Sgt. John Gage, of Bradford

John Gage

• Birth: about 1605 - England
• Death: 24 Mar 1672/3 (aged 66–67) - Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Burial: Ancient Burying Ground, Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts
• Parents: unknown
• Immigration: by 1630
• Spouse: Amy (or Amee) (French) - married about 1638 in Massachusetts
• Spouse: Sarah (Swett), widow of Robert Keyes - married 7 Nov 1658 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

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Biography

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115817968/john-gage

• Origin - Unknown
• [Imm]igration - 1630
• First Residence - Boston
• Removes - Ipswich 1633, Bradford (Rowley Merrimack) 1662

born c1605 [deposed 27 Sep 1659 "aged abt 50yrs]; deposed in early 1662 "aged abt 58 yrs] Freeman 4 March 1633/4 - One of the first to plant at Agawam [Ipswich] 1 Apr 1633 - On 21 Feb 1653[/4] John Gage and "Amee my wife" of Ipswich sold to "Daniel Roffe" of Rowley twenty acres of land "granted to me by the town of Ipswich. Will, undated but proved 25 Mar 1673.

m [1] ca1638 Amy - also found as Amee -*No Last name given

They had 6 known children - Samuel, Daniel, Benjamin, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Josiah

In the Spring 2021 issue of NEHGR, the authors made the case that Amy, wife of John Gage, was an additional daughter of Thomas French and Susan Riddlesdale and that she was born between 1611-1613 when there was a gap in the baptism records.

m [2] 7 Nov 1658 Ipswich, Essex Co., MA Widow Sarah Keyes - of Robert Keyes [Keies]

In the Winter 2022 issue of NEHGR, the authors explain that … Sarah2 Swett (John1 Swett), bp. New Buckenham 6 May 1610; d. Newbury 7 July 1681; m. (1st) New Buckenham 8 April 1632, Robert1 Keyes, who d. Newbury 16 July 1647. Sarah married second John Gage, on November 7, 1658

ref: Died 24 March 1672/3 Bradford - MA VR Bradford Essex

• The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, MA David Webster Hoyt 1897
• The Pioneers of MA by Charles Henry Pope 1900
• The Great Migration Begins by Robert Charles Anderson 1995

Gravesite Details
No Marker Remains/Found

He is first called "Corporal " in a vote in the town records of Ipswich for the year 1639, and "Sergeant" in a vote of the town of Bradford, Apr. 18, 1670. Evidently he settled in that part of the town of Rowley which was first known as Merrimack Village, and afterwards as Bradford, some time prior to 1661.

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gage-159

John and Amy (French) Gage were the parents of at least six children:

1. Samuel Gage, born say 1638 (he was age at least 14 in 1656);[11] married in Bradford 10 June 1674 Faith Stickney.
2. Daniel Gage, born about 1639 (he was age about 30 in 1669); married in Bradford 3 May 1675, Sarah Kimball.
3. Benjamin Gage, born say 1641; married (1) Andover 16 February 1663/4, Mary Keyes (his stepsister), who died at Rowley Village, 20 December 1668; he married (2) in "Merimack" (Bradford), 11 October 1671, Prudence Lever.
4. Jonathan Gage, born say 1643; married in Andover, 12 November 1667, Hester Chandler.
5. Nathaniel Gage, born about 1645; married by 1696, Mary _____. (Anderson notes in 1995, "She is said to be Mary (Weeks) Green, widow of Thomas Green of Malden, but the evidence is not seen.")
6. Josiah Gage. born say 1648 (about 21 on 31 March 1669); married (1) "Rowley Village by Merrimake," 15 May 1669 Lydia Ladd; married (2) Haverhill, 17 May 1697, Martha Dow.

No evidence to support a daughter “Mary.”

Possible H.G. Somerby Fraud:

Writing in 1908, Arthur E. Gage wrote, "Some have claimed, on the authority of the late Horatio Somerby, that he was from Stoneham, in Suffolk, England, and was the second son of Sir John Gage, Bart., who married Penelope, widow of Sir George Trenchard."[12] This immediately raises red flags as H.G. Somerby is the one of most notorious fraudsters in genealogy. His modus operandi was to be hired by Americans to do the research in England, he would then "find" a link to an English family of note and send it back to his clients who would then incorporate it a book or an article. Though we cannot be sure this was likely done here and is likely another case of an Horatio Gates Somerby Fraud.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hollye&id... (dead link)
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ldshistor... (dead link)

I am contacting you about this profile: Sgt. John Gage, of Bradford

I am sorry to have to report that, In spite of its appearance on a number of other genealogy websites there is absolutely no truth in the claim that the John Gage who was baptised at Kersey, Suffolk, England on 21 April 1606, and who emigrated to Massachusetts, in 1630 was the son of Sir John Gage, 1st Baronet of Firle, Sussex, and his wife Penelope Darcy.

It seems that, at some stage, someone has attempted to create a noble 'Pedigree' for him/herself - not an uncommon practice! - and that this has, over time, been copied from one site to another without anyone seeking documentary verification.

In his "The Great Migration Begins" T.C. Anderson says that there is no definitive evidence to say who John's parents were, but that he may have been the son of a John Gage and his wife Jane Lufkin. This John Gage, died in Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts, on 24 March 1672/3.

John Gage, 2nd son of Sir John Gage of Firle and his wife Penelope Darcy was born at Firle Place, West Firle, East Sussex, England, in 1604. Like the rest of his family, he was a Catholic (the Massachusetts Colony were Puritans) John never left England. He is sometimes said to have been of Stonham, Suffolk, England, a property that was left to him in his mother's will which was 'proved' on 2 July 1661.

According to the "Visitations of Suffolk", John married Mary Baker who pre-deceased him. No children are recorded but, if they had any, they (and their mother) had died before their father.

At the time of his death in 1688 John left his Manors at Stonham and elsewhere to his brother Henry Gage and to Henry's son John. His Will is in the National Archives in London. It was proved on 27 April 1688. The will of his mother is also in the National Archives, London.

I hope this will help you to revise the profile and remove any links from John Gage of Kersey and his descendants to the Gage family of Firle.

Sincerely Martin Wood

Notes

http://archive.org/stream/historyofwashing00wash#page/n7/mode/2up. Pg. 440

In 1630 John Gage, of Stoneham, Suffolk Co., England, emigrated to America, landing at Salem, Mass on June 12, 1630. He seems to have first settled in Boston, where he was a minister of the First Church, but in 1633 he became one of the first proprietors of Ipswich, Mass. He rem. to Rowley, Mass. in 1664, where he died in 1673. He had two wives, and according to one account, three. He had eight children, five of his sons being children of his first wife, Anna.

JOHN GAGE was baptised, Apr. 21, 1606, in Kersey, Suffolk, England. He died Mar 24, 1672/73 in Bradford, Essex, MA. He married twice, first to AMEE WILFORD, and second to Sarah Keys. There is no record of JOHN having a daughter as some claim. If he did indeed have a daughter, Mary, she appears nowhere in the records.

JOHN Gage was a man of Puritanic beliefs and thus joined John Winthrop's fleet of eleven ships to the coasts of New England. It has been stated in the book "The Winthrop Fleet of 1630" that JOHN GAGE's wife "Amy" came with him on the journey. This is probable but not documented as there are no known marriage records of his marriage to his first wife, whose name is also spelled as Anna, Amy, or Aimee. Winthrop's fleet consisted of ships designed to transport wine and freight. Temporary shelters were built on the decks to shelter the women and children for the three thousand mile journey across the Atlantic. There were about seven hundred passengers, two hundred cows and sixty horses. After much preparation they left from the Isle of Wight, England, on the 8th of April 1630. JOHN GAGE is thought to have been aboard the flagship Arabella. The master of the ship was Captain Peter Milburne. After a sixty-six day voyage through storms and gales they arrived in Salem harbour. The date was Saturday the 12th of June 1630.

The next day, at anchor in Salem harbour, Masconomet, Sagamore of Agawam, came aboard and welcomed the newcomers to the home of his forefathers. A settlement had been set up in Charlestown in 1629, and it was here they first settled. Of this group about two hundred would die before December due to hardship and illness. John Gage remained in Boston until March of 1633. At this time he went with John Winthrop Jr. to begin a plantation at Agawam, later called Ipswich. No more than twelve men were assigned to go, with the promise of more when other ships arrived. But, of these possible twelve, only nine are known. Among these nine was JOHN GAGE. There were no roads so the journey was undoubtedly made in a small boat along the coast and up the Ipswich River. In a Hardy genealogy it is written that all the men were married and that the wives went later to be with their husbands. On Apr. 1, 1633, it was ordered by the court that no person shall go to plant or inhabit at Agawam, without leave of the court, except those who had already gone. This was to prevent too large a settlement at first. Agawam was not a wilderness settlement. The Indians had cleared the forests, burned the brush and tilled the fields. For many years, because of the fertile fields and fishing, the Indians had a permanent camp there. This is where JOHN GAGE and the small group of settlers established their plantation.

The following year Agawam was opened to other settlers, and on Aug. 4, 1634, the name of the colony was changed to Ipswich in honor of the newcomers. JOHN was admitted a Freeman, at Ipswich, on Mar. 4, 1634. Under the first charter of the Massachusetts colony, none were admitted as Freeman, or members politic, except such as were admitted by the General Court and took the oath of allegience to the government here established. From the town, JOHN GAGE received a number of small parcels of land, the original being for six acres. He built a house on this property, (which is now at 6 Water Street, Ipswich).

He seems to have been a farmer, who varied his occupation by doing carpentry work. His most frequent employment was that of lot layer, and for the settlement of boundaries. The first public official appointed at Ipswich was the town clerk, whose records begin with November 1634. The "lot layers" also appeared at this time, a committee to which was referred the delicate task of assigning the lands. In 1635 JOHN obtained 40 acres of land in what was known as the Egypt River Grants. He also received other lands on Paradise Road where he built a house. In June 1656, he sold the rest of this land, not previously sold, including house and farm on Paradise Road to JOSEPH JEWETT of Rowley.

There are no known records pertaining to the marriage of JOHN and his first wife AMEE. And her surname is not certain. Her son Josiah, though twice married, died without any children. In his will, after remembering his brothers made a bequest to his "cousin Whittaker." This was Mary Wilford, daughter of Gilbert Wilford who was first the wife of John Corliss and second the wife of William Whittaker. Also Gilbert Whittaker may have been a nephew of AMEE, for the birth of four of his chidren 1667-1675 are recorded at Bradford. Records show JOHN and AMEE had seven children, six boys and a girl, all born at Ipswich, but this has been disputed.

On Feb. 20, 1637 the "seven men" of Ipswich were first mentioned. They had been an established feature of town policy earlier than this, but had not been recorded. They were, John Winthrop Jr, Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Wade, Mr. Denison, Goodman Perkins, Goodman Scott and JOHN GAGE, who were chosen to order business for the next three months. As a lot layer JOHN GAGE was ordered to lay out Mr. Dudley, Mr. Saltingstall, and Mr Bradstreet's farms before May 14, 1637. On Jun. 21, 1637, he was one of the signers of a petition of remonstrance against the departure of John Wintrhop Jr. from Ipswich. The petition was sent to the governor and to the Court of Assistance. John Wintrop left however, and later became the governor of Connecticut. JOHN GAGE was first called "Corporal" in a vote in the town records of Ipswich in the year 1639. In 1641 he is recorded as a commoner.

Most of the following land records are from "Records in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England". On May 20, 1642, a report stating the bounds between Ipswich and Cape Ann was signed by JOHN GAGE and others. To establish a village at Wenham, the dividing line between Ipswich and Salem had to be determined. To do this a committee of eight men, four from each town, was chosen. JOHN GAGE was one of the men representing Ipswich, and signed the report on Jan. 27, 1643. On Sep. 10, 1643, he was dismissed from the Boston church to that of Ipswich.

According to "Pioneers in Massachuestts" by Pope, JOHN GAGE and his wife AMEE sold land in Ipswich on Dec. 21, 1653. On May 14, 1654, power was given to JOHN GAGE, Robert Lord, John Dove and Daniel Epps to lay out eight-hundred acres of land for Mr Samuel Symonds, in some free place beyond the Merrimac River. On Jun. 3, 1657, Mr Symond's land was confirmed six-hundred and forty acres between the towns of Dover and Exeter. The testimony is signed by Daniel Epps and JOHN GAGE.

In June of the year 1658 JOHN's wife AMEE died at Ipswich. She was most probably buried at the High Street Burial Ground which was started in 1634. No gravestone is present at this time, seventeenth century grave markers were usually made of wood and would long since have been destroyed by the elements.

As was the custom at the time, because his children were still young and he had to work, JOHN remarried. On Nov. 7, 1658, he married Sarah, widow of Robert Keyes of Watertown, Middlesex and Newbury, Essex, MA. This is taken from the Ipswich Vital Records. JOHN GAGE with his second wife, Sarah, moved from Ispwich to that part of Rowley first called Merrimac Village, and later Bradford, before Dec. 7, 1661. The exact age of John has always been in question due to statements he made in court. In a deposition taken Sep. 27, 1659, Essex Court Papers, Dennison versus Symonds, volume 5, page 19 his age is stated to be fifty, meaning birth in 1609. In another taken March 25, Essex Court Papers, Shortwell versus Smith, Vol 7, page 89, his age is stated to be fifty eight. This gives a birth of 1604. JOHN GAGE and Henry Kingsbury were chosen in Rowley, as the overseers for Pentuckit side for fences and highways. The records for a Rowley town meeting Jun. 19, 1662, show the tax rate of Corporal JOHN GAGE as being 1 pound 9 shilling 8 pence. Also at that same town meeting Robert Haseltine and Corporal Gage were appointed overseers at Pentuckit for the highways and to take care of the fences there. In the year 1664 JOHN GAGE is recorded as having a share and a half in Plum Island. In a bill of charges to the town of Rowley for the year 1665, Corporal JOHN GAGE's bill as a jury man for four days is four shilling. On Jan. 1, 1665, JOHN GAGE purchased from John Carleton for the sum on one-hundred pounds, three hundred acres of land in the northwest corner of Rowley, at a place called the neck, in what is now called Bradford. At a town meeting held Apr. 5, 1671, in what shortly was to become Bradford, the town voted to give all its rights to an island in the Merrimac River to Sergeant JOHN GAGE. This was confirmed by the court records for Jun. 8, 1671. The title for this land had been given to the town of Bradford, then Rowley, in a verbal agreement in 1638 by Masconomet, Sagamore of Agawam along with other lands in the area. A written deed, entitled "Indians to the town of Bradford" dated Apr. 13, 1702, confirmed the title to all lands, including an "Island in the merimack, containg about six acres of land more or less." The island then known as Gage's Island presently known as Kimball's Island.

JOHN GAGE died in Bradford, Mar. 24, 1672/73. His will, undated, was proved in court in the town of Ipswich the following day. It is probable that he was buried in the Bradford Burial Ground, which is now located on Salem Street. The land for this burial ground and the town meeting house that was set up there, was given by John Haseltine at the town meeting Jan. 5, 1665. There is no grave marker for JOHN as it was probably made of wood.

JOHN's second wife, Sarah, died Jul. 7, 1681 in Newbury.

__________________________

SOME DESCENDANTS OF JOHN GAGE OF IPSWICH, MASS. By Arthur E. Gage, A.M., of Woburn, Mass.

1. John 1 Gage first appears as one of the signers to the covenant roll of the First Church in Boston, Aug. 27, 1630, and from his position on the list, which was headed by Gov. Winthrop, it may be inferred that he was of the number who came over from England in Winthrop's fleet. Some have claimed, on the authority of the late Horatio Somerby, that he was from Stoneham, in Suffolk, England, and was the second son of Sir John Gage, Bart., who married Penelope, widow of Sir George Trenchard ; but as that John Gage, the second son of Sir John and Penelope, married one Mary Baker,* and died in England, without issue, leaving a will dated July 17, 1682, proved April 27, 1688, he could not have been our John Gage the immigrant.

John 1 Gage remained in Boston until March, 1633, when he went, with John Winthrop, Jr., to begin a plantation at Agawam, afterwards called Ipswich. On Mar. 4, 1633, he was admitted a freeman.

From the town he received a number of small parcels of land. He seems to have been a farmer, who varied his occupation by doing carpenter work. His most frequent employment was that of a lot layer, and for the settlement of the boundaries between Ipswich and the adjoining towns, and he was once chosen one of the seven men (selectmen). He is first called "Corporal " in a vote in the town records of Ipswich for the year 1639, and "Sergeant" in a vote of the town of Bradford, Apr. 18, 1670. Evidently he settled in that part of the town of Rowley which was first known as Merrimack Village, and afterwards as Bradford, some time prior to 1661.

In a deposition of John Gage, taken Sept. 27, 1659, his age is stated to be fifty years ;| and in another, taken Mar. 25, 1662, his age is stated to be fifty-eight years. $

His first wife, and the mother of his children, was Amee ,§ who died about the middle of June, 1658.

His second wife was Sarah, widow of Robert Keyes of Watertown and Newbury, whom he married Nov. 7, 1658, and who died in Newbury, July 7, 1681, her estate being distributed among her three daughters, the wives of William Smith, John French, and Samuel Bus well.

John Gage died Mar. 24, 1672-3, leaving a will, proved Mar. 25, 1673, in which he mentions his widow Sarah, sons Samuel, Daniel, Nathaniel, Jonathan, and Josiah, and a grandson (John, son of his deceased son Ben- jamin). It appears from his will that he divided his farm, with the exception of his island in the Merrimack, among his sons before his death, and

The Visitation of Suffolk, by William Hervey, Vol. 2, p. 105.

t Essex Court Papers, Dennisou vs. Symonds, Vol. 5, page 19.

X Essex Court Papers, Shortwell vs. Smith, Vol. 7, page 89. http://archive.org/stream/newenglandhistor62wate/newenglandhistor62...

References

1. Burial record: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115817968/john-gage cites
   1. ref: Died 24 March 1672/3 Bradford - MA VR Bradford Essex
   2. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, MA David Webster Hoyt 1897
   3. The Pioneers of MA by Charles Henry Pope 1900
   4. The Great Migration Begins by Robert Charles Anderson 1995
2. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115817861/amy-gage
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35622981/sarah-keyes_gage
4. Roberts, Jeanie. "John Gage of Ipswich and Bradford." July 5, 2014 < link > and "John Gage of Ipswich b. 1606 Boxted, Suffolk and Penelope D'Arcy-Not his mother." January 29, 2012. on The Family Connection (blog). < link >
5. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gage-159 cites
   1. Granite Monthly (1882), History of Sanbornton, NH (1882); American Ancestry Vol III (1888), History of Rowley, Mass.
   2. Gage, Duane M. John Gage of Ipswich: His English Ancestry and Some American Descendants. North Truro, MA (P.O. Box 202, North Truro 02652: D.M. Gage, 1983. Page 16. View in FamilySearch
   3. Gage, Arthur E., "Some Descendants of John Gage of Ipswich, Mass.", The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1908). Vol. 62, p. 254.
   4. Metcalfe, Walter Charles. The Visitations of Suffolk made by Hervey, Clarenceux, 1561, Cooke, Clarenceux, 1577, and Raven, Richmond herald, 1612 (W. Pollard, Exeter, 1882). [https://archive.org/details/visitationsuffo00hervgoog/page/n211/ Pages 177-8.
   5. Thank you, Nic Donnelly, for conducting and sharing these details.
   6. Gage, Duane M. John Gage of Ipswich: His English Ancestry and Some American Descendants. Page 17. View in FamilySearch
   7. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), 719-22 (John Gage), at 721; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
   8. Melinde Lutz Byrne and John Edward Hardy, "Three French Daughters and Their Husbands ... Amy (French) Gage, Susan (French) Kingsbury, and Anne (French) Hardy," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 175 (2021):105-119, in particular, p. 110-12 (John Gage, Husband of Amee French); digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
   9. Winthrop Society (Link via Wayback Machine, 17 Jun 2016 capture date.)
   10. Torrey, Clarence Almond, "New England Marriages Prior to 1700", Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985, P. 290 Google Books
   11. Writing that Samuel was "at least fourteen in 1656 when he deposed about a fence," citing EQC 1:416," Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III (1995), 3 vols., 2:719-722 (John Gage), in particular, p. 721; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors.
   12. Gage, Arthur E., "Some Descendants of John Gage of Ipswich, Mass.", in New England Historical & Genealogical Register, volume 62. (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 1908): page 254. < Archive.Org >; (document attached)