Jeremiah Norcross

Jeremiah and Adrian had brought their family to America by 1633 and settled in Watertown, Mass. He is mentioned in that year in the Records of the Colony of Massachussets Bay, as holding land next to Nathaniel Foote who was being made a freedman and granted 16 acres to the south and southwest of Jeremiah Norcross. In 1649 he purchased a house and land in Watertown where he was a town officer. Watertown was settled primarily by settlers from the small villiages of Yorkshire and Lancashire in England and it is likely that Jeremiah Norcross was born near the villiage of Ribchester in the Forest of Bowland on the River Ribble, and lived in London before he immigrated to America.

Jeremiah Norcross' will

I, Jeremiah Norcross, for such worldly estate as the Lord hath lent me, my will is yt they be divided into three equal pts. the first third unto my wife Adrean; the second third unto my Children Nathaniel, Richard, & Sarah Masy the wife of ffrancis Macy; the last third I give unto my dau. Mary the wife of my sonne Richard, and Mary my Grandchild, and to the wife of my wives sonne John Smith; to my brothers dau. Ane Davis the wife of Samuel Davis, and to her dau. Hannah her eldest child; & unto the poore members of Jesus Christ in Watertowne; unto minister Mr. Shearman, Mr. Simes, Mr. Norton, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Eliott, Mr. Mather each of them twenty shillings; and for my Grandchildren in old England [or Ireland]; my sonne Richard Norcross sole exor.; and intreate my Brother Charles Chadducke to be overseer. Signed 15 Sept. 1654. Witnes, Simon Stone his marke, Charles Chadwicke. Proved 6 Oct. 1657. Entred 6 Oct. 1657. (p. 168) Inventory dated 16 Sept. 1657, apprized by Simon Stone, Ephraim Child. Sworn to by Richard Norcross, 28 Dec. 1658.

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Notes

In his article, Charles Anderson in TAG (Jan-Apr 1985)pp. 18-31. He concludes that John Bland alias Smith was about the same age as Adrean, wife of Jeremiah Norcross, possibly even a bit older. In doing so he corrected an idea that seems to have started with a mistake by Charles E. Banks in his three-volume "History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Mass.", 1925. He also has information on Norcross, his wills, and his children by his first marriage. Banks' work does offer some further information on Norcross which might be helpful to you. From Vol. 2, Edgartown Town Annals, he refers to him as: "...Jeremiah Norcross, a well-to-do gentleman of a London family, connected with the parishes of St. Mary, Sunbury, Middlesex and Saints Dunstan and Sepulchre in London. He was son of Thomas Norcross, a linen draper, married his second wife, Adrian Smith, about 1630 and came to America 8 or 9 years later. (footnote: A manuscript gen. of this family by Joel W. Norcross, in the library of the NEHGS, furnished many corroborative facts in the Bland-Smith search. This gen. gives no authority for date of second marriage)..."

Norcross genealogy gives credence to the fact that John Bland Smith was the stepson of Jeremiah Norcross as he leaves Isabella Drake a ewe sheep in his will.

Links

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