John Mills, US 1630

Generation One:

John Mills- b. abt, 1595 at Lavenham, Suffolk, England; m. Susan Mills Nee Unknown; d. bef, 1677 at Boston, Suffolk, MA

Their Children:

1. Susanna b. bef 1630 at England; m. 1641 William Dawes Boston, Suffolk, MA; d. aft. 1680

2. Mary b. bef. 1630 at England; m. abt. 1650 John Hawkins;

3. John b. 1631; bapt 3 June 1631; m. 26 April 1653 Mary Shove; d. 27 February 1684 at Braintree, Norfolk, MA, aged 53 years

4. Joy b. abt. 1630 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. October 1630 at Charlestown, Suffolk, MA; d. bef. 1677, aged 47 years

5. Recompence b. abt. 1630 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. October 1630 at Charlestown, Suffolk, MA; d. bef. 1677, aged 47 years

6. Jonathan b. abt. 1635 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; bapt. 30 August 1635 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; d. bef, 1677, aged 42 years.

7. James b. abt. 1638 at Boston, Suffolk, MA; d. bef. 1677 at Boston, Suffolk, MA, aged 39 years.

"John is believed to have comev! from Lavenham, co. Suffolk, England, in the Winthrop Fleet during the summer of 1630. He brought with him his wife SUSAN (borrr':" about 1595) and five children." (Dawes, p. 442) "They settled first, as did most of the others from that Fleet, in Charlestown earlier called' Mishawan. These people had understood, before their emigration, that food in New England was then plentiful, as indeed some sorts were, so they brought less than they might have done and much of that which came with them, spoiled during the voyage. Suitable provisions for the seven hundred** or more who came in the Fleet were therefore very scarce. Scurvy was a common disorder; the immediate living quarters of many were but tents or shacks giving insufficient protection" so that much sickness resulted and two hundred or more are saidl,l6 to have died between April and December of that year. We are told" that

"The people were compelled to live upon clams and muscles, ground nuts and acorns, and these were obtained with much difficulty in the winter time, and upon these accounts they became much tired and discouraged, especially when they heard that the Governor had his last batch of bread in the oven. And many were the fears of the people that Mr. Pearce, who was sent to Ireland] to fetch provisions, was cast away or taken by pirates; but God who delights to appear in greatest straits, did work marvellously at this time, for before the day appointed to seek the Lord by fasting and prayer, about the month of February or March [1631] in comes Mr. Pearce, laden with provisions; upon which occasion the day of fasting was changed and ordered to be kept as a day of thanksgiving.'"

"At Charlestown, within a month or two after their arrival, a church body" was formed under a large tree" on August 27, 1630. The Rev. John Wilson was chosen as their teacher (later their pastor) and Gov. John1 Winthrop was the first signer, followed by ninety-five (presently one hundred and fifty) others of whom" numbers thirty-three and thirty-four were JOHN1 MILLS and his wife SUSAN. The first recorded" baptisms in this church occurred! in October, 1630, and pertained to two daughters of JOHN, Joy and Recompence", The usual officers of a church in that early day were a pastor, a teacher, ruling elders, deacons, "and sometimes deaconesses or widows. The functions of the widows as laid down by a quaint writer, were 'to show mercie with cheerfulnesse, and to minister to the sick and poore brethern.' "16 *By the testimony of the will of JOHN' MILLS, his "predecessors [ancestors] unto the third if not the fourth generation" were ministers." (Dawes, p. 442)

"Presently the realization of the lack of good springs at Charlestown induced a majority of these early settlers, including JOHN MILLS and his family, to remove across the Charles River to Boston" and in 1632 their church organization (then Congregational) was also moved" and became the First Church of Boston, to serve which, assisting their Pastor Wilson, the Rev. John Cotton came from England in 1633. Their meeting house built in 1632 was of stone plastered with clay, covered with a thatched roof. Following his acquirement of church membership, JOHN made application for freemanship" on October 19, 1630, which was granted':" on March 6, 1631-2. He continued his residence in Boston for about ten years and even afterward was closely associated with the business interests of that town. During that period the General Court gave to Boston in 1634-5 the territory" which had been known as Mount Wollaston and this same land was taken from Boston and set Off15 as Braintree in May, 1640. In the meantime, on February 24, 1640, Boston had made grants of land in Mount Wollaston (Braintree) to many men, including JOHN MILLS on the basis of four acres for each member of a family. JOHN received forty-four" acres which presupposes at least two servants or outsiders* in his family, which became resident" in Braintree in 1641. The location of their home is disclosed as being on a hill, near the meeting house," near a brook and approached by a road from the bridge. This road was so steep and rocky that a detour through the land of JOHN1 was established as is shown in the following record'? of February, 1657-8:

"The highway lying against JOHN MILLES house how it is layd out into his Lote,"At JOHN MILLIS house the country high way going up the hill of Rockes being to straite; and therefore presented) the selectmen of the Towne therefore has layd it about foure rods into JOHN MILLES lote which is to two Rockes allmost together, one great rocke and one title one, and so to a blacke stumpe, and from thence to rune into the high way againe."

"Further items bearing on the' location and surroundings of that home are seen in the facts that on August I, 1658, JOHN sold'? to Thomas Thathson for ten shillings, sixteen rods of land lying next to the meeting house bridge, the line to run from the brook "to the outside of the [Mills 1] house and from thence to a stumpe by the brooke" and the purchaser was "to make and maynetayne a sufficient fence (he and his hayers forever) between the said JOHN MILLS" and the grantee. A further description of the terrain shows" that as late as December, 1665, a highway was laid out into the Common, passing the lot of J OHN; that it . "is layd out from the bridge going up the hill before [in front of?] JOHN MILLES so ranging with a ledge of great rockes on the lower side next the swamp; to lie two rod wid upward from the rockes; and so to goe along to pass through the swamp , where themselves [officials] have formerly made it."

"We are told that JOHN MILLS, his wife and son JohnS were recommended by the Boston church to the church at Braintree, but the date4,17 is given variously as December 5, 1641, and as" August 14, 1656. The only item of public service which remains recorded of JOHN1 is that of town clerk4,6,lo or clerk of the writs in 1653. (Dawes, p. 442)

"As for the chief business interests of JOHN they appear to have been two-fold, .One of these may easily have been our WILLIAM1 DAWES who presently married into the family. first, as merchant and later as innkeeper. He was frequently a witness" to legal documents; had various sizable accounts due to him; was concerned in exporting and importing various commodities; held a power of attorney for different men and qualified as a shipowner and as sales agent of vessels.'"

"In August, 1646, JOHN1 exported to England, on the vessel "Recovery", of London," twelve chests of earthenware, three chests of glasses.P three bales of Indian matts, one box of belts and girdles, two hundred bushels of peas and twentythree thousand pipe staves a pipe being a container for wine or oil with the capacity of two hogsheads. The shortage of timber in England for the construction of containers caused many early shipments of products to New England to carry the requirement that the containers should be returned, and the colony presently built up a thriving trade by supplying the mother country with new staves for her coopers."

"JOHN and another man had an account of over £400 due" them in 1648. In January, 1648--9, JOHN1 had £93 due him from John Jarvis of Boston which was to be paid in codfish. About that time he acted as agent for two merchants in the Canary Islands in the sale to Nehemiah Bourne of New England" of one-sixteenth part of the "good shipp Merch' of the burden of three hundd tuns or thereabouts." In February, the next month, JOHN1 appeared as a one-third owner of the ship "Jane", of one hundred tons capacity which was about to sail'! for England with a cargo and in October, 1650, JOHN, then called "merchant of Boston", sold* his one-third share in the "Jane" to Capt. Francis Champernoone, one of the co-owners, for £300. The description of the "Jane" listed in part, "all & singular the stl-masts, sailes, saileyards, anchors, cables, ropes, cords, guns shott artillery tackle, yronworke apparell, boate & furniture whatsoever to the Sd ship belonging & appertaiening · · · ' On the last named date Champernoone also acknowledged a debt of over £38 due to J OHN1 which he promised to pay in "Merchantable Codfish at the Isle of Sholes"

"On February 20, 1650-1, JOHN1 MILLS signed a receipt" at Boston to "Georg Walthan for one pipe & one hogshead of Canary wine . · · for my use, having received the full summe thereof." Considering that a "pipe" was the equivalent of two hogsheads, we will hope that the "use" which JOHN had for it was sale rather than consumption. '"

"No further details of commercial sort have been found recorded of JOHN but in 1658 at the death of Martin Sanders, Braintree's first and only earlier innkeeper JOHN received permission to establish a house for public entertainment. His inn was located" on the west side of Hancock Street about two hundred feet south of Canal Street. Presumably the rest of his life was spent in this business for we learn that his son Johns Mills succeeded the father as innkeeper, continuing so until after 1710. The inn was subsequently known as the Ben Faxon House."

"The surname of SUSAN, wife of JOHN MILLS, has not been learned but she was borrr':" about 1595 and died in Braintree on December 10, 1675, aged eighty. JOHN1 himself survived her less than three years, dying there on July 5, 1678, leaving a will dated on January 12, 1677. This document began with a long religious preamble, suggesting that he had been a very devout man." (Dawes, p. 443)

"It spoke of *Our JOBN1 DANE was a witness in 1648 to a power of attorney given by JOHNl MILLS and a witness in 1650 to the above sale.lt his having "fallen into years"; that he wished "to dispose of that portion of my outward estate which the Lord hath lent me". It referred to John" as his only son and made bequests to his daughters Mary Hawkins and SUSANNA DAWES. At the end of the document he expressed an "earnest request" that one of his grandsons "that is capable to Learning be fitted for the ministry, which was the imployment of my predecessors unto the third if not to the fourth generation." This desire of his was not fulfilled in the life of any grandson of his, though Edwards, one of these," graduated from Harvard in 1685; but a great grandson' jonathan+ (Capt. JohnS, john", JOHN1) graduated in divinity from Harvard in 1723."

"The will of JOHN was proved'" and the inventory presented September 10, 1678, showing an estate valued at £211-7"-9." (Dawes, p. 444)