Humphrey Chadbourne

Lieutenant HUMPHREY3 CHADBOURNE (3. Humphrey2 William1), born Kittery circa 1653; died Berwick 1694 (BVR, 205); married before Sep 1678 when their first child was born SARAH BOLLES, born Wells 20 or 26 (Early Marriages of Strafford Co NH) Jan 1657, died probably Berwick after 10 Nov 1707 (letter of son Humphrey, below) and before Dec 1708 (when Benjamin Nason married third), daughter of Joseph and Mary (Howell) Bolles.

The widow Sarah (Bolles) Chadbourne married second (as widow of William, apparently a transcription error, Early Marriages of Strafford Co NH) after May 1700, when Benjamin's last child with his first wife was born (KVR, 12) Benjamin Nason of Berwick, who died 1714.

Benjamin had married first (by Rev John Pike) 30 June 1689 Martha Canney, b 5 Feb 1669, d before 1708, daughter of Thomas; and married third Portsmouth NH 27 Dec 1708 (NEHGR 5:40; LND, 504) Elizabeth (Martyn) (Kennard) Furber. (See Joseph Anderson, "Mary Nason, Wife of William Chadbourne of Berwick, Maine", TAG, Apr 1993.)

In Jan 1690/1 Sarah witnessed the will of her brother-in-law Charles Frost (MW, 118). A land record has been found in which Benjamin and Sarah, his wife, conveyed property in Berwick (YD 7:50). Both were signed with her distinctive, large "S".

In the collections of the Maine Historical Society, a letter from Humphrey4 Chadbourne to his cousin Joseph Bolles survives to reveal the second marriage of the widow Sarah (Bolles) Chadbourne:

Pray Lit. For Mr Joseph Bolles At Ipswich []

Barwick

Novembr ye 10th 1707

Loving Cozen, my Love Remmberd to yu hoping this will find yu in good health as I am at this present time I am desired by my Mothor to send to yu she hath bin sick & under ye doctors hands all this sumer [crossed out] summer & is Like to be for all winter If she lives for she has Lost ye use of her lims & can not stride nofurthor than she is helpt She Remmbers her kins love to yu & desires it to Let it not be known that yu owe her money but keep it privt be cause she has a Cross Husband he is for geting all she has in ye world & that will not Content him but he thretens to take away all that I have to [too] I lately went to see her & was privte with her & she Cryd bitterly & told me his unkindness that he intended quickly to try wth me for what Estate I have for he says it is his wives & he is informed to [too] that mother has mony in yr hand which he intends [crossed out] presently to fetch but pray let it not be known that I sent to yu nor to any body lest it should come to his Ears & should fix up more strife If he should send tel him it is payd long ago & yu have nothing to say to them when you have perusd this burn it & keep all privit for news we have none

Mr Wise is publishd to Cozen Mary Shipway & is to be Ordained in this month

Loving Cozen

Humphry Chadbourn

(MHS, Coll. S-1664)

Sarah Bolles has a well-established royal descent from Edward I, King of England (1272-1307) and many earlier Kings of England, Scotland and France, as published in Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists by Frederick Lewis Weis, 7th Edition [1992] compiled by Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. Her father, Joseph Bolles, was baptized at Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England 19 Feb 1608, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Perkins) Bolles Esq of Oberton Manor (ibid).

Humphrey had several grants of land from the town of Kittery, including one on 13 Apr 1671, which implies that he was adult at this date. In Nov 1673, Lt Edward Hayes was fined 20s for his "tumultuous carage in takeing of Humfrey Chadborne by the throate pretending hee was in Jest, as owned by him selfe" (MPC II:482). We are not told what the "jest" was about. Humphrey complained his sawmill was taxed too much (1688 letter at MA Hist Soc, Jeffries Coll II, 95). He was a selectman for Kittery in 1692-93. In a writ issued 23 Dec 1695, Sarah Chadbourne, widow of Humphrey, was called to appear at the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in Jan 1695/6 to answer to the charge that Humphrey sometime in 1693 had improperly cut and carried away five or six loads of hay from the widow Mary Twisden's marsh at York (MPC IV:63).

Humphrey died relatively young, and at his death his estate of £72(MPA) was called insolvent. The greater part of the family property had remained in the capable hands of his mother Lucy. After legacies were paid to his sisters, Humphrey's only real income was from half of the mill left by his father. Undoubtedly the difficulty with Indians limited the procurement of logs for long periods. The Chadbournes were credited with having good relations with local Indians, but others came long distances to attack white settlers (LND, 134). He owed the Stilemans (his mother's last husband) sums of money at his death, which debt was forgiven to his children in Lucy's will (qv). Sarah was appointed administratrix of Humphrey's intestate estate 16 May 1695 (MPA 1/22, 69).

At the 5 Jan 1696/7 session of the court, Kittery presented the widow Sarah Chadbourne for not frequenting the public worship of God upon the Lords day (MPC IV:88). She appeared at court the next session, 6 Apr 1697, and was fined 5s 6d (MPC IV:91). It was presumably this Sarah Chadbourne's house mentioned in the deposition of Hannah Hobbs 17 Aug 1699 (MPC IV:248).

Children, born probably Berwick ME, Humphrey the eldest, the others named in the order given in Lucy's (their grandmother) will (NHSP XXXI:452-453), surname CHADBOURNE:

i. HUMPHREY4, b Berwick 2 Sep 1678 (BVR, 205); d Berwick 26 Jan 1763 in his 85th yr (ibid); m Kittery 6 Nov 1712 (KVR) HANNAH3 ABBOTT, daughter of Ensign Thomas2 (Walter1) and Elizabeth (Green) Abbott of Berwick (LND, 57). He was called captain in a deposition of 1762 (YD 42:242) relating to some Indian scouting he and 44 men of Berwick did at the Ossipees in 1722, and we are told that he had been there before. Humphrey had no children, but left a considerable estate, inherited from his grandfather through his father, which he willed to his several nieces and nephews. His will is an excellent example of using probate to distinguish between family members (YP #2634, see MPA 11/108,111,132,216,288). His death without children 'broke the entail' of property held in trust from the eldest son to the eldest son. His will very explicitly spells out the relationship to his brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces. The maps to the division of his estate prove said relationships.

1762 Will of Humphrey Chadbourne

In the name of God, amen, The twenty eighth day of June in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and sixty two, I Humphrey Chadbourne of Berwick in the county of York, in the province of the Massachusetts bay in New - England, gentleman: being of perfect mind and memory, but calling to mind the mortality of my body, and knowing it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say, principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent christian burial at the discretion of my executor, nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection, I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God; and as touching such worldly estate, where with it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I give, demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form.

Impr. I give and bequeath to my beloved sister Mary Dyer all my personal estate, my dwelling house and barn and twelve acres of land where my said house and barn stands extending to the highway and including the whole of my orchard with appurtenances and privileges to the same belonging to her, her heirs and assigns forever,

Item: It is my will that all my nephews hold all their buildings and the spots of land they stand upon.

Item: I give and bequeath to my beloved nephew Humphrey Fernald ten acres of my marsh at the Westerly end of my marsh, near by Bial Hamilton's land, and ten acres of my upland adjoining to said ten acres of marsh to him his heirs and assigns forever.

Item: I give and bequeath to my beloved nephew Humphrey Chadbourne son of my brother William Chadbourne lately deceased my forty acres of land lying in Berwick woods above Adam Goodwins and below Little River, with all the privileges to the same belonging, to him, his heirs and assigns forever.

Item: I give and bequeath to my beloved nephew Humphrey Chadbourne son of my brother Joseph Chadbourne lately deceased my old dwelling house upon the hill, and two acres of land where the house stands to him his heirs and assigns forever.

Item: It is my will that my Executor hereafter named be paid out of my estate the charges of settling the same.

Item: I give and bequeath to my said Nephew Humphrey Chadbourne son of my said brother Joseph Chadbourne my ten common rights of land to him, his heirs and assigns forever.

Item: I give and bequeath to the children of my said brother William Chadbourne deceased, namely, Humphrey, Benjamin, Joseph, Sarah and Thomas fives of the one half of the remaining part of my homestead next to Salmon Fall river to be equally divided between them, to them their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: The other sixth part of the said half of my homestead I give and bequeath to all the children of William Chadbourne deceased son of my said brother William Chadbourne, namely William, Francis Humphrey, Catharine, Elizabeth, Mary, Phebe and Joanna, equally to be divided between them, to them their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: I give and bequeath the other remaining half of my said homestead which is the Northeasterly part thereof, to all the children of my said brother Joseph Chadbourne lately deceased, namely, to Humphrey Thomas and John and their five sisters to be equally divided between them, to them, their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: Five parts of the one half of all the rest of my lands in Berwick and elsewhere I give and bequeath to the said Humphrey, Benjamin, Joseph, Sarah and Thomas children of my said brother William Chadbourne to be equaly divided between them, to them, their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: The other sixth part of the one half of the rest of my lands in Berwick and else where I give and bequeath to all the children of the said William Chadbourne lately deceased son of my said brother William Chadbourne lately deceased namely, William, Frances, Humphrey, Catharine, Elizabeth, Mary, Phebe and Joanna, to be equally divided between them, to them, their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: The other half of my lands in Berwick, and elsewhere I give and bequeath to all the children of my said brother Joseph Chadbourne lately deceased, namely, Humphrey, Thomas and John and their five sisters, to be equally divided between them, to them, their heirs and assigns forever.

Item: It is my will that my nephew Humphrey Chadbourne of said brother William Chadbourne deceased pay all my lawful debts and receive all my debts.

Item: I do hereby constitute, make and ordain my nephew Humphrey Chadbourne son of my said brother William Chadbourne deceased, sole Executor of this my last will and testament, and I do hereby utterly disallow, revoke and disannul all and every other former testaments, wills, legacies and bequests and Executors, by me in any ways before named, willed and bequeathed, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testements.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand seal, the day and year before written signed, sealed, published, pronounced and declaired

by the said Humphrey Chadbourne

in the presance of us the subscribers.

Moses Carr

Benja Warren

John Brock (Proved 5 Apr 1763)

40 ii. MARY4, b 1680.

41 iii. WILLIAM, b ca 1683.

42 iv. ELIZABETH, b ca 1687.

43 v. JOSEPH, b ca 1690.

Sources

1. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 13, 1859. By New England Historic Genealogical Society Staff . Page 340.