A time-honored name in Ameri-

CHANDLER can annals, among the first in

New Hampshire, this has been

conspicuous in many states, and is among the

most prominent of this commonwealth today. As

jurists and legislators, as business men and philanthropists,

its bearers have done service to New

Hampshire and received honor at her hands. It

has been said that Roxbury. Massachusetts, received

the best of the English emigrants in Puritan

days, and this family has furnished since those

olden clays many of the best pioneers in many

states of the Union. (

I) William Chandler, the immigrant ancestor,

with his wife, Annis and four children settled at

Roxbury in 1637. Annis is supposed to have been

a sister of Deacon George Alcock, of Roxbury.

One child was born to them at Roxbury. In a

list of inhabitants at Roxbury between 1638 and

1640, William Chandler appears as the owner of twenty-two acres of land, with seven persons in his family. He was charged with the care on the commons of one goat and kid, the least of any of the residents. He took the freeman's oath in 1640, and was at that time stricken with disease which caused his demise November 26, 1641. He was among the proprietors of Andover, with his son Thomas, and tradition says he was the owner of the tannery at the corner of Bartlett street and Shawmut avenue, Roxbury. A chronicler of his time says he "Lived a religious & godly life among us & fell into a Consumption to which he had, a long time, been inclined; he lay near a yeare sick, in all which time his faith, patience & Godliness & Contentation So Shincd that Christ was much glorified in him — he was a man of \Yeake parts but Excellent faith and holiness; he was a Very thankful man, and much magnified God's goodness. He was poor, but God prepared the hearts of his people to him that he never wanted that which was (at least in his Esteem) Very plentiful and comfortable to him — he died in the year 1641, and left a Sweet memory and Savor behind him." William Chandler's • widow was married Tuly 2, 1643. to John Dane, of Barkhampstead. England, who died in September, 1658, and she married (third) August 9. 1660, John Parmenter of Sud- bury, Massachusetts. The children of Wiljiam and Annis Chandler were : Hannah, Thomas, William, John and Sarah. (Mention of William and John and descendants forms an important portion of this article.)

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William was the second among six children.

William Chandler was probably born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, because his 6-year-old son William was buried there and that is where his family had been living for generations. He emigrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony with his wife, Annis Bayford Chandler, 1603-1683, and children as part of the Great Migration in the 1630s. The date was probably 1634 or 1635, since son William was buried in England in 1634 and daughter Sarah was born in Massachusetts in 1635. There is some doubt about the date, because William's 13-year-old twin daughters from his first marriage were buried in Bishop's Stortford in 1636 (their mother had died 11 years before).

This was a close-knit family. The daughter of William and Annis's daughter Hannah Chandler, 1630-1711, whose name was Hannah Abbott, 1650-1741, married the son of William and Annis's son Thomas Chandler, 1628-1703, whose name was John Chandler I, 1655-1721; in other words, John and Hannah were first cousin spouses (see http://www.milkcanpapers.com/chart/chandler0-2dl-1c.html for a diagram). This John's younger sister Sarah Chandler, 1661-1757 became the grandmother of the Samuel Phelps III, 1712-1795 who married John's granddaughter Priscilla Chandler, 1713-1778, Samuel's second cousin (see http://www.milkcanpapers.com/chart/chandler0-1dl-2c.html for a diagram). First cousin spouses John and Hannah had two sons, both of whom are are direct ancestors of ours, so that two of his great-grandchildren (Priscilla Chandler Phelps's son Joshua Phelps I, 1738-1798 and Lois Ballard, 1746-1836) were also married as second cousins (see http://www.milkcanpapers.com/chart/chandler0dl-2c.html for a diagram). New England apparently had a very restricted gene pool.

William was 45 when he died. William's widow, Annis, survived him by 42 years 1 month 19 days. She married two more times: John Dane, 1590-1658 in 2 July 1643; John Parmenter, 1588-1671 in 9 August 1660. Annis survived these husbands as well.

See http://www.milkcanpapers.com/chandler0-2.html for more information.

Sources on William Chandler:

   * Robert Kline's Ancestors, Merged with Those of Several Distant Cousins.

   * I have not been able to locate Fornham, Essex, England. A Fornham All Saints and a Fornham St. Martin are just to the north of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, however.

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Settled in Roxbury in 1637

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About Chandler, William

Lived in Roxbury, MA in 1637. Census taken between 1638-1640 shows he had 22acres of land, one goat and a kid. Rev. John Eliots record says ofhim, William Chandler came to New England about 1637. He brought foursmall children, Thomas, Hanna, [Deacon] John, William. Sarah was bornhere. [Also a son Joseph, born in Roxbury] He lived a very religiousand godly life among us and fell into a consumption to which he hadbeen long inclined. He lay neare a yeare sick, in all which time hisfaith, patience and godlynesse, and contention so shined that God wasmuch glorified in him. He dyed Jan. 26, 1641/2, and left a sweetmemory and savor behind him. -------------------- Source: George Chandler, The Chandler family: The descendants of William and Annis Chandler who settled in Roxbury, Mass., 1637, Press of C. Hamilton, 1883, page of 1315 total pages. Downloaded May 2011 from http://books.google.com/