William LAMSON (1620 – 1659) was Alex’s 10th Great Grandfather; one of 2,048 in this generation of the Miller line.

William Lamson was born in 1620 in Essex, England. He came over from England about 1634, and first appears on a list of Freemen at Ipswich, May 17, 1637. He married Sarah AYERS in 1640 in Ipswich, Mass. William died 1 Dec 1659 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.

Sarah Ayers was born in 1621 in England. Her parents were not John AYER and Hannah EVERED. After William died, she maried Thomas Hartshorn 10 Apr 1661 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass. When Sarah Lampson, proposed to marry Thomas Hartshorn, John Ayers refers to the aforesaid William Lamson as his brother. His wife, Sarah died in 1692 in Dedham, Essex, Mass.

John Ayres and William Fellows [husband of Mary Ayres], calling William Lamson and Sarah his widow, their brother and sister, petitioned that their brother Lamson’s children may not be cheated out of their share of the estate, stating that the children had been put out to live in other families, and that the estate of said brother Lamson had not been valued near so high as it was estimated by them. Accordingly, Thomas Hartshorn made over as security his house and homestead of fifteen acres in Reading, and bounded by lands of James Pike and Walter Fairfield and the common lands of Reading, etc., on the nth of 12 mo., 1661, which satisfied the Judge of Probate. Since John Ayres’ wife Susanna, being an only daughter it is supposed that Sarah Lamson, widow, was his own sister.” Some say that Capt John Ayers was not the son of John Ayer either.

John Ayers and William Fellowes wrote

Wheras our Brother william Lampson late of Ipswich dyed intestete and Administration granted by the Honered Court at Ipswich at his widow our Sister Sarah Lampson and devided the estate about halfe to her & halfe to the children being eight in number and whereas shee being about to change her estate to one Thomas Harteshorne of Redding

It was agreed before the marriage he should signe and seale a wrighting to give our sayd sister power & liberty to dispose of the one halfe she brought to him by way of will (of wch there is sufisient wittnes besydes our selues) but by pvidence that wrighting being neglected to be finished before mariage (though then pmised it should be done after) but it is now refused and therby the children of or Brother william Lampson like to suffer And wheras the estate in the Inventory delivered into court was underprised espeshally the Land wch now appeareth to be worth eightye pound wch was then prised but forty foure pound.” “Our Humble request to this Honered Court is that the children of our brother may Inioy a pt of the advance of there fathers estate and do humbly intreat (if this Honered Court shall thinke fitt) that the Land may be to pay the childrens portions, it being prised in the Inventory as before exprest & there portions fiftye foure pounds & soe there portions will be advanced twentye six pound & the widdow still haue about halfe the estate and that it would please the court that those children that are put out [apprenticed] may be haue there portions improved for there use & Benifitt || that || when they come to age to reciue the same, that being all (as the case now stands) that they are like to haue there Fathers estate.

Thomas Hartshorn was born in 1614 in England. He first married 25 Aug 1632 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass. to Susanna Buck (b. 1622 in Kent, England – d. 18 Mar 1660 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass). John died 18 May 1683 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass.

A tailor, Thomas was living in Reading in 1639, five years before its incorporation in 1644. “About 1640 settled on Elm Street. The old Thomas Hartshorn place remained two hundred years in the family.”

homas was recorded as freeman 10 May 1648. A member in full of First Church 29 Sep 1648, his Church rate was £1-9s-7d. Susanna was also a member, and Rev. Samuel Haugh was the pastor.

In 1650, Thomas received a grant of 10 acres; in 1655 a lot in Jeremiah Swain’s meadow; in 1665, a lot north of the Ipswich River, and in 1666, land in the Great Swamp. Some of the old land records are clear enough during the twentieth century to show the approximate location of his land.

There is an interesting account in the Ipswich Court Recordsof 28 September 1658 where a John Hakes took action against a Joseph Cooke for his questionable possession of “a mare colt.” The action had lasted over six months and the writ was served by Thomas Hartshorn who was serving as constable, an office he held in 1658 and 1672. During the period of litigation, it appears that he had custody of the colt in question. The case was eventually decided for Mr. Cooke.

Thomas was a Reading selectman in 1661 and 1667. In 1662, he was one of 20 members who paid a dog-whipper and in 1672 it was voted to hang any dog whose owner refused to pay the dog-whipper. In 1680, Reading enacted that freemen in voting should use Indian corn. In 1677, Mass. state records have a petition from Reading of which Thomas is a signer. He is listed as being a juror during the court held at Hampton on 9 October 1677.

After his first wife Susanna’s death, several of her children were put out as apprentices, as most of the Lamson children already had been. No legal record of their apprenticeship had been found, except Jonathan. He was on the rolls of the First Church on 6 Apr 1663, by letter from the church in Ipswich.

Thomas was old during the time of King Philip’s War but was a sergeant in the Reading Militia Company in 1679.

Children of William and Sarah:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
1.	John Lamson	Nov 1642 Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Martha Perkins 17 Dec 1668 Topsfield, Essex, Mass	1717 Topsfield, Essex, Mass
2.	Sarah LAMSON	1645 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.	Cornelius BROWN Sr. 6 Jun 1665 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass	4 Oct 1683 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass.
3.	Samuel Lamson	Nov 1649 Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Mary Nichols 19 May 1676 Reading, Middlesex, Mass	7 Oct 1692 Reading, Middlesex, Mass
4.	Phebe Lamson	1652 Ipswich, Essex, Mass		John Towne 1670
5.	Mary Lamson	1653 Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Thomas Paine 20 Aug 1689 Dedham, Suffolk, Mass	5 Apr 1718 Dedham, Norfolk, Mas
6.	Hannah Lamson	1655 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Henry Collins 3 Jan 1682 in Lynn, Essex, Mas	16 Dec 1682 Ipswich, Essex, Mass
7.	Nathaniel Lamson	Nov 1656 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Mariam Savage 1681 – Ipswich, Essex, Mass	27 Aug 1722 Malden, Middlesex, Mass
8.	Joseph Lamson	Aug 1658 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass	Elizabeth Mitchell 12 Dec 1679 Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass . Hannah Mousall 1704	27 Aug 1722 Charlton, Suffolk, Mass. . Dorothy Hett 1715  Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass

.
Child of Sarah and Thomas Hartshorn:

	Name	Born	Married	Departed
9.	Timothy Hartshorn	23 Feb 1661/62 in Reading, Mass.	Martha Eaton 26 Dec 1685 in Reading	16 Feb 1732 Reading, Mass

There were two other Lamsons in early New England. Whether or not they were related is not known.

Barnabas Lamson came over from Harwich, England, in the ship Defence on the l0th of August, 1635, in company with Rev. Thomas Shepard. Barnabas settled at Newtowne, now Cambridge, Mass., arriving there about the time that the Rev. Thomas Hooker left there to settle a large portion of his congregation at Hartford, Conn. In 1636 he received a grant of land on the south side of the Charles River, consisting of six acres, in lots given out by the town; and he was a Selectman of Cambridge in 1636.

Thomas Lamson appears for the first time in New Haven Conn., about 1639, when his name is on a list contammg all the “Freemen of the Courts of New Haven.” Where he came from originally, or whether he located elsewhere previously, before going to New Haven, is not known.

In May, 1634, the people of Newtown, meditating removal, “sent men to Agawam (this name was changed to Ipswich in August, 1634), and Merrimack, and gave out that they would move,” but they emigrated to Connecticut, so that there was probably some social connection between Ipswich, Cambridge and New Haven in those early days, and the first settlers perhaps radiated out along these lines.

William Lamson

5 Feb 1637 – There was “granted unto Will'” Lampson six acres of planting ground, between Paul Williamson’s meadow and Goodman Andrews ten acres near the upper end of Labour-in-vayne Creek.” In 1640, too, he received another grant of land, and in that year it was voted that “the highway to Chebaco beneath Heart Break Hill forever be repayred by the benefit of the grass yearly growing upon the same,” and John Leigh was to enjoy all the profits for “maintaining the highway from Rocky Hill to William Lampson’s lot.”

On the bank of the Ipswich River, on a point jutting out into the stream at the end of the road leading to Labour-in- Vayne meadows, William Lampson was granted a house lot “in the beginning” and it was expected that this attractive locality, called the Turkey Shore, would become a compact neighborhood; but the houses disappeared, however, and some lots were never utilized. William Lampson and William STORY, who owned adjoining lots there, sold their property, now owned by Mr. Benjamin Fewkes, prior to 1644, and the neighborhood evidently did not prove popular. He also had a grant of about one and a half acres a little further up the rwer on the Turkey Shore, bordering on Hunt’s Cove, and this was sold to Deacon Whipple. In 1649 there was also granted to “Wm. Lamson 6 acres of salt marsh neare Hog Island by John Dane his Island.”

There is a hill in Ipswich named Lamson’s Hill since 1678, and perhaps earlier. His farm is still owned by his descendants.

Thus we see that William Lamson was early a man of property, and from the extracts from the town records we find him to have been a man of considerable standing in the community and interested in town affairs. His name appears on a list of I”>eenien of Ipswich, May 17, 1637. This shows that he was a member of the church in good standing and thereby entitled, after taking the oath of allegiance, to vote for the officers of the Colony
and take part in town affairs.

In 1641 he was entered as a Commoner on the Town Book of Ipswich, which showed that, owning a house and land within the bounds of the town, he was entitled to the right of pasturage for his cattle in the wide domain beyond the Common fence. These Commoners, from the very beginning, met in Commoners’ meeting, had their own records and legislated with reference to all the duties and privileges of Commoners and voted on all questions relating to the common lands. In 1657 it was “ordered that Wm. Lamson (and others) pay 12^ y head to the cowe keeper for their cowes going on the Comon according to an order made in March last.”

One of the earlier offices which he held was that of Pounder, and the duties were to care for stray animals, shut them up in the public pounds and collect the fines due. It was ordered “that Mr. Wilson . . . and William Lamson, and they only, shall have power to impound Swyne off the Common.”

Another office held by him was that of Fence Viewer, which was of the highest importance in those early days, as any break in the fence around the Common might involve great loss in growing crops at a time when a scarce harvest was a very serious menace to the health and comfort of the little community.. So it is no wonder that men of the greatest sobriety and carefulness were chosen for the responsible duty of viewing and having charge of this rude fence. In 1640 “William Lampson was appointed to look that the Common fence on the South side be sufficient.”

The right of Commonage did not carry with it the right to cut wood in the dense forests on the Common, and the privilege of cutting down trees had to be obtained from the town, under penalty of a fine. In Sept., 1641, there is a record that “Willi Lampson hath liberty to fell 300 trees on the other side of Chebacco so it be not in the limits of any town.”

In 1648 he was again on a list of Freemen and paid tax of 2 shillings.

The military life of the early settlers was of great importance to the community and the fear of attacks by Indians was ever present. Every adult male above the age of eighteen years was liable to military service. The training of the military bands was constant and arduous, and breaches of military etiquette and neglect of training were punished by fines. Thus we find, in Oct., 1643, a “List of such as have forfeited for not returning their powder according to an order of the Towne, . . . ii-0-0.
Willm. Lampson.”

Among the early leaders of the military companies was Captain, afterwards Major Denison, who became so valuable as a commander that the people of the town in 1645 voted to pay him every year £24-7-0 for his “military helpfulness to them” in order to retain his services. This was apportioned among the townsmen, and in 1648, in a subscription list “to our leader, Major Denison,” we find that William Lamson gives two shillings.

The General Court at times assumed extraordinary authority over the private affairs of the citizens in those early days. A scarcity of materials for clothing led to statutes increasing the number of sheep in each town to relieve the lack of woolen cloth, and in 1656 it was ordered that “all hands not necessarily employ’d on other occasion, as women, girls and boyes shall & are hereby enjoined to spin according to their skill & abillitie.” The Selectmen were directed to rate each family and the amount of time that might be given to spinning. The usual amount of spinning that a spinner could do in a day was to be the standard, and each family was to be assessed so many “spiners,” or fractions thereof. Thus we find on the town records for 1656, “The Selectmen having considered the severall families of this Towne & their employment have, according to the order of the Court, assessed them spinners as is underwritten for the year ensuing. . , . Wm.
Lampson ^ spiner, — £673^.”

Sarah Lamson, the widow, had married previous to Nov., 1661 (Savage’s Gen. Diet, gives April 10, 1661), Thomas Hartshorn of Reading, Middlesex County, Mass., and at the Probate Court, Nov., 1661, John Ayres and William Fellows, calling William Lamson and Sarah his widow, their brother and sister, petitioned that their brother Lamson’s children may not be cheated out of their share of the estate, stating that the children had been put out to live in other families, and that the estate of said brother Lamson had not been valued near so high as it was estimated by them. Accordingly, Thomas Hartshorn made over as security his house and homestead of fifteen acres in Reading, and bounded by lands of James Pike and Walter Fairfield and the common lands of Reading, etc., on the nth of 12 mo., 1661, which satisfied the Judge of Probate.

Savage says that Thomas Hartshorn already had several children by his former wife, Susan, and that by Sarah, the widow of William Lamson, he had a son Timothy, born Feb. 23, 1662.

On Jan. 20, 1720, Joseph Lamson, the only surviving son of William Lamson, was appointed adm^ de Bonis non of his estate.

Children

1. John Lamson

John’s wife Martha Perkins was born in 1649 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass. Her parents were Thomas Perkins and Phebe Gould. Her grandparents were John PERKINS and Judith GATER. Martha died in 1728 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass.

John lived in Ipswich and owned a large farm there. His name appears on a list of Freemen of Ipswich, May 27, 1674, and also on “a list of those who took the oath of Alegance of Ipswich town before the worshipfull Major Gen^ Denison, Esq., the nth of December, 1678.” Again his name appears on “the list of those that by law are allowed to have there votes in Town afifairs. Voted to be recorded at the Towne meeting, December the 2th, 1679.”

2. Sarah LAMSON (See Cornelius BROWN Sr.page)

3. Samuel Lamson

Samuel’s wife Mary Nichols was born 25 Nov 1660 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass. Her parents were Richard Nichols and Agnes Kendall. Mary died 1 Dec 1717 in Reading, Middlesex, Mass.

Samuel was a bricklayer by trade, and resided in Reading, Mass., where all his children were born. He served in King Philip’s War under Capt. Davenport in 1675. In 1677 he was a member in full communion of the church at Reading. In 1686 he subscribed £4 for a new meeting house there.

Samuel Lamson died intestate and Mary Lamson was appointed adm* of his estate. Her bond of £200 was witnessed by Joseph Lamson. The real estate consisted of 40 acres of upland and swamp. His eldest son Samuel took the real estate and paid out to his brothers and sister Sarah their shares. The minor children, when Mary their mother was appointed their guardian, were Ebenezer, aged 14; John, aged 13; Sarah, aged 9, and Elizabeth, aged 7 years.

4. Phebe Lamson

Phebe’s husband John Towne was born about 1650.

5. Mary Lamson

Mary’s husband Thomas Paine was born 29 Mar 1644 in Dedham, Norfolk, Mass. He first married 25 Apr 1671 in Dedham, Norfolk, Mass. to Rebecca Peck (b. 6 Nov 1650 in Rehoboth, Mass – d. 28 Sep 1682 in Dedham). Thomas died 3 Feb 1697 in Dedham, Norfolk, Mass.

6. Hannah Lamson

Hannah’s husband Henry Collins was born 2 Oct 1651 in Lynn, Essex, Mass. His parents were Henry Collins and Mary Tolman. After Hannah died from complications in the birth of their first child, he married 24 Jun 1685 in Lynn, Essex, Mass to Sarah Ayer (b. 17 Jan 1661 in Haverhill, Mass. – d. 8 Jun 1754 in Lynn, Mass.) Henry died 1 Mar 1735 in Lynn, Essex, Mass.

7. Nathaniel Lamson

Nathaniel’s wife Mariam Savage was born 1660 in Edgecomb, Lincoln, Maine

Like many of his fellow citizens Nathaniel followed the sea for an occupation. Of his
life little is known, but he probably moved to Maiden, where his brother Joseph lived, before 1683, as the following power-of- attomey, given to his brother Joseph, shows

Know all men by these presents that I, Nathaniel Lamson of Maiden in New England, have and hereby do constitute my loving brother Joseph Lamson of Maiden aforesaid my true and lawful attorney for me and in my name and stead to ask, demand, require, receive and to use all lawful means to ( ) out of the hands of whomsoever it may concern, all such sums of money. Debts Goods or other Estate, be it gold, silver plate. Bullion, Jewels, pearls or otherwise that shall be due or coming to me upon the voyage I am now bound out upon to the wreck or wrecks or elsewhere for my share of what shall be gained or procured in said voyage, Giving and hereby granting to my said attorney full power and authority to sue, arrest, ( ) and prosecute to effect in any court or courts and in my behalf to appear and any action or actions to defend : and if need be into prison to cast and ( ) to deliver, release or other discharge upon payment to give and sign Composition if he see cause to make attorneys one or more to substitute and ( ) at pleasure to revoke and ( ) other way to act in my behalf, in as full and ample measure and degree as I might or could do if I were personally present to perform the same : all which I shall ratify and confirm at all things by these presents : and if it should come to pass that I should depart this life before I return from the voyage I am now bound out upon, then I do hereby fully bequeath to my said brother Joseph Lamson all the estate that I shall leave behind me or that shall be coming to me after my decease by him to be possessed and enjoyed as his own proper estate and to his heirs and assigns forever. In witness whereof I, the said Nath’l Lamson have hereunto set my hand and seal this eighteenth day of December Anno Dom. 1683.

Nathaniel Lamson. Seal.
Signed sealed and delivered
in presence of us.
Eleanor Fitzgerald.
Ephraim Marable. X

Nath’l Lamson acknowledged this Instrument to be his act and deed at Boston, Dec. 26, 1683, before Samuel Newel, Assis.

From this document it is clear that Nathaniel Lamson in Dec, 1683, was setting out upon some extended or perilous voyage, and as there is no further record of him in Maiden or vicinity it has been thought possible that he may have gone to the coast of Maine as others were doing at that time, and married there and settled.

There are many Lamsons along the coast of Maine who trace their ancestry back to a Nathaniel Lamson who married Miriam Savage and lived in Edgecombe, Me., and this Nathaniel of Edgecombe may have been a son or grandson of the above Nathaniel of Maiden. There is, too, a striking similarity of Christian names between this Maine branch and that of Nathaniel of Maiden, which seems to make this possibility almost a probability.

8. Joseph Lamson

Joseph’s first wife Elizabeth Mitchell was born 12 Dec 1679 in Malden, Middlesex, Mass. Her parents were David Mitchell and Sarah Wheeler. Elizabeth died 10 Jun 1703 in Malden, Middlesex, Mass.

Joseph’s second wife Hannah Mousall was born 29 Jul 1662 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass. Her parents were Thomas Mousall and Mary Richardson. Her grandparents were Samuel RICHARDSON and Joanna THAKE. She first married Thomas Welch. Hannah died Nov 1713 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass.

Joseph’s third wife Dorothy Hett was born 22 Feb 1674 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass. Her parents were Thomas Hett and Dorothy Edmunds. She first married 1 Jul 1691 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass to John Mowsall (b. 11 Mar 1666 in Charlestown, Mass. – d. 16 Jun 1713 in Charlestown) Hannah died 27 Aug 1722 in Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass.

Joseph Lamson was a stone cutter and a cordwainer, and lived in Charlestown and later Maiden, Mass. He was with Captain Turner on the Connecticut River in March, 1675/76.

In 1693/4 he was “chosen to look after yoking and runing of swine” in Charlestown. He was a Proprietor and Freeholder there in 1694/5, and was appointed a Tithing man on March 8, 1696/7.

In 1701 he was on a Committee for the boundary of County roads.

In 1709/10 he was a Sealer of Leather. In 1710 his name appears on a “list of families yt bare publique charges in Maiden.”

On Jan. 27, 1720, as “only surviving son,” he was appointed Adm”” De Bonis non of his father, William Lamson’s estate.

His will, dated on July 16, 1722, and proved Sept. 21, 1722, mentions him as a stone-cutter of Charlestown. By his will his wife Dorothy was to have what she brought with her when married and his sons Joseph, William, Nathaniel and Caleb were to have the residue and be executors of his will.

The inventory of his estate, in which his house was valued at £140, showed total valuation of £203.

9. Timothy Hartshorn

Timothy’s wife Martha Eaton was born about 1668 in Reading, Mass.

Sources

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=609574&st=1

Descendants of William Lamson of Ipswich, Mass. 1634-1917 (1917) By Lamson, William J. (William Judson), 1871-1931

http://www.hartshorn.us/Family/Fam-A/d21.htm#P1