John Priest

Biography

It is very possible that he was the son of Mayflower passenger Degory Priest 1579 – 1621 and Sarah Allerton 1579 – 1633. The name is extremely rare in England and there are many family connections. George Everett Foster states that General Stillman Kneeland is said to have found "some ancient records but he fails to remember where" that Degory Priest had a son John Priest and this is accepted by many genealogists. He has seen statements that Degory had two sons and two daughters and the former stayed with relatives while the latter came to America with their mother (who had since married Cuthbert Cuthbertson). Dregory went to Leyden from London. This John, whose name was discovered by Gen. Kneeland, is the father of another John, who married Rachel Garfield. This John, son of Degory, married Sarah Allerton who was a first cousin (daughter of Isaac Allerton, while Degory's wife was a sister of Isaac).[1]

Torrey Vol 2 p 1233 (2011) shows "Priest, John (-1704) & 1/wf Sarah____(prob wrong: ch were by w Rachel); by 1679; Woburn/Lancaster {{Charlestown 777} and "Priest, John (-1704) & 2/wf Rachel [Garfield] (1657-1737): aft 1680, 1678 prob; Woburn/Lancaster {Tubbs (1956) 25c: Gibson 74-5: Priest 2:2: Rugg 69: LBDF&P # 399: NGSQ 30:81}"[2] Note the 3 volume 2011 edition includes all of Torrey's original citations not available in the older Torrey Index. The second reference is clearly to the son John Priest who married Rachel Garfield. The first reference would be for the current profile. It appears Torrey confused these two men. The citation for the first reference is listed in Torrey Vol 3 p 1757 as Charlestown: Wyan, Thomas Bellows, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, 2 Vols. (Boston: D. Clapp and Son, 1879)[2] which is available for download from FamilySearch.org (see sources).[3] At the bottom of page 777 of Vol 2 of Wyan we see "PRIEST JOHN 1. Woburn; m. SARA. . . . .Estates.—Sells Humphrey Miller, 20 acres near Reading, 1680, rec. 1683."[3] Richard Cutter in Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of ..., Volume 4 p 1769 makes a similar claim "I John Priest, immigrant ancestor, settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts. He owned a small farm in that town. He sold twenty acres of land near the Reading line in 1680 (recored 1683) to Humphrey Miller. He married Sarah _____. II John Priest son of John Preist, born about 1650 died about 1704." This wife Sarah has the same first name as the wife recorded by General Stillman Kneeland as Sarah Allerton lending at least some support to the fact that there was at least an older John Priest in Charlestown who had a wife Sarah.[4] Note his place and date of death of John Priest who married Sarah is not know. I have tentatively placed his place of death in Charlestown based on this land transfer.

However, the Mayflower society has has not found evidence that John Preist was the son of Dregory Priest of the Mayflower. The Silver Books dispute the existence of this John Priest as son of Degory Priest and father of John Priest of Harvard, Lancaster by stating "No indication of any additional Priest children [other than two daughters of Degory] has been found and it would appear that any supposition that there was a son or other children is a misinterpretation of the records." [5]

In 2001 J Dudley Richards responded to the work of Robert Wakefiled as follows: "Sarah (Allerton) Vincent Priest first wife of then deceased Degory, her third husband Godbert Cuthbertson, and three children came from Leyden, Holland to the Plymouth colony on the ship "Ann" between their marriage on Nov.13, 1621 in Leyden, Holland and 1627 when Degory's daughter's are mentioned on a "division of cattle" list in Plymouth, MA., Ref. FG271. Two of the children were Mary and Sarah Priest, daughters of the deceased Degory. The third child is not named but could have been either Godbert Cuthbertson's son Samuel or the subject John Priest, presumed son of Degory and Sarah (Allerton) Vincent, Refs. FG271, FG252, and FG269. Ref. FG271 indicates Samuel to be Cuthbertson's son by Sarah, whereas Ref. 252 shows Samuel to be Cuthbertson's son by an unnamed former marriage."[6] Robert Charles Anderson's The Pilgrim Migration (2016) p 382 supports J Dudley Richards' assertions that Sarah (Allerton) Vincent Priest Cuthbertson was the sister of Isaac Allerton of the Mayflower and wife of 1) Jan Vincent, 2) Degory Priest and 3) Godbert Cuthbertson. The complete naration of the land division is included below.[7][8] Therefore Sarah Allerton would have been John Preist's first cousin.

However, Robert Charles Anderson states that: "In the 1623 Plymouth land division "Cudbart Cudbartsone" received six acres as a passenger on the Anne in 1623 [PCR: Shurtleff, Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England 12:6]; four of these six shares would be for the deceased Degory Priest, his widow Sarah and his two daughters. In the 1627 Plymouth cattle division "Marra Priest" and "Sarah Priest" were the tenth and eleventh persons in the second company, just after their mother and stepfather [PCR: Shurtleff, Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England 12:9]."[7][9] This seems to indicate that Dregory Preist had only four shares allotted to him: one for himself, one for his wife and one each for his two daughters ergo there was no son of Dregory Priest was present by 1627. If he did have a son John he must have arrived later. We do know that Dregory Preist's family did not arrive all at once for Gov William Bradford wrote: "[Dregory Preist] has his wife and children sent hither afterwards, she being Mr Allerton's sister" (per Anderson Pilgram Migration 2016 citing Bradford p 443).[7][10] So it is possible that a son may have arrived after 1627.

Pope offers an alternate theory being that John Priest is descended from James Priest (c 1610 - 1676) and Elizabeth Hopkins. See detail under sources.[11]

His son John Priest lived in Woburn, Mass until about 1688, then to Bare Hill, Lancaster, MA (which became Harvard in 1732). He was a property owner in Lancaster in 1688. John was inpressed from Woburn for service in King Philips War about Dec. 1, 1675. He was in Capt. Nathaniel Davenport's company. He was in service in King Phillips War as one of 13 Woburn men in Service. Engaged in battle of Naragansett Fort Dec 19, 1675. He was still serving in the same company in the summer of 1676 in the garrison at Chelmsford and probably defended Lancaster from Indians for many years. For service his heirs were granted tract of land in Templeton, Mass in 1735. Inventory of his estate was 134 pounds, quite substantial for that time.[1]

Sources

• 1.0 1.1 George Everett Foster, The Priest Family: a collection of data, original, contributed and selected, concerning various branches of the Priest family (Ithaca, New York: West Hill Press, 1900) p 121, 124 Sections: John Priest of Woburn and Johh Priest the elder link to microfilm locations and archive.org
• 2.0 2.1 Clarance Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, April 2011) p 45 link
• 3.0 3.1 Thomas Bellows Wyan, The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, 2 Vols. (Boston: D. Clapp and Son, 1879) link.
• Richard Cutter in Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4 p 1769 (New York: Lewis historical publishing company, 1910) link
• Mayflower Families (the “silver” books) "Mayflower Families through Five Generations, Vol. 8, Family of Degory Priest," Edited by Robert S. Wakefield, compiled by Mrs. Charles Townsend, Robert S. Wakefield, and Margaret H. Stover, Pub. 1994
• Dudley Richards, 113 Tenbury Rd. Lutherville, MD. link accessed 2/15/2016.
• 7.0 7.1 7.2 Robert Charles Anderson, The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633, (Boston, MA: NEHGS, 7 Jan 2016) Sketch of Dregory Priest p 382 - 383.
• Robert Charles Anderson, The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633, (Boston, MA: NEHGS, 7 Jan 2016) Isaac Allerton p 10 - 15.
• PCR in Anderson's citation above refers to: Records of the colony of New Plymouth, in New England', Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., 12 volumes in 10 (Boston 1855-1861)
• Bradford cited by Anderson is William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, Samuel Eliot Morison, ed. (New York 1952) p 443
• Charles Henry Pope, The Pioneers of Massachusetts . . . (Boston 1900; rpt. Baltimore 1965) JAMES PRIEST, Sex: M , Birth: 1610 in Chessham, Bucks, England, Death: 1676 in Lancaster, Mass Note: Progenitor of the American Priest Family. A marriage listed in 1637 suggests he came to America before then. Father: ABRAHAM PRIEST b: ABT. 1580 in England Mother: ELIZABETH NUENS, Marriage 1 ELIZABETH HOPKINS* b: ABT. 1620 in pr England Married: 1638 in Dorchester, Mass
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=11221b&id...
• ID I22670391 Name: JOHN PRIEST Ancestors of Brian J. Wilson Entries: 8066 Updated: Sat Aug 25 21:42:17 2001
• Wikitree