James Minot, born in 1653, in 1675 graduated Harvard University, and came to Concord about 1680. Shattuck tells us that he preached in Stow, Massachusetts, in 1685, for twelve shillings six pence per day "one half cash and one half Indian corn." He "practiced physic, was a captain, justice of the peace, representative [to the Massachusetts "General Court" or house of representatives] and, eminently, a useful man."[6] He died in 1735.

biography

• from Colonial Dames - Short colonial ancestor profiles

Lemuel Shattuck in his “History of the Town of Concord,” speaks of the Minots as a distinguished family going back to Thomas Minot, Secretary to the Abbot of Walden in Essex.  His son, George Minot, born in 1594, came to New England and was among the first settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts.  George had four sons with one named John Minot (1628-1669).  John also had four sons one of whom was James, born 1653.  James attended Harvard College.  He moved in 1680 to Concord, Massachusetts. Shattuck tells further how “James preached in Stow, Massachusetts in 1685 for twelve shillings six pence per day, one half cash, one half Indian corn.”   Also that, “James practiced physic, was a captain, justice of the peace, representative to the Massachusetts “General Court” or House of Representatives and was eminently a useful man.”  He died in 1735.

Shattuck continues to say that Concord’s James Minot married Rebecca Wheeler (1666-1734), the daughter of an early settler Timothy Wheeler (1601-1687).  Timothy Wheeler, among other things had come to own the mill in Concord.  The shopping area at the center of Concord is still called the “Milldam,” this being where the settlers had dammed the brook and established their first mill.  Timothy Wheeler, who died not long after Rebecca’s marriage, left the mill to her in his will.  This made the James Minot family among the more prosperous inhabitants of Concord.  James and Rebecca Minot had ten children.  The fifth of these was also named James (1694-1759) and Shattuck calls him “one of the most distinguished men of his time.”

A later ancestor Captain Jonas Minot was the stepfather of Henry David Thoreau.

Citations

[6] Lemuel Shattuck, A History of the Town of Concord, Russell, Odiorne and Company, Boston, 1835, p. 379

Links

• Where Thoreau was Born