Selectman Edward Spaulding

Picture: Edward Spaulding

in the North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000
Name Edward Spaulding
Gender Male
Death Date 20 Feb 1670
Spouse
Margaret
Rachel
Child
John Spaulding
Edward Spaulding
Grace Spaulding
Benjamin Spaulding
Joseph Spaulding
Dinah Spaulding
Andrew Spaulding

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Not the son of Willfred Spalding & Anna Spalding

2/6/2021 edit Uploaded a pdf of How Edward Spalding, a Puritan Farmer from the Norfolk-Suffolk Border, Came to Prosper in New England, Stephen Waasa Spaulding, NEHGR Vol 173 (Summer 2019) Pg 220-231. link

This Edward Spalding was never in Virginia.

Edward Spaulding

• Original name: Spalding
• Birth: before May 10, 1601 Alburgh, Norfolk , England
• Death: 26 Feb 1669/70 Chelmsford Center, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• Burial: Forefathers Burial Ground Chelmsford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
• Parents: Edward Spalding 1570–1603 and Diane Moullinge 1570–1603

Biography

One of the founders of Chelmsford, MA, highway surveyor, selectman

Robert Charles Anderson states it is highly unlikely the Edward Spaulding of Braintree/Chelmsford is the same as Edward Spaulding of Virginia.

The date of his settlement in Braintree, Massachusetts, was after 1638. Here his first wife, Margaret, and his child, Grace, died, and one of his children, Benjamin, was born. He was made a freeman, May 13, 1640, and is named in a petition, October 1, 1645. He is next of mention as one of the first proprietors of the town of Chelmsford, as is his son Edward, Junior, and John Spalding. He removed there in 1653, and at the first town meeting held November 22, 1654, was chosen selectman and again in 1656-60-67. He held other offices of trust in the town, and is recorded as one of the proprietors of "Newford," March 12, 1667.

His will is dated 13 Feb 1666. link. It does not mention sons Benjamin and Joseph. He made his wife Rachel executrix. He died February 26, 1669/70 at Chelmsford and was buried at Forefathers Burial Ground, Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Family

He married (first) in Redenhall, Norfolk on 18 September 1623 to Margaret Elliott, daughter of John Elliott and his first wife. She died in Braintree August 1, 1640.

6 children of Margaret Elliott and Edward Spalding, all baptized in Dickleburgh:

1. Grace bp 13 June 1624 d Braintree May 1641
2. John, bp March 1628 no death recorded
3. Samuel bp 10 Oct 1630 no death recorded
4. John (again) bp 13 April 1633 d Chelmsford 3 Oct 1721. Married 1) Hannah Heald 2) Mary (Stowe) (Cotton) Fletcher
5. Edward bp 2 August 1634 d Chelmsford 10 Dec 1707/8. Married 1) Priscilla Underwood 2) Margaret Barrett
6. Esther b 25 Jan 1637/8 d Dickleburgh 25 Jan 1637/8

He married (second), probably in 1642, (married Aug 1641 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony) to Rachel —, named in his will. She died before 2 April 1670.

4 children of Edward Spaulding and Rachel:

1. Benjamin, Born 7 Apr 1643 at Braintree Died 5 Oct 1713 in Plainfield, Windham, Connecticut. Married Olive Farwell.
2. Joseph, Born 25 Oct 1646 at Wenham or Chelmsford, Died 3 Apr 1740 in Plainfield, Windham, Connecticut. Married Mercy Jewell.
3. Dinah, born 14 March 1649/50 at Wenham, Died 11 Mar 1707 in Canterbury, Windham, Connecticut. Married Eleazer Browne.
4. Andrew, born 19 Nov 1653 at Wenham, Died 5 May 1713 in Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay. Married Hannah Jefts.

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References

• Spalding memorial and personal reminiscences, by Phineas Spalding, M.D. and Life and selected poems of Caroline A. Spalding. Published 1887 by Printed at Cohos Steam Press] in [Haverhill, N.H . Written in English. Page 14
• New England Marriages Prior to 1700 By Clarence Almon Torrey, Elizabeth Petty Bentley. Page 694
• http://trees.wmgs.org/getperson.php?personID=I89121&tree=Schirado
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=lanastl&i...
• http://sprague-database.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I84345... has errors
• http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_50.htm#57
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5004692/edward-spaulding has errors
• How Edward Spalding, a Puritan Farmer from the Norfolk-Suffolk Border, Came to Prosper in New England, Stephen Waasa Spaulding, NEHGR Vol 173 (Summer 2019) Pg 220-231. link
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spaulding-212 has errors
• Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1908, 2, 521, http://books.google.com/books?id=xY8sAAAAYAAJ. Has errors
• Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org). Will 20933.
• http://www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/a/alburgh/

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https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LRZV-VBD

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5004692/edward-spaulding: name originally Spalding. Arrived in Jamestown, Virginia colony in 1619. One of the founders of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. A selectman of Chelmsford in 1656, 1660, and 1661. Surveyor of the highways in 1663.

• Reference: Full Text - https://archive.org/details/spaldingmemorial1897spal/page/46/mode/2up A Genealogical History of Edward Spalding of Virginia and Masachusetts Bay, AND HIS DESCENDANTS< by Charles Warren Spalding, A.M., Chicago, Ill. 1897 p.46 (See note from p. 33)

FIRST GENERATION

Edward Spalding

1

• (The portion of the biographical sketch of Edward Spalding in Virginia has not been reproduced here as its veracity is contested. The material from the Massachusetts Bay settlement is informative.)

From page 51 and forward... By what means Edward Spalding and his family reached Massachusetts Bay — whether he took passage on a trading vessel, or went on a ship returning to England, is not positively known. He may have taken passage on a trading vessel, many of which were known to have traded along the coasts; and it is not at all improbable that he might have been jointly inter- ested with others in the ownership of a vessel, as we find that Captain Hartt, a master mariner, was a member of the same household.

From 1634 can clearly and distinctly be traced the first permanent settlement of Braintree,* Mass. Previous to this time, those who came there were adventurers, who had neither sympathy nor interest with the civil or ecclesiastical ideas of the permanent settlers of the Massachusetts Colony; and it is probable that Edward and his family arrived about this time, or very soon afterwards.

It was in Braintree, Mass., where his first wife Margaret and his daughter Grace died, and where one of his children, Benjamin, was born. The following records from the town of Braintree were returned to the recorder in Boston, and are published in the Historical and Genealogical Kegister,vol. 3, p. 247:

"Benjamin the sonne of Edward Spalden,

his wife, was born 7°, (2 P ), 1643.

Grace the daught 1 " of Edward Spalden,

his wife was buryed (3°), 1641.

Margaret the wife of Edward Spalden dyed 1640."

Edward Spalding was made a Freeman May 13, 1640, from which fact we know that he was a member of the established church of the Province; as no person could be made a Freeman,

• The original settlers of Braintree were from the old counties of Lincolnshire, Devonshire and Essex, in England. It also appears by the laws of Massachusetts Colony that Irish emigration was forbidden. to „ jit led to any share in the government, or be capable of JO] josen a magistrate, or even of serving on a jury, who se o a member of some one of the churches established in felony.

The third mention of Edward Spalding is in the following petitiontion made Oct. 1, 1645: "The petition of Stephen Kingsly, John Garing, Francis Eliott, Thorn: Flatman, Henry Adams, Thomas Adams, John Sheopard, Henry Adams, Junior, Samu: Adams, John Adams, Christopher Adams, William Vaysey, Kichard Bracket, Christopher Webb, Edward Sparlden, Thomas Meakisn, Nicho: Woode, Eobert Quelues, Thorn. Barret, Daniell Shode, William Ellice, Deodatus Curtis, Thomas Waterman, Nathaniell Herman, Humfry Grigs, John Hastings, George Aldridge, John Wheateley, Thomas Wilmet, Henry Madsley, John French and Arthur Waring is granted with free and full consent, they being about twenty of the thirty-two subscribers free men, the Cort doth thinke meet that so much land as they shall set out for their towne, not exceeding the quantity of tenn thousand acres together, shall be allotted to them, and that the major part of the freemen that shall first build & plant thereupon so that the whole make up the number of seaven, shall have power to admit or keepe out whom they thinke good, and that the Gen r all Co r t should write letters to Benedict Arnold, to compound with Pumhome at the easiest rate he can, for his right in any improved ground, and that the petitioners shall dispose of y e houses built upon y e said ground, with this proviso, that they shall pay to such as built them what the Court shall hereafter appoint, if they see cause so to do; this is granted provided they go on, and ten families be there within twelve months."

The name next appears in connection with the settlement of Chelmsford, Mass. In "Allen's History of Chelmsford," p. 8, we find the following statement:

"About twenty persons from Woburn and Concord at the last session of the General Court in 1652, petitioned for liberty to examine a tract of land, 'lying on the other side (west) of Concord river.' The Court accepted and granted their request. Having by a joint committee examined and viewed the aforesaid tract of land, and having also found sundry others to the number of thirty-nine in all, desirous of uniting with them in erecting a new plantation, they jointly petitioned the legislature for a grant of land, 'bordering upon the river Merrimack, near to Pawtuckett.' "

The petition was granted [Colonial Records, vol. 3, p. 301,] May 18, 1653, and Capt. Willard of Concord and Capt. Johnson of Woburn were appointed to lay out the township. It was about six miles square.

The town was incorporated May, 1655, and "upon information by letter from Esdras Eeed, Edward Spalding and William Fletcher, inhabitants of said plantation, that the number of inhabitants according to the time prefixed in the Court's grant, were there settled ; at their request the Court do grant the name thereof to be called Chelmsford." It was named after Chelmsford in England, county of Essex, which derived its name from the river Chelmer, on which it is situated. [Allen, pp. 12, 13.]

The town in the first grant did not extend to the Merrimack River, but, May 3, 1656, on petition of the inhabitants, the northeast boundary was extended to it. Among the signers of this petition was Edward Spalding.

In this enlargement was some of the best land in the town, and a portion containing 214 acres, was fenced in 1669, and called the "New Field." The names of the proprietors are given [Allen, p. 169], and among these we find Edward Spalding, Sen., Edward Spalding, Jun., and John Spalding.

In 1686, the land lying west of Concord river and south of the Merrimack, near Pawtucket Falls, called "Wamesit," was sold by the Indians to Jonathan Tyng and Maj. Thomas Hinchman. Mr. Tyng conveyed his right in the Wamesit purchase, excepting one forty-sixth part, to Maj. Hinchman, for £50, who sold the whole tract to forty-four persons, reserving one share to himself. These forty-six joint proprietors built a wall on the south side, extending from Merrimack River to Concord River, and for some years used the land as a common pasture for their cattle. It was annexed to Chelmsford, 1726. [Allen, p. 27.]

The first named among these proprietors is Edward Spalding, who was a son of the elder Edward. We also find among them John Spalding, John Spalding, Jun., Joseph Spalding, Benjamin Spalding, and Andrew Spalding, the five sons and one grandson of the elder Spalding. This territory is now within the most densely settled part of the city of Lowell, the There is a tradition [which is given by Allen, in his history of Chelmsford, pp. 16, 17] that Edward Spalding removed to Wenham, Mass., and was one of the Wenham company which removed to Chelmsford ; but there is no trace of his being there, upon any records of that town. He removed to Chelmsford, Mass., at, or immediately after, the first settlement of that town, in 1653. His name does not appear in the list of original grantees, but at the first town meeting held Nov. 22, 1654, he was chosen one of the Selectmen. The record is as follows:

" The 22d, the 9. month: 1654. At a meeting then at William Fletcher's Hous, there was chosen to officiate in ordering the Public Affairs of the Place by the Consent of the Major part of the Town for this present year ensuing: are as followeth: Ezdras Keed: Edward Spalding: William Fletcher: Isaac Learned: Simeon Thompson: William Underwood: Thomas Adams:"

He was also chosen Selectman in 1656, 1660, and 1661. Under date of Feb. 4, 1661, is recorded the division of land granted him by the Town, amounting to 28 acres, and consisting of 12 acres on Stony Brook, 10 acres at Little Tadmuck, and 6 acres on Merrimack Plain. In 1665 he was appointed one of a "Committee for the laying out the Meadow granted to the several Inhabitants according to the Town Order." In 1663 he was "the Survey g of the Highways." In 1666 he was chosen with three others '-Surveyor for the Newfield," a tract of land lying north of Stony Brook, then first opened for pasturage; afterward when settled as a village, called "Newfield," and subse- quently "North Chelmsford." Edward Spalding was himself one of the proprietors of the "Newfield," as recorded in the Town Records, March 12, 1667; his proportion being 6 acres.

The attention of the first settlers was early given to the culture of apple-trees, and special mention is made of the orchard of Edward Spalding, in 1664.

From the settlement of the Spaldings in Chelmsford, Mass., there went out, about 1700, a large emigration to Plainfield, Conn. The following facts transcribed from the records of Plainfield, Conn., may be found in the Historical and Genealogi- cal Register, vol. 15, p. 53:

"Plainfield, Conn., was granted to Gov. John Winthrop of New London, about 1655, settled from Massachusetts, and in- corporated 1699; and contained, Dec. 24, 1702, the following free- holders, residing on the east side of the Quinebaug River." Among the thirty-four named are John Spalding [10], Joseph Spalden [6], Edward Spalden [12], and Benjamin Spalden [5].

"Oct. 10, 1706, the General Court of Connecticu„ in t,ree, to a petition, gave a more ample confirmation to ninety the above proprietors, and to the following new proprietors." xss., the nineteen mentioned, are the four Spaldings above was

This Connecticut colony consisted of two of the sons Edward, Senior, Benjamin, and Joseph, and seven grandson \ „ probable also that William, the son of Andrew, went to Connecticut.

A large emigration also went from Chelmsford; at a 1~ period, to Ludlow and Cavendish, Vt. It was said that it safe to address any one in either of these towns as Spaldi since the persons bearing this name constituted a large propt tion of the inhabitants.

The same restless spirit which moved the Spaldings to emigrate from Chelmsford to Connecticut, continued in force ir their descendants, and led to settlements in Plainfield and Cornish, N. H., Moretown, Middletown, Sharon, and Panton, Vt., and Bradford County, Pa.; and now there is not a State or Territory, north of Mason and Dixon's Line, in which the descendants of Edward Spalding may not be found. '

The children of his wife Margaret were John, Edward and Grace; the latter was buried (3°. 1641) May, 1641. His wife Margaret died Aug. 1640.

Of his wife Rachel, named in his will, there were Benjamin, 'v, b. April 7, 1643; Joseph, b. Oct. 25, 1646; Dinah, b. March 14, 1649; Andrew, b. Nov. 19, 1652.

He died Feb. 26. 1670. His will, dated Feb. 13, 1667, in which his sons Benjamin and Joseph are not mentioned, made his wife Rachel executrix. But she died soon after him, and on probate of the will, April 5, 1670, administration was given to John and Edward. The reason, undoubtedly, why his sons Benjamin and Joseph were not mentioned in the will, was because he had already given them their portions, which they had invested in lands in Plainfield and Killingly, Conn.

The following are copies of the will of Edward Spalding, and the inventory of his estate: (May be accessed in the Spalding Genealogy)

NOTE from page 33:

These notes show that the name Spalding was very early introduced and extensively used in England and in Scotland. But whether the families were descended from one common ancestor, it is impossible to decide. The spelling of the name is quite uniformly the same— Spalding; and the given names, with the exception of one or two in the Maryland branch, like Benedict, are common to all the families, both in this country and in Great Britain. It is also to be noted that in the coats-of-arms the prevailing colors are the same, which would indicate a common origin. The introduction of u into the name, as Spaulding, is an Americanism,, and first appears in the wills of some of the children of the emigrant ancestor. As Edward Spalding was among the settlers of Braintree, it might be inferred that he came over in their company. But as to the family with which he was connected, or the county in England from which he came, nothing definite is known. The general tradition is that he came from Lincolnshire.

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Edward SPALDING

Filae Family Trees
Birth: Sep 4 1596 - London, England
Death: Feb 26 1669 - Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
Parents: Wilfred Edward SPALDING, Anne MOULLINGE
Wife: Margaret ELLIOT
Son: John SPALDING
Adds: more complete birth date and more complete burial place

Edward SPALDING
Filae Family Trees
Birth: Sep 4 1596 - London, England
Death: Feb 26 1669 - Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
Wife: Margaret ELLIOT
Son: John SPALDING
Adds: more complete birth date and more complete burial place
Edward SPALDING
Edward SPALDING
Filae Family Trees
Birth: Sep 4 1596 - London, England
Death: Feb 26 1669 - Chelmsford, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America
Parents: Wilfred Edward SPALDING, Anne MOULLINGE
Wife: Margaret ELLIOT
Son: John SPALDING