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| Notes for John STRATTON Jr. | ||||||||||
| 12In England in December 163145 46, and return to New England. r220 He emigrated circa 1629 from "that he had lived in New England these three yeares last past", Essex, MA. 47JOHN STRATTON OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS JOHN STRATTON, eldest son of John and Ann (Dearhaugh) Stratton of Shotley, Eng., was born about 1606.(*) By his father's will dated September 24, 1621, he was to have, at the age of 21, certain rents from the Manor of Thurcarlton during his mother's lifetime and the manor itself after her death. His father died in Ardleigh, and was buried in Shotley, May 4, 1627. Soon after his death Kirkton Manor was sold to meet the requirements of the will. John Stratton, Jr., was one of the executors of this will. He must have come to America the following year (1628), for in December, 1631, he was granted land in Maine "in consideration for and in respect that he had lived in New England these three years last past, and had expended 1000 li. in transporting cattle and maintaining of servants in their imployment." (See Land Grant to John Stratton, in Part I.) Of his movements during these three years we know nothing more. In the latter part of 1631 he had returned to England and was with his mother and sisters at Dedham. He was then preparing to return to the New World, and it was probably during this time that Thurcarlton Manor and the demesne lands were sold.(+) In December, 1631, he left England to take possession of the land that had been granted him on the coast of Maine. Near the coast he encountered a storm, and "lost valuable papers and goods by the casting away of a boat." Lechford's Notes. This grant to John Stratton consisted of "2000 acres on the coast of Maine, in the vecinity of Ogunquit and Kennebunk rivers on the south side of Cape Porpoise, and an island near the mouth of the Saco River." The island is opposite Black Point, a little west of Richmond Island, and about four miles from Old Orchard. It is still known as "Stratton Island." Many references are found in Maine historical works to "Mr. (*) See pedigree and history of the Shotley Strattons, Part I in this Volume. (+) In the Suffolk Ship Money Returns for the year 1639-40, the name Stratton does not appear amongst the property holders of the parish of Shotley, showing that the family had sold all their possessions there before that date. Stratton's" claim. Judge Southgate's History of Maine refers to him as the first settler of Scarboro. The present city of Wells (*) probably had its origin as "Stratton's plantation." A manuscript written in 1660, and recently discovered in the British Museum by Henry F. Waters, A. B., refers to "Wells, a handsome well peopled place lying on both sides of a river, for which place a patent was long since granted to one 'Mr. Stratton.'" Felts' Ecclesiastical History of New England says: "Thomas Jenner (who had been settled at Weymouth, but now preaching at Saco), replying to a letter of Winthrop, writes, 'I have been solicited, both from the inhabitants of Stratton's plantation and from those of Caskoe to be a means to help each of them to a godly minister, therefore I do make bold to entreat your worship to do your endeavor to furnish them both.'" At this time immigrants were rushing into New England. Applications for grants became numerous, and patents were issued without sufficient regard to definite boundaries, which later led to litigation. In a letter dated September 27, 1641, Thomas Gorges ("Superintendant of the affairs of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, Knight, Lord proprietor of the Province of Mayne") mentions this claim of Stratton's, yet granted to others (July 14, 1643) land comprised within Stratton's grant--for which John Stratton seems never to have obtained redress. There is nothing to show that John Stratton remained long in this vicinity. In January, 1636, he had been away from there for some time. March 28, 1636, "It is petitioned for Mr. Edward Godfrey that an attachment might bee of one Brase Kettell, now in the hands of Mr. Edward Godfrey which was belonging to Mr. John Stratton of a debt dew now 3 years from Mr. Stratton to him." Cook County Records, Alfred, Maine. September 19, 1636, John Stratton was in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was "fined o10 for lending a gun to an Indian for four days." December 7, 1636, "John Stratton being fined o10 is remitted to 10s if he goe to the Merrimack." Mass. Bay Colony Records. Later, John Stratton, Goodman Woodward, with an Indian, (*) The town records of Wells were burned in the destruction of the house of Joseph Bowles in 1657. and two others, were appointed "to lay out a line three miles north of the northermost part of the Merrimac." This line eventually became the boundary between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. August 8, 1637, "Mr. Stratton requests a farm beyond Ipswich Pond," near Salem. March 1, 1638, this farm was "laid out to John Stratton"--100 acres. The same year he was "admitted inhabitant" of Charlestown and given permission to buy the Withwell house.(*) He was granted other lands in Charlestown-- six different lots making 63 acres in all--with their rights.(+) The records at Charlestown, however, give no evidence of his ever having lived there, and he probably lived at Salem, where, in 1638, he was granted a house lot "there being two in the family." At this time he is styled "a merchant" and Lechford records several notes of John Stratton, merchant. That he was a man of standing in those early days is shown by the character of the men with whom he was associated, as well as by the extent of his business transactions. About this time financial misfortunes began to overtake him. The decision in England seems to have been against him concerning a part, at least, of his land grant in Maine. Large debts due him in Virginia he could (*) Thomas Withwell was a teacher. He came to Charlestown 1635-6, and was for several years the grammar teacher there. (+) The location and boundaries of these lots are given in the Land Records of Charlestown. One lot adjoined that of Rev. John Harvard, pastor of the church at Charlestown, and first benefactor of Harvard University. Another joined George Bunker, of the family who possessed Bunker Hill. This book of Land Records began March 26, 1638. It may be that John Stratton possessed lands there before that date. ?? Promisory Note--John Stratton, gent, of Salem--Dec. 6, 1638. In 1641 there had been Received on this note one mare value twentyepounds. This wittnesses yt I Jno Stratton of Salem, merchant, have received of Edmund Angier of Cambridge, divers comodityes and wares amounting to the some of twentye pounds & sixteen shillings & eight pence to be payd the sayd Edmond Angier or his assignees att or upon the five & twentye of November next after the date hereof. Witness my hand this twenty-fifth of September, 1638. JO STRATTON. Payment to be made in moneye, or cattle as money, delivered at the Governors farme. not collect. Much of his property in Charlestown went into the hands of assignees, and we find him conveying all his "interests what-so-ever, in lands at Cape Porpus, to Richard Saltonstall, Esq1 and Hugh Peters, pastor in Salem,--the rest that is not sold to Mathew Craddock, mercator, for o10." September 26, 1639, "John Stratton, gent, of Salem, made a letter of assignment and attorney to Mr. Richard Hutchinson, citizen and iron monger of London." This letter was "signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of John Winthrope Esqr Governor of the Jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England." LETTER OF ASSIGNMENT AND ATTORNEY Know all men by these present that I John Stratton of Salem in New England, gent, for or in part payment of 50o wch I owe me to Valentine Hill of Boston in New England, mercer, doe hereby give & grant unto the said Valentine Hill all that my lott or farme granted & assigned to me by the Townsmen of Salem aforsaid containing one hundred acres or there-abouts bee it more or less lying and being in the villiage within the prescints of the said town of Salem near the land of Mr. Hawthorne and St. Davenport. I say in part payment of so much of the said 50o as the said premises are well worth but if the premises are worth 50o then in full payment of the said 50o. Then what in value the same shall come short of the said 50o I or my heirs, executor or Adms shall and will pay & satisfy me unto the said Hill his executor or adms as soon as the said Valentine Hill shall receive news from England that the 50o are not, and cannot be received from John Harrison, gent, by vertue of one letter of attorney made by me unto Richard Hutchinson, citizan and iron-monger of London upon one bill or writing where-unto Adam Winthrope was witness, according to appointment of the said Valentine Hill & to the said Richard Hutchinson his executors adma & assignees according to the said letter of attorney then this present gift & grant shall be voyd & of no force. And I further covenent promise & grant to & with the said Valentine Hill that I will pay all costs & charges to be expended in the endeavor to recover said 50o of said John Harrison if the same shall not be recovered of him. Lechford's Notes. Then we find him making this will: "I, John Stratton, in the present letter of attorney mentioned, doe hereby make and declare this my last will and testament touching the suits and matters therein contained as followeth: "My will is that if it please God that I depart this life before the said suits and matters are finished that my attorneys, in the said letter of attorney mentioned shall be my executors jointly and severally to recover the premises. In testimony thereof I have here-unto set my hand and seal." To this will is affixed the following: "And the said Governor do hereby certify that the above said John Stratton did in my presence publish and declare the said writing to be his last will and testament touching the premises which I have granted also to testify under the said public seal." Lechford's Notes. July 19, 1641, John was still in Salem, where he, with his mother and sisters,(*) made a letter of attorney to Captain Edward Gibbons of Boston and Robert Stileman, merchant, of London, to receive from John Thurston of Hockston, Eng., the legacies left him by this last will and testament of Mrs. Mary Dearhaugh, late of Barrington, County Suffolk, Eng. (See pedigree of Shotley Strattons.) Two years later the town records of Salem show that John Stratton is "absent" and Thomas West is to have the use of his 10 acre (*) See pedigree of Shotley Strattons. In 1637 the name of Ann Stratton, widow, appears on a list of church members in Salem. She was still living there in July, 1642. After this date she may have married again. Elizabeth Stratton married John (son of Francis and Alice Thorndike of Little Carlton, Eng.), of Beverly, Mass. After her death he returned to England, where he died in 1662 and was buried in the east cloister of Westminister Abbey, near his brother, Rev. Herbert Thorndike. Their son Paul Thorndike lived in America, and has descendants here to-day. Dorothy Stratton was in Salem, unmarried in 1640. Some have found reasons for believing that she married William Pester of Ipswich about 1642. He was son of William Pester, Esq., of Barnard Castle, Eng. William Stratton, brother of John of Salem, made preparations to come to Virginia with his Uncle Joseph in 1628. He did not come at that time, however, and nothing has been found to show that he ever came to America. In a deposition taken before Lechford in 1640-41, John Stratton of Salem, testifies that he is the "only brother & heir & next of kin & creditor of William Stratton, gent, of Ardleigh, in the County of Essex, Eng. deceased." | ||||||||||
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