstones.
Samuel’s headstone inscription: Here lyes Buried y Body of Mr SAMUEL PERIN Who Died March y 10th 1743 Aged 73 Years.
Mehitable’s headstone inscription: In Memory of Mrs Mehetable ye wife of Mr. Samuel perin died September ye 7d AD 1752. in ye 84th Year of her Age.

Sources


Ephraim Child b. 1593

/ Kirstin Miller

Ephraim 11th great uncle on RootsMagic tree.
Ephraim was born in 1593 in Nayland, Suffolk, England. At age 13 he was a tailor apprentice. Snap shot shows A Register of the Scholars Admitted Into Merchant Taylor’s School, Volume 1 page 50, list 1605 at HathiTrust.

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On February 8, 1624 at age 31 he married Elizabeth Bond, a widow, hey didn’t have children and lived in Nayland, England until 1630 when they sailed for America with the Winthrop Fleet, on Wikipedia. “The Winthrop Fleet was a well-planned and financed expedition that formed the nucleus of the Massachusetts Bay Colony”. Letters of Ephraim and John Winthrop survive in the volumes of Winthrop Journals.
Pages 165-168 Ephraim’s letters to John Winthrop.

Ephraim and the 700 other passengers of the fleet landed in Salem. Ephraim went to Watertown where he was a freeman in 18 May 1631. He was actively involved in the new colony as a commissioner to end small causes, keeper of the town books, auditor and selectmen. He held selectmen meetings at his home. He owned lots of lands: uplands, marsh, lowland, Remote Meadow, Hither Plain, Great Dividend and more.

His will was dated 20 November 1662, proved 2 April 1663. He left lands, money and possessions to his widow and his Bond and Child nephews. To the Watertowne schoolmaster he left 40 shillings annually. His inventory was dated 12 February 1662. The inventory included all his lands, livestock, farm buildings, tools, wearing apparel, 2 silver cups, 12 silver spoons and a lot more.

Volume 1 page 50. A register of the scholars admitted into Merchant Taylor’s School, from A.D. 1562 to 1874, list 1605 Oct. Ephraim Child s. of Wolston cit. and cordwayner, decd., b. Feb 1596. Merchant Taylors School on Wikipedia- it’s like Hogworts with houses and colors- opened in 1551, and is still a private day school in a different location from when Ephraim was a student.

Volume 1 fifth series page 165. Winthrop, Adam. The Winthrop Papers Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1871

Benjamin Child b. 1658

/ Kirstin Miller

Benjamin Child 8th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Benjamin was born in 1658 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the second son. On March 7, 1683 he married Grace Morris and they may have had 12 children. Benjamin farmed and his family stayed in the Roxbury area. Grace died in December of 1723, Benjamin in January of 1724. They share a headstone, still standing and worn but readable.

The Childs are buried in Walter Street “Berrying” Ground also known as Peter’s Hill, now part of the Harvard Arnold Arboretum. There are 55 burials in this very old cemetery 14 of the Child family.

“One of the earliest markers is a double headstone for Grace and Benjamin Child, husband and wife. Nearby is the stone marking Benjamin’s brother, Joshua, whose wife Elizabeth is also buried in the area. Joshua and Benjamin were brothers, born a year apart and baptized the same day, and Elizabeth and Grace were sisters. Each couple had 12 children.”

“Each July 4, as night falls, the Roslindale neighbors who live near Peters Hill in Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum walk to the top. Someone brings a radio, and they listen to the Boston Pops Orchestra play the “1812 Overture” while they watch the fireworks burst brilliantly over the Charles River. Near the base of the hill, among tall trees and along narrow dirt paths, lies a little-known cemetery containing the remains of veterans of the American Revolution and early settlers — an ideal place for pondering the meaning of the nation’s birthday.”

From the Harvard Gazette’s Hidden Spaces, The tiny cemetery.

Headstone Benjamin and Grace

Headstone photo at Find a Grave

inscriptionsHere lies the body of Grace child the Wife of Benjamin Child Died Dec ye 10 1723 in the 63d year of her age. (directly below) Here lyes ye body of Benjamin Childe who died the 24 day of Jan 1723-4 in the 66 year of his age.

The New England historical and genealogical register 1854, Volume 8 page 243, West Roxbury Inscriptions Central Burial Ground Peters Hill Copied by Mr. Wm B Trask of Dorchester