Jacob Eliot

JACOB ELIOT

Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-33

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JACOB ELIOT
~ brother of Lydia Eliot Penniman ~

ORIGIN:
Nazeing, Essex

MIGRATION:
1631

FIRST RESIDENCE:
Boston

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP:
Admitted to Boston church as member #114, which would be late in 1631 or early in 1632 [BChR 15]. Chosen deacon 27 November 1636 [BChR 10], and ordained in that office 17 May 1640 [BChR 29]. (As deacon Eliot frequently acted in a fiduciary capacity, mostly in settling estates, but his activities in 1640, along with William Colbron, another Boston deacon, in behalf of Griffith Bowen are probably as a result of his position in the church [Lechford 258, 261-62], and his receipt of money for the church on 20 September 1642 was certainly in that capacity [WP 4:354].) Elected elder of the Boston church, 12 September 1650 [BChR 319].

FREEMAN:
6 March 1631/2 [MBCR 1:367].

EDUCATION:
On 12 August 1636 contributed 6s. 8d. for the maintenance of the schoolmaster [BTR 1:160]. Signed his will with a shaky hand.

OFFICES:
Boston selectman, 14 March 1635/6 (for a six-month term), 20 March 1636/7, 8 October 1637, 23 April 1638, 9 November 1638, 13 May 1639, 16 December 1639, 28 September 1640, 27 May 1641, 6 December 1641, 2 September 1642, 20 February 1642/3, 25 September 1643, 17 May 1644, 10 April 1645, 26 December 1645 (for a twelve-month term), 18 March 1646/7, 13 March 1647/8, 12 March 1648/9, 11 March 1649/50 [BTR 1:9, 16, 20, 34, 36, 41, 44, 55, 61, 65, 70, 72, 75, 79, 84, 86, 90, 92, 94, 99]; fenceviewer, 21 March 1635/6, 17 April 1637, 25 March 1639 [BTR 1:9, 17, 39]; surveyor of highways, 20 August 1638 [BTR 1:35]; appointed frequently, usually with William Colbron to lay out houselots and highways, and for other minor tasks [BTR 1:passim].

Committee on boundary between Boston and Roxbury at Muddy River, 20 January 1639/40 [MBCR 1:342]. One of three Boston men on colony committee to value livestock, 13 May 1640 [MBCR 1:295].

ESTATE:
Granted by Boston selectmen (including himself) "the little marsh lying against Charles River with a little hill of upland ground, near the middest thereof, and compassed on three sides with highland ground, allowing out of his allotment at Mount Woollystone seven acres for five. The which he afterwards allowed, and it laid out for part of his brother Francis Elyott's allotment at the Mount," 16 July 1637 [BTR 1:19].
On 2 December 1644 Boston selectmen granted liberty "unto Deacon Eliot to set out his barn six or eight feet into the street at the direction of Deacon Colbron" [BTR 1:82].

In the Boston Book of Possessions Jacob Eliot held one parcel: one house and garden [BBOP 34].
Granted "the swamp that joineth to his allotment at Muddy River next to Cotton Flax house by the common field," 26 February 1648/9 [BTR 1:93].

In his will, dated 28 April 1651 and proved 20 November 1651, Jacob Eliot bequeathed to "my son John Eliot the house and backside adjoining to Edward Rainsford with the use of half the barn with all the land at Muddy River except the ten acres purchased of Jonathan Negoos and this to have at his day of marriage and during the time of his single estate to live with his mother"; to "my daughter Hana Eliot the house that was John Cranwell's with all the backside belonging to it if she shall marry before her mother's death"; "all the rest of my estate I do give unto my wife during the time of her natural life if she remain in her widowhood all that time and if God so dispose of her in marriage again then my will is that the whole estate shall be valued and a third part shall be set out for my wife and the rest to be equally divided between them my son Jacob having a double portion out of it and my daughters to receive their portion at the day of marriage or at the age of eighteen years"; "my son Jacob shall have his double portion out of my now dwelling house and orchard with the land on the neck if he so desire it he resigning up that house and land which was given him at his day of marriage"; witnessed by William Colbron and James Penn (deacons of the church) [SPR Case #113; NEHGR 4:53].

The inventory of the estate of Jacob Eliot was taken 13 June 1651, but was untotalled; it included £331 10s. in real estate: "one dwelling house & barn and orchard," £100; "one house bought of John Cranwell with the yard to it," £24; "one house bought of Jarat Bourne with the yard to it," £20; "12 acres & half of land," £60; "at Roxbury Gate 13 acres," £35; and "the land at Muddy River," £92 10s. [SPR Case #113].
On 27 May 1652 the General Court "in answer to the petition of Margery Eliot, widow, for the confirmation of the sale of a certain parcel [of] land, sold by the deacons of the church of Boston, administrators to Sam[uel] Sherman, unto Jacob Eliot, deceased," ordered that the matter be put over to the next session of the court [MBCR 3:274].

On 31 May 1652 seven men, in seven separate deeds, sold land "at Roxbury Gate" or at Muddy River to "Margery Elliott of Boston aforesaid widow, for the use of her children by Elder Jacob Elljott her husband": Mr. William Hibbins of Boston, five acres; Elder James Penn of Boston, five acres "part marsh and part upland"; Jonathan Negoos of Boston, "five acres and half of salt marsh"; Robert Walker of Boston, five acres of salt marsh; Richard Tapping of Boston, twenty-seven acres of upland; Thomas Grubb of Boston, six acres of salt marsh; and Thomas Marrett of Cambridge, "a house and backside in Boston ... with two acres of land adjoining," and ten acres of upland at Muddy River [SLR 1:211-12].
Prior to a county court held at Boston on 9 May 1661 "Margery Elliot relict of the late Jacob Elliot" petitioned that she had with the advice of the overseers of the will "married two of her daughters & delivered the sum of £50 apiece to their husbands in order to their portions," but that she found that she had no power to divide the estate, and that she therefore wished to be named administratrix; Margery Eliot made her mark to this petition, and consent was also given by Jacob Eliot, Theophilus Frary "for myself & wife," Susanna Eliot and Mehitable Eliot, each of whom signed [NEHGR 30:205-06]. (The two daughters whom the widow "had married" were Susanna and Mehitable; on the date of the petition the marriages had been agreed to and the marriage portions promised, but the marriages had not actually taken place.) On 14 October 1662 "Seth Perry of Boston, tailor, & Mehitable, daughter to the late Jacob Eliot & Margery his wife, now wife to the said Seth Perry," gave a receipt for the £50 they had received [NEHGR 30:206].

In her will, dated 31 October 1661 and proved 7 November 1661, "Margery Elliott, widow," bequeathed "out of my thirds which is two hundred pounds" to "my son Jacob" £50; to "my daughter Hannah Frayry" £10; to "my daughter Susanna" £20; to "my daughter Mehitable" £20; to "my daughter Sarah & my son Asaph" £40 apiece; to "my five grandchildren" £20 to be divided equally; to "my two sons Jacob & Asaph ... the house and lands & they to pay the legacies"; Jacob to be executor [SPR 1:376].

   The inventory of the estate of Margery Eliot, taken 9 December 1661, totalled £294 19s. 6d., of which £230 was real estate: "dwelling house & garden with fruit trees," £80; "ten acres of land," £120; and "five acres of land at Roxbury Gate," £30 [SPR 4:80]. On the same day an inventory was taken of "the remaining stock of cattle & land of Jacob Eliot Senior formerly deceased which was designed to pay the portions of the several children"; the total was £280, including "thirteen acres of land about Roxbury Gate" valued at £78 [SPR 4:81].

BIRTH:
Baptized Widford, Hertfordshire, 21 September 1606, son of Bennett and Lettice (Aggar) Eliot [Eliot Gen 3,6].

DEATH:
Boston 6 May 1651 [BChR 320].

MARRIAGE:
By 1632 Margery _____; she died at Boston 30 October 1661 [BVR 81] (but her will was dated 31 October 1661).

CHILDREN:
   i   JACOB, b. 16 December 1632 [BVR 1]; bp. 16 December 1632 [BChR 277]; m. Boston 9 January 1654[/5] "Mary Wilcock widow" [BVR 49].

   ii   JOHN, b. 28 December 1634 [BVR 2]; bp. 28 December 1634 [BChR 278]; named in father's will, 28 April 1651; not named in his mother's will, 31 October 1661.

   iii   HANNAH, b. 29 January 1636/7 [BVR 4]; bp. 29 January 1636/7 [BChR 281]; m. Boston 4 June 1653 Theophilus Frary [BVR 44]. (This daughter would seem to be the subject of Winthrop's story of a daughter of Jacob Eliot's, aged eight in 1644, who suffered a severe head injury but survived [WJ 2:248-50].)

   iv   ABIGAIL, b. 7 April 1639 [BVR 7]; bp. 7 April 1639 [BChR 284]; m. Boston 16 December 1657 Thomas Wiborne [BVR 62]; "Abigaile wife of Thomas Wiborne deceased the 24th of April" 1660 [BVR 75].

   v   SUSANNAH, b. 22 [sic] July 1641 [BVR 11]; bp. 22 July 1641 "being about 6 days old" [BChR 288]; m. (1) Boston 18 December 1662 Peter Hobart [NEHGR 121:114], son of Joshua Hobart and grandson of Edmund Hobart; m. (2) by 13 May 1674 Thomas Downes [SLR 8:389-91].

   vi   MEHITABLE, b. April 1645 [BVR 21]; bp. 4 May 1645 "being about 9 days old" [BChR 298]; m. by 14 October 1662 Seth Perry [NEHGR 30:206]; "Mehittabell wife of Seth Perry died February 20th" 1662/3 [BVR 86].

   vii   SARAH, bp. 5 December 1647 "being about 6 days old" [BChR 309]; named in mother's will, 31 October 1661; no further record. (A number of interactions between children of Jacob Eliot and the sons of William Harris of Boston should be noted, and may indicate that this Sarah married WilliamMDSU2 Harris [NEHGR 106:17-19].)

   viii   ASAPH, b. 25 October 1651 [BVR 33]; bp. 2 November 1651 [BChR 322]; m. (1) by 30 July 1678 Elizabeth Davenport, daughter of Richard Davenport [SPR 12:31]; m. (2) by 1683 Hannah _____ ("John [son] of Asaph and Hannah Eliott" b. Boston 18 December 1683 [BVR 160]).

ASSOCIATIONS: Brother of Rev. JOHN ELIOT and Phillip Eliot of Roxbury, Francis Eliot of Braintree, Sarah (Eliot) Curtis, wife of WILLIAM CURTIS of Roxbury, Lydia (Eliot) Penniman, wife of JAMES PENNIMAN of Boston, and Mary (Eliot) Payson, wife of Edward Payson of Roxbury and Dorchester [Eliot Gen 3-9].

COMMENTS: On 20 November 1637 Jacob Eliot was one of the Boston men disarmed for support of John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson [MBCR 1:212]. On about 22 November 1637 Jacob Eliot joined others in acknowledging his error in signing the petiton in favor of Wheelwright, and asked to be pardoned [WP 3:514].

On 6 January 1638/9 "Michaell Hopkinson servant to our brother Jacob Elyott" was admitted to Boston church [BChR 23], and on 18 July 1640 "John Cleemond servant to our brother Jacob Elyott" was admitted [BChR 30].

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