John Kent, of Dedham & Charlestown

Not the same as John ‘the Mariner’ Kent (son of Richard Kent and Emma)

Elizabeth Harding Was his aunt.

There are multiple John Kents in Massachusetts. This John Kent is best document in Genealogies of the different families bearing the name Kent in the United States, by Lloyd Vernon Briggs

• Author: Lloyd Vernon Briggs
• Publisher: Rockwell & Churchill press
• Year: 1898
• Possible copyright status: NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT

The children of John and Hannah (Griswold) Kent:

1. Hannah, born July 2, 1667; married Joseph Cahoon or Cohoon.
2. Maria, born February 3, 1669. Probably died young.
3. John Jr., born 1668 or 1670; married first Sarah Smith, December 22, 1692; second Elizabeth; he removed to Scituate in 1698, to Marshfield, Connecticut, in 1709, and died there in 1753; representative in 1724.
4. Joshua, born June 15, 1672; died June 20, 1672.
5. Joshua, born July 4, 1674; married Agnes Okeman, November 4, 1697; resided in Boston.
6. Joseph, born October 13, 1675.
7. Samuel, born March 23, 1678; died of smallpox March 16, 1702-3.
8. Ebenezer, born August 18, 1680; died at Hingham, Massachusetts, February 16, 1752; married, December 8, 1703, Hannah Gannett; ancestor of the Kents of Leicester, and of Daniel Kent, register of deeds, Worcester.
9. Lydia born July 16, 1683; married, 1714, Ebenezer Simmons, of Scituate.
10. Mary, born May 12, 1686, married, 1710, Joseph Barber, of Hingham
11. Susannah, born August 13, 1689. (Cutter)

Between 1633 and 1644 there came from England to New England three families bearing the surname Kent, who became the progenitors of three distinct lines whose descendants have contributed an honorable service toward the upbuilding of the moral, educational and political history of the country.

The English ancestry of the Dedham line has not been traced and it is not proved that they were related to the Newbury and Gloucester pioneers.

(I) John Kent, the immigrant ancestor of this line, was not a son of Richard Kent, Sr„ of Newbury, as stated in the Kent Genealogy. This is an error, as amply proved by researches of Daniel Kent, register of deeds, Worcester, Massachusetts.

John Kent was admitted to the Dedham church July 16, 1652, and admitted freeman May 3, 1654. His name appears on a tax list dated August 29, 1653, and he continued to be taxed at Dedham until November 22, 1664. He was one of the signers to a petition to the general court May 7, 1662; was elected one of the fence viewers for the West Field, February 24, 1664-5. He removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was received in the church there bv letter from the Dedham church, with his wife Hannah, April 13> l&72>- She was admitted to the Dedham church February 5, 1664. They were in Charlestown in 1667, when their first child was born. Kent was tithingman at Charlestown in 1679.

He married, at Dedham, May 21, 1662, Hannah Griswold, who was born at Cambridge, March 4, 1644-5, and died at Charlestown, January 9, 1690-1, the daughter of Francis and Mary Griswold (or Grissell). of Charlestown, who resided on the north side of Kirtland street.

On December 5, 1636, "there is granted unto Francis Greshold, the Drummer, two acres of land lying at the end of Barnabe Lambson's pole toward Charlestowne, in regard of his services amongst the soldiers upon all occasions, as long as he stayeth."

He died at Charlestown, October 2, 1652. No record of the death of John Kent has been found, but he was living at Charlestown as late as 1707, when he conveyed land.

Origins

From https://sites.google.com/site/theneverendinghobbykentline2/home/jos...

Joseph first appeared in the United States in Dedham, Norfolk, MA. His brother, Joshua who had already been In Dedham as early at 1643, proven when he was admitted to the church in Dedham in September 1644.In November of 1644, Joshua went to England and returned in 1645 with his two brothers, John and Joseph. Joshua had gone back to England in October 1647 with his wife and again returned. Joseph’s approximate age, is shown in a law suit in Braintree, Norfolk, MA. The suit was between Widow Wilson and Thomas Faxon, both of Braintree, Norfolk, MA. Joseph testified on 19 March 1653 and stated that his given age was 16 years. So it is determined that Joseph was about 7 years old and John older, when Joshua brought them over from England. The hypothesis from genealogists is that the boys were either motherless or orphans and that Joseph and possibly John were placed in the custody of their aunt, Elizabeth Hardier of Braintree

Sources

• Page 1339 of Cutter, William R. Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. New York: Lewis historical publishing company, 1908.] p. 1339
• Genealogies of the Different Families Bearing the Name of Kent in the United States Together ... Author Lloyd Vernon Briggs Page 115 Archive.Org