John Spofford, of Rowley

• It is claimed John Spofford, the Puritan vicar of Silkstone was the father of the 1638 immgrant to Rowley, MA who married to Elizabeth Scott.
• Was he related to Anna Swan? She also immigrated with Rev. Rogers' company.

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John Spofford

• Birth: baptized 21 April 1611 at Toddington, Bedfordshire son of Thomas
• Death: Bef Nov. 6, 1678 (will proved) Rowley Essex County Massachusetts, USA
• Married Elizabeth SCOTT
• Most of the information found on the Internet regarding his English origins is incorrect. The correct information was published in 1990:
• John Brooks Threlfall, The ancestry of Margaret (Brooks) Threlfall (Madison, Wis.: the author, 2002), #418.
• John Spofford, in Threlfall, John B. Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & their Origins. (Madison, Wisconsin: J.B. Threlfall, 1990), 97-424.
• JOHN SPOFFORD (Thomas, Thomas, John) was baptized 21 April 1611 at Toddington, Bedfordshire. (He deposed as being about 50 in March 1661/2). He came to New England and settled in Rowley, Massachusetts where he had a 1 1/2 acre house lot on Bradford Street in 1643...
• John Spofford married Elizabeth Scott of Ipswich. She was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Strutt) Scott and was baptized at Rattlesden, Suffolk, England, on 18 November 1623, and was 23 at the time of the marriage.

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Biography

JOHN SPOFFORD (Thomas, Thomas, John) was baptized 21 April 1611 at Toddington, Bedfordshire. (He deposed as being about 50 in March 1661/2). He came to New England and settled in Rowley, Massachusetts where he had a 1 1/2 acre house lot on Bradford Street in 1643. His name appears on the first division of home lots when he received this lot. He also was granted land in the fresh meadows, salt meadows, the tillage lands, the Merimac lands, and shares in the ox pasture, cow pasture and calf pasture. He lived for 30 years in Rowley and in 1669 moved to Spofford Hill in the west part of town where he was without doubt the first settler in that part now called Georgetown. He took this farm on a lease. For the first five years he was to pay as rent 300 feet of white oak plank, after that £10 each year - one half in English corn or Indian corn, and the other half in "fat cattel or leane". This lease was assigned over to his sons, John and Samuel, on 16 March 1676, and the rent was reduced to £8, and to be wholly remitted "during the time of the Indian Wars. The lease was extended for 60 years; then the land reverted back to the town.

John Spofford married Elizabeth Scott of Ipswich. She was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth ( Strutt) Scott and was baptized at Rattlesden, Suffolk, England, on 18 November 1623, and was 23 at the time of the marriage.

He signed his will by mark on 7 October 1678 and it was proved 6 November following. His wife survived him and died 10 February 1691/2 at Bradford.

The name Spofford or Spofforth comes from the village of that name which lies 15 miles west of York.

John Spofford was about 35 when he married. This is about 10 years beyond the usual age. It suggests that he might have been married earlier, but there is no evidence of such a marriage. Also, he seems to have arrived in Massachusetts when he was about 30 or so. What was he doing from age 25 to 30 and where?

Family

John Spofford, born 1611 in England, died October 06, 1678 in Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spofford-16

Wife: Elizabeth Scott, baptized Rattlesden, Suffolk, England 18 Nov 1623. Married 1646 in Rowley, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Thomas Scott and Elizabeth Strutt.

Children of Elizabeth Scott and John Spofford:

• Elizabeth, born 14: 12m:1646, i.e. February 14, 1647 new-style, perhaps bp. Feb. 16. m. 1) 24 Apr 1672 Alexander Sessions 2) 1695 to John Low
• John, born 24: 10m: 1648, i.e. December 24, 1648, died 22 Apr 1696, married Sarah Wheeler
• Thomas, born 4:11m:1650, i.e. January 4, 1651, married Abigail Hagget 22 Sept 1668
• Samuel, born 31 Jan 1652-3, married Sarah Birkbee 5 Dec 1676
• Hannah, born 1654 or 1655, d. 24 Apr 1689
• Mary, born 1:9m:1656, i.e. November 1, 1656; m. Israel Honeywell
• Sarah, born 15 Jan 1658-9, d. 15 Feb 1660-1
• Sarah (again), born 24 March 1661-2, married Richard Kimball
• Francis, born 24 Sept 1665, married Mary Leighton

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Last Will & Testament

• Written Oct 7, 1678; probated 6th 9th month, 1678
• I comit my soule into the hands of god who gave it, and my body to the earth, to be decently buried, and as to that estate which the lord hath given, dispose of it as follows after my debts are payd. Imprimis: - As for my dear and loving wife, I give to her the lease of the house and lands of Mrs. Prudence Cotton. Also I give to her all the household stuff, to be at her disposal, except the arms and ammunition. Also I give to her two cows, and one calfe, also four sheep. I give to her and my son Francis, to be equally divided between, one young horse, also to have the use of four acres of land at the farm during her life.
• Furthermore, I will that my son Francis his portion be at my wife's disposal till he comes to the age of twenty-one years if she live so long, for that end that he may be helpful to her to carry on her husbandry work. Item: That which I give to my son Francis, is the two young oxen, and the mare and the cart, and all the furniture belonging to husbandry. Also one yearling calf, these to be at my wife's disposal till he be of age above said, and these things, or the worth of them, to be faithfully payed to him. Also I give him the small gun , and four acres of land at great meadows, and what may so fall by virtue of any town grant.
• Item: I give to my son John, two stears coming three years old, and the long fowling piece, and one halfe of the lease of the farm together with twenty pounds stocke I formerly gave him.
• Item: I give to my son Thomas, my vilage lands, and the gray horse and two sheepe, and one spring hog, and one two year old heifer and the great musket.
• Item: I give to my son Samuel, the other halfe of the lease of the farm and two young steers, one that come three year old and one that come four year old and one spring hog, and about ten pound stock I have already given him.
• Item: I give to my daughter Elizabeth one two year old heifer and two sheep.
• Item: I give to Hannah one cow, one three year old heifer, and two sheep.
• Item: I give to my daughter Mary one cow and one calf and two sheep.
• Item: I give to my daughter Sarah, one cow and one calf and two sheep.
• Item: I also appoint my loving wife and my son Thomas to be joint executors of this my last will, and my children to be payd at marriage or at coming one and twenty years old, and if any die before, their portion to be divided among the rest.
• In witness whereof I have set my hand and seal 8th month, (Oct. 7TH) 1678. JOHN SPOFARD.
• Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of us, John Johnson, Philip Nelson.

In court held at Ipswich, 6th. 9th. Month, 1678, this will proved to be the last will and testament of John Spaford, by the oaths of Philip Nelson and John Johnson.

Who Was the Father of John Spofford, the 1638 Immigrant to Massachusetts?

https://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/pers/Robert1056/curstat.html
There are conflicting opinions regarding the ancestral roots of John Spofford, the 1638 immigrant, who was one of the original settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts, and is the common ancestor of most persons with the name Spofford or Spafford currently living in the United States.

For those of you who may not care to read through the remainder of this rather lengthy document, here is a quick synopsis — Based on what I have found to date, there is good reason to be suspect of the traditional lineage of John's ancestors. However, at this point in time, I am definitely leaning in the direction that, if John, the immigrant, was not the son of John Spofford, the Vicar of Silkstone, he was at least closely related. Further, I suspect very strongly that John, the immigrant, was from somewhere in Yorkshire, and NOT, as John Threlfall claims, descended from Thomas Spufford of Toddington, Bedfordshire. And just to clarify at the outset — I have NOT yet found any primary evidence (birth/baptismal records, wills, etc.) that definitively links John, the 1638 immigrant, with any of his ancestors and, therefore, must conclude at this time that his immediate ancestry remains obscure.

family tradition stories

According to family tradition, John came from a long line of Spofforths who were religious and sometimes rebellious, in that their beliefs differed from those of the English Church. He came to America from Yorkshire in 1638 with approximately 60 other families who had the same religious convictions, under the leadership of The Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. The group apparently sailed from Hull in the ship "John of London" in the summer of 1638. He was one of the Pilgrim fathers who settled in Massachusetts. The group acquired many holdings in the area of Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts that have been passed down through the years to numerous descendants. [For the Historical and Genealogical Register.] MR. DRAKE, - The following anecdote, honorable to our Puritan ancestry, has been handed down by tradition. The writer received it more than fifty years ago from a descendant of Samuel Spofford, son of the hero of my story, and whose great age, ninety years, extending from 1653 to 1743, made him a living link between the first and the last generation, through whom persons well known to the writer might, and doubtless did, receive many interesting narratives of the acts and doings of the first settlers of Rowley. He was contemporary with his father, who came over from England more than thirty years before, and with his nephew, my grandfather, who I well remember, twenty-two years. During a time of great scarcity of corn, probably from the great drought of 1662, John Spofford, then living with his family at Rowley, and being with his neighbors much pinched by the famine, went all the way to Salem to buy corn. A ship-load of corn had lately arrived there, but the owner, foreseeing greater scarcity and higher prices, refused to open his store and commence dealing it out. Spofford plead the necessity of himself and his neighbors, but his arguments were unheeded, and he had only the prospect of returning without being able to carry bread to his suffering family. After every plea was exhausted to no effect on the heartless merchant, he sternly cursed him to his face! The merchant astonished to hear such language, had him arrested instantly, and arraigned before a magistrate, for profane cursing and swearing. The accused, nothing daunted, informed the magistrate that he had not cursed the merchant profanely but religiously, and producing a Bible, he read Proverbs xi. 26, He that withholdeth corn the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. The authority was deemed decisive, the accused was discharged, and, in accordance with the summary process of those days, the magistrate ordered that the merchant should open his store, and sell him as much corn as he desired at the current price. This man was afterwards the first settler of Georgetown, in this State, in 1668, and died in 1678 ; and every one of the name in this country may reckon themselves among his descendants.

• 'Proverbs xi. 26, He that withholdeth corn the people shall curse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. ' (see story above)

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References

• https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&p=john&n=spofford&oc=3
• http://magenweb.org/Essex/Georgetown/Spofford_family.html
• https://archive.org/details/genealogicalreco1888spof
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104466314/john-spofford
• http://thetaggarts.net/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I1715&tree=...
• https://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/pers/Robert1056/curstat.html
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 29 2021, 15:32:03 UTC
• WikiTree contributors, "John Spofford (abt.1612-1678)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spofford-16 : accessed 15 April 2024). cites

1. Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S
2. Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S
3. Family of John Spofford, vol 8, page 335 & 340
4. Essex, Massachusetts, Vital Records of Rowley to the End of the Year 1849, pages 200 -205
5. Family of John Spofford, vol 8, page 335
6. Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.
7. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013.) Vol 99, page 174 Who was the John Spofford who accompanied the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers in 1638?
8. The Essex Genealogist. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.) Vol 17, page 140. Georgetown and the Spoffords, by Barbara A. Holden.
9. Great Migration 1634-1635, R-S. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.
10. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2013.) Jeremiah Spofford, 1854, Vol 8, page 335, lengthy record: Family of John Spofford (short title). http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-a... See also:
11. Jeremiah Spofford, Descendants of John Spofford and Elizabeth Scott, Alfred Mudge & Son, Boston, 1888
12. John Brooks Threlfall, Fifty great migration colonists to New England & their origins, Madison, Wisconsin, 1990
13. "Gamelbar's Niche On The WWW" Dedicated to the history of families spelling their name SPAFFORD, SPOFFORD, SPOFFORTH, SPAFARD or SPAFORD with Family Coat of Arms and ...... a plethora of neat stuff on Yorkshire. The burial of Mrs. 'Spawford,' widow of John Spofford, the vicar, is mentioned (p.60 of Heywood), along with lots of historic 'flavor' of 17th century Yorkshire. Also, contains a listing of Yorkshire History & Genealogy Societies. < link >
14. "Family recd. of the des. of John Spofford and Eliz., his wife, who came from Eng. to MA in 1638. by Jere.Spofford, Haverhill,Ms 1851.(64p):14, 16"
15. Godfrey Memorial Library, American Genealogical-Biographical Index, Middletown, CT: Godfrey Memorial Library, 1952.
16. P. William Filby, ed., Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, Farmington Hills, MI, USA: Gale Research, 2010.
17. Yorkshire, England, Extracted Parish Records
18. Ashworth P. Burkes, "Burke's Family Records," Baltimore, MD, USA: Clearfield Company (Genealogical Publishing Co.), 1994.
19. Comments from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Spofford-16:
    1. ”His birth and parents shown here are based on an unreliable source that confessed he is not a qualified genealogist. Consider actually using what is the considered a reliable source: John Brooks Threlfall, Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins (Madison, Wis.: the author, 1990) pp. 397-424 and John Brooks Threlfall, The ancestry of Margaret (Brooks) Threlfall (Madison, Wis.: the author, 2002), #418.: JOHN SPOFFORD (Thomas, Thomas, John) was baptized 21 April 1611 at Toddington, Bedfordshire.”
    2. ”I edited the Life Sketch of John Spofford on FamilyTree today to take the Threlfall theory down a peg from "certain fact" to a "possibility." I find substantial merit in the points made by Robert Spafford in his extensive web page on the subject: https://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/pers/Robert1056/curstat.html.”