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Emery Family Research Association
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This page is part of the site located at Emery Family Research on on Free Pages at Rootsweb.com There is no charge to access this site's pages. If you have arrived here from somewhere else, such as a pay site, and are in a frame, you can click the correct url of above for this site to break free of the frame. Descendants of Anthony Emery Chapter One2 ANTHONY EMERY he was born 29 August 1601 Romsey, Hampshire, England m. 1628 Romsey, Hampshire, England FRANCES PORTER b. 1608 Romsey, Hamshire, England d. 12 May 1660 Newburypport, Essex, Massachusetts d/o Nathaniel Porter of Ipswich, Massachusetts Anthony was a carpenter and cabinet maker, and a dozen or more pieces of masterful late 17th century cabinet work have been attributed with some certainty to the shop he established. The shop's work is characteristically among the most heavily constructed and elaborately ornamented in the period of New England. Although the brothers may have gone first to Ipswich, Massachusetts, the earliest record of them is in Newbury, Massachusetts where they had certainly settled by 1637. There is reason to believe that they were on hand at the organization of the church in Newbury, which probably took place in 1635. On 22 Dec. 1637 they were fined twenty shillings for enclosing ground not laid out, i.e. common land. At the Quarterly Court in Boston on 4 Dec 1638, Anthony was fined another twenty shillings for permitting his animal(s) to escape the town pound, and he was enjoined to give Thomas Coleman 13/4d for his charges as poundkeeper. Emery must still have been in Newbury at this time, because the Massachusetts court would not have had jurisdiction over Dover, NH. until 1641. Already in 1637, Anthony had a grant of there and a half acres in Dover, NH., "given him by Capt. Wiggins" (i.e. Thomas Wiggins). He probably moved to Dover in 1639 or 40. On 22 Oct. 1640, he was one of the signers of the Dover Combination, an agreement establishing the government of Cocheco, the present city of Dover. His house was at Dover Neck, about a mile from the present railroad station (1890) at Dover Point, and three or four miles from Major Richard Waldren's settlement on the Cocheco River. He bought six acres "on the Dover side of the Newichawannock" from Stephen Goddard on 2 May 1642, and added to his holdings with a grant in 1646 and another of twelve "yeckeres" in 1648. By 1643 he was operating an "ordinary" or tavern on High Street in Dover. William Walderne lived a little south of him along the street which ran along Dover Neck, and Thomas Wiggin was a short distance west. Business was rough the first couple of years, first because of a fire which destroyed his house and then because George Smyth, appointed by the Massachusetts government as commissioner to the Court at Piscataqua (Portsmouth) now New Hampshire, was absorbed into the Bay colony, refused to allow Emery to stay in business. The following petition was filed in 1643 to the Massachusetts Bay government: "Right worship com. of the Massachusetts The humble a peticon of Anthony Emry of Dover Humbly showeth Unto your good worship that your poore peticonr was licensed by the towne abovsed to keept and ordinary which should give Dyet & to sell beere & wine as was accustomed & sithence there was an order that non but one should sell wine upon which Mr. Smythe saith & hee hath in a manner discharged your petitioner which wilbe to your petitioner great damage having a wife & 3 children to maintain & not a house fitted for present to live in having had his house & goods lately burnt to the ground. Humbly beseeching yor worship to bee pleased to grant that Mr. Smyth may be certified thereof hee keeping good order in his house & he shall as hee is in Duty bound pray for your worships health and happyness."On 7 Mar 1643/4, "Anthony Emery of Dover, his petition is refered to the next cort at Dover, & hee is alowed liberty to draw out his wine in the meane time." Apparently the tavern thrived thenceforth. In 1647 and 1648 (the earliest years for which records remains) he was a townsman (selectman) for the "prudential affairs" of Dover. The latter year he paid taxes ofL- 1 - 16/- on land valued atL- 108 - 10/-, plus three pence for a bull valued atL- 2-10/-, among the highest assessments in own. In Dec. 1649 by which time he had probably moved away from Dover, his Dover taxes were lower, at 7/8d on an assessed property ofL- 22. In 1650 he paid Dover six shillings in taxes. On 15 Dec 1648, he bought land in what is now Eliot, Me., then part of Kittery, across Piscataqua River from Dover, described in the following deed: "Bee known unto all men by these presents that I John Whitte Panter have sould unto Anthony Emry a house and feild & all that is belonging to the said John Whitte & the Great barren Marsh, lijing in Sturgeon Cricke, & the little marsh that lyeth upon the right hand & another Marsh which is called Herges Marsh, on the same side for the some of seaven pounds, sterling,: to bee payd at Michelmass, nest, fivety shillings, & the next Michalmass enseuving fivety shillings & the last payment fourty shillings."He seems not to have taken possession however until the next year for he served as Grand juror in Dover, in 1649. Another deed from Joseph Austin of Pischataqua, dated 15 Jul. 1650, conveys land at "little Marsh soe commanly called aboue Sturgeon Cricke, with a little house & vpland yrunto belonging, as also one thousand fiue hundred foote of boards, for & in Consideration of Two stears Called by ye name of draggon and Benbow, with a weeks worke of him selfe & two other oxen, wch is to be done at Cutchecha [Cocheco]..."Emery and Nicholas Frost got a 100 acre grant from the town of Kittery on 3 Mar 1651, which adjoined Emery's land along Sturgeon Creek. Two or three other land grants during this period rapidly increased his Kittery holdings. The Emery family probably moved to Me. in 1649. By that year Anthony had married his probable second wife Frances, and that same year he sued George Webb for calling her a witch. On 16 Oct. 1649, Anthony served for the first of six times on the grand jury at Agamenticus, later York, Me. Later jury duty occurred in Jul. 1650 (on the "jury of life and eath"); in Oct. 1650; in Nov. 1650 (serving two days at eighteen pence per day); in Dec 1651; and in Jun 1655. In Oct. 1650 he was brought before the court at Kittery for selling alcoholic beverages without a license and was fined five shillings, but at the same time the court ordered "that Anthony Emory is for to keepe an ordinary or house of entertaynament where he now dwelleth, and hee is to keepe a Ferry ther, and to have for one. in mony 1 d, in peage 3 ob in country paye 2d and to keepe meate, drincke, and lodging for strangers and to be bound in Recogniscence and to pay all rates & customs." While the ferry rates were fixed, what he charged for his liquor was up to him, and it was probably quite a lot. The landing of his ferry was referred to as Cold Harbor, and the tavern probably took the same name. On 1 Aug. 1651, he disposed of his land in Dover. The deed from : "Anthony Emery of Coleharberte in the province of mayne" conveyed to William Pomfrett "two houses in Dover late in Emery's occupation, with garden and lands adjoining." In addition to the jury duty already mentioned, Anthony's civic services included being a selectman of Kittery in 1652 and 1654, a member of committees to settle land grants and town boundaries in 1654 and 1658, a commissioner for Kittery for a year starting 28 Jun 1655, and constable of the town from 5 Jul. 1658. He was on Maine Governor Edward Godfrey's council on 20 Oct. 1651 and again on 7 Sep. 1652, just two months before Massachusetts took over administration of Me. A signature purporting to be his appears on a decree passed at the latter meeting, but on all other known documents he made a mark. He signed the act of submission to Massachusetts on 16 Nov. 1652; his son James added his name eight days later. A statement reaffirming allegiance to Massachusetts was signed by both on 20 Dec 1652. We can reasonably suspect that both documents were signed somewhat grudgingly; Maine's citizens as a rule resented Massachusetts' takeover of their government. On 18 Mar. 1652/3, Emery was fined ten shillings after being indicted "for being overgone with drinke so that he could not speake a true word." Since he continued to hold responsible public offices for several years, we can assume that such excesses of the product he dispensed to the public were infrequent and forgiven by his fellow citizens. John Hord recovered three pounds damages from him at one time in a slander action, and Anthony has to pay 33/- court costs. The Lot next to Hill on the north was granted, Nov. 1654, to Anthony Emery....The house of Emery and a small piece of land had been bought by him of John White, 15 Nov. 1848...Emery had kept an Ordinary at Dover next as early as 1643 and he was licensed to keep one here in Kittery in 1650. His farm passed to his son, James, who in 1673 sold it to Abraham Conely. Thew small inns of England, where shetler withiut fire could be found, were named 'Cold Harbor's'. This name was doubtless, applied to the ordinary which Anthony Emery was licensed to keep in 1650, in connection with his ferry. He may of hung out his sign with that name. Soon the name indicated a region and gradually it extended itself up as far as Sturgeon Creek. pg. 115 and 117 Old Kittery and Her People (1903) E. S. Stackpole. A serious charge was made on 30 Jun 1656, when the grand jury indicted "Anthony Emery for his mutanous carage in questioning the authority of the court..." A fine of five pounds was imposed, and twenty pounds bond was set "that {he} shall be of good behavior towards all person unto the next county court." On 30 Jul following, he was again presented "for affronting the court by questioning the authoirty to sitt there & chargeing them with more than he was able to make appeare"; whether this referred to a second offense or was a continuation of the first trial is not clear. Just what happened in this matter we can only speculate. The Massachusetts government asserted its authority often in the early years after taking over by bringing charges of disloyalty against Maine citizens who spoke their minds. Whatever it was did not prevent Emery's being constable two years later. But it seems possible that the Puritan oligarchy of Massachusetts, of which Maine was now a sometime unwilling part, was beginning to make Anthony Emery uncomfortable. At no time is there any reference to his being active in religious affairs, and although he did hold public office we have no record of his being admitted to the status of freeman, reserved for church members. And he had long chosen to live in areas where many of the inhabitants had escaped from the oppressive uniformity of opinion that the Bay colony nurtured. The events of the late 1650's would bring him into open conflict with the ecclesiastical establishment. In August 1657, the Massachusetts government, reacting to a strange and apparently threatening new challenge to their notion of religious orthodoxy, decreed among other things that "every person entertaining Quakers shall pay 40 shillings for every hour's of concealment and entertainment." Two years later, in the fall of 1659, William Robinson, a London merchant, and Marmaduke Stephenson, a Yorkshire farmer, among others, were released from a Massachusetts prison on orders not to return to the colony on pain of death. Nevertheless, "in obedience to the call of the Lord" in their judgment, they remained in Massachusetts and headed northward to the Piscataqua area. Anthony Emery probably ferried them back and forth across the river so that they could preach on the NH. side and stay in Me. Apparently they also stayed at Emery's tavern. While he did not actively espouse their cause that we know of, Anthony must have been aware that he was placing himself in jeopardy by housing and transporting them, and his doing so has to be considered an act of conscience motivated by more than purely business considerations. Robinson and Stephenson returned to Boston and were imprisoned, tried on 18 Oct. 1659, and hanged on 27 Oct. Mary Dyer, tried at the same time, was banished to Providence, RI., only to return the following year and be hanged, ultimately earning herself a statue in front of the Ma. State House. On the basis of Robinson's diary, numerous people who had entertained him were identified and rounded up. Anthony Emery was one of them. He denied the charge, and on 12 Nov. 1659, "the Court having considered the several offenses of those persons that entertayned the Quakers with the answers given in by them, respectively doe order...That Anthony Emery pay as a fine to the country tenn pounds and tenn shillings for making a lye in the face of the court and be disfranchised." This was the heaviest fine imposed on the group, which included five people from Kittery and one from Dover, among others. In 1660 he was fined for entertaining Quakers and disfranchised. This led him to remove to Portsmouth, RI. Old Kittery and Her Families (1903) Everett S. Stackpole. On 12 May 1660, Anthony and Frances Emery, apparently already fleeing from the hostile atmosphere of Kittery, prepared a deed at the Newbury, Ma. home of Anthony's brother John, conveying all but one parcel of their Kittery land to their son James, for 150 pounds "with all & singular the houseing, barne garden orchards commans proffetts priviledges fences wood tymber appurtenances & haeredtaments belonging, or in any way appraytayning thereunto." Up the Pasataque...A mortage in 1661...and also except those two tracts of land granted by the town of Kittery unto Nicholas Frost and Anthonie Emerie, if they shall happen or appeare to be, within the bounds of the aforementioned land. A deed in 1686 calls the two creeks Daniels Creek and Camocks, Creek. Old Kittery and Her families (1903) Everette S. Stackpole. However, on 11 Oct. following, Frances apparently had second thoughts about leaving Me., and she sued her husband for one third of the agreed purchase price of the property. At this time she was back in Kittery and Anthony was in Portsmouth, RI. "Fran: Emery the wife of Anthony Emery plaintive in an action of the case to the valew of fivety pounds for the 3d of certen lands sould, contra Anthony Emery defendant. Wee find for the plaintive and fivety pounds and costs of court 1:11:6d." One wonders whether Frances ever got the money, but in any case it appears she and Anthony lived separately the rest of their lives. It has been conjectured that he, prior to settling in Newbury removing to Dover, bought land in Portsmouth, and dwelt there awhile. This conjecture has its origin in fact that one "Goodman Emere" owned land in Portsmouth in 1643, as is known from records of a general town meeting held in Portsmouth 1 Mar 1643. Who "Goodman Emere" was or whence came the Little Compton, RI., family of Emery's has been mere conjecture. We have been unable thus far to trace their genealogy, or connect them with our ancestor, except in name and locality. We accept the Portsmouth records as evidence of Anthony Emery's first legal residence there until 1680 though he is designated "of Kittery" in a deed to his son James, 1 Oct. 1663. Deprived of the rights and privileges of a freeman in Kittery he turned his footsteps toward a colony in which greater liberty was allowed. Anthony was received as a freeman in Portsmouth, RI. on 29 Sep. 1660, joining a steady procession of refugees in RI from strict controls over thought and behavior in the Bay colony. While in RI., he generally styled himself a cordwainer, or shoemaker. Service on a coroner's jury on 3 Jun 1661 marked the first of several recorded public capacities in which he served. In 1663 he apparently mad a return trip to Kittery by way of Newbury, Ma. and in Newbury, he deeded the remaining piece of Kittery land as a gift to James “...& in consideration of my love and naturall affection to my sun James Emery... a peece of Marsh or Meddow liing & being nreare a pond called by the name of Yorke Pond, with twenty acers of upland joyneing to the North side of the said meddow..." On 22 Jun 1664, he bought from Peter Tollman four acres of land probably near the corner of the East Road and Park Avenue on the modern map of Portsmouth. Here he probably lived alone till 1671/2, when his daughter Rebecca, deserted by her husband Thomas Sadler, brought her children to RI. and moved in to keep house for her father. He served as constable for many years starting 4 Jun 1666. It was thus his responsibility to arrest Ann Tollman, wife of Peter, whose divorce from her husband in 1667 on grounds of adultery was sentenced to be whipped and was one of the first in the American colonies. She had escaped the whipping to which she was sentenced at the time of the divorce, and Emery apprehended her on her return. It was ordered by the court that Anthony be furnished with food and drink necessary and paid of his ‘paines and travill therein”. On Jul. 1670 at Mt. Hope, RI. an Indian called Sam by the English fell while intoxicated into a well owned by Emery, and Emery was indicted. Among the Indians testifying at the inquest were Tom Dumplin and the wife of the later notorious King Philip. She testified that she heard Sam and Tom Dumplin quarreling. Sam had said to Tom, "Go fetch me a quart of drink." Tom had refused. Further, the squaw went on, "I always heard Tom Dumplin telling Sam he was always angry with him and bore him a grudge, for that he the said Sam's father had formerly burnt Tom's father's and brother's house and had also cutt his brother's hair." What all that had to do with Sam's falling into Anthony Emery's well is hard to fathom. The case was dismissed when Emery filled in the well. He served as a deputy from Portsmouth to the Rhode Island General Assembly 25 Apr. 1672 and as attorney for the town in 1675. A dispute in Oct. 1675 with Peter Tollman, regarding a highway to be built on Tollman's land, must have aroused stronger emotions than the pure legalities of the matter would suggest. Tollman brought suit against Rebecca (Emery) Sadler for breach of the peace and threatening his family. The Portsmouth town records are dated 12 October 1675 and tells that Anthony Emery, Lot Strange and Francis Brayton were named attorney’s “to plead the town’s right for a highway which Peter Tallman is indicted for, and the have the power to choose an attorney at the town’s charge”. Anthony’s daughter Rebecca unquestionably played her part in the squabbling that ensued, because eight days later, October 20, Peter Tallman brought legal action against Rebecca Sadler wife of Thomas Sadler, for breach of the peace and threatening his family. Her mother must of died several years previous as she was living at her father’s with her young son Anthony Sadler. The Emery’s were never exactly quietest. The following deed of 9 Mar. 1680/1 seems to have taken the place of a will for Anthony Emery: "To all christian people to whom these presents shall come & concern: Know ye that I Anthony Emery of the town of Portsmouth on Rhode Island in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America, Corwainer ffor Divers good causee and Reall considerations me hereunto moving and also the love and affection that I have and bear unto my daughter Rebeckah Salder now resideing in the aforesaid Towne of Portsmouth, Have and by these presents Doe my said daughter Rebeckah, to come into her absolute possession emediately after my decease, all & every part of my houseing and land lying in the aforsaid Towne of Portsmouth, with all other, rights and priviledges appurtenances and innuneties therein being or any wayes belonging and appurtaininge, togeether with all and singular my other estate, both within Doors and without Doors, reall and personall ffreely and fully, after my decease confirminge and conferringe the same, unto my said daughter Rebeckah to be clearly and absolutely at her ffree and proper disposing and ordering, forever without lett, hindrance molestation and the encumberance of any person or persons whatsoever ffrom and by or under me or by any right or title of mine, yr shall lay aney claim or title to the premises or any part or parcel thereof: Only it is hereby provided that all the just debts that is from me owing to any (and shall be unpaid at my decease) shall be truly paid by my said daughter Rebeckah: and also provided that if my said daughter should change he condition, noe husband of hers shall have any right or intrest of this my aforesaid estate (hereby to her given) nor to any part thereo,f without the free and absolute full consent of my said daughter Rebeckah: and also provided if my said Daughter, after my decease, and before her decease, shall not have absolute occasion for necessary maintenancy to make sale of, and alien the said housing and land, after her decease shall return and belong unto her sonn, my Grand Child, Anthony Sadler, as my heir therein, only if my said daughter shall see good cause to possess my said Grand Child, in that possession sooner, it is in her power soe to doe. And in confirmation of this my full ffree and voluntary act and deed I have hereunto set my hand and seale the ninth day of March Anno Domini 1680[1] Anthony {his X mark] Emery; witnessess: Signed & sealed in the prescence of John Sanford, John Briggs Sr. [his mark], Frances Brayton Sr. and William Wilbore.The particular care to forestall any claims to the property other than by Rebecca was probably aimed at his son James, although the latter certainly was well supplied with Maine land. This is the last record that we find of him living. It is barely possible that he returned to Kittery and that Anthony Emery who was representative from Kittery at York, 30 Mar. 1680, was out ancestor, but it does not seem probable that he, an old man, disfranchised, would after twenty years' absence, be chosen to legislate for the "province of Mayne." The deed was recorded on 8 Jun 1681, and Anthony may have died by that time, but we have no definite evidence of the date of his death. One authority states that he definitely died before 1694, and there is no question that he was dead by 1700, when his son James referred to himself as the only surviving son of Anthony Emery. It is difficult to estimate the character of Anthony Emery from what little we know of him, however we infer that he was a capable business man, energetic, independent, resolute in purpose, bold in action, serve in speech, jealous of his own rights and willing to suffer for conscience' sake. He did not hesitate to express his opinions, though on one occasion it may have savored of "mutinous courage". He recognized a higher law than statue-law, and with the courage of his convictions, preferred to suffer the penalty of the latter than disobey the divine commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as they self." One has stated that he died 30 March 1660 in Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island.
*9 JAMES EMERY b. 18 Sep 1631 in England 10 son ?JOHN? *11 REBECCA EMERY |
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