The Great Allotment: Pullen Point's First Land Owners
Introduction, William Aspinwall, Edward Bates, William Brenton, Thomas Buttolph, Thomas Fayerweather, Edward Gibbons, Valentine Hill, Ralph Hudson, Thomas Matson, Elias Maverick, John Oliver, William Pierce, John Sanford, William Stitson, John Winthrop/Deane Winthrop
John Oliver |
John Oliver emigrated to Boston with his father Thomas, mother Anne, and brothers and sisters aboard the "William & Francis" in 1632. John's father Thomas was a surgeon, one of the first in New England.
John was admitted to Boston Church in late 1633, and took the Freeman's Oath in 1634. He became a member of the General Court in 1637, later the Treasurer and a Selectman. He joined the Artillery Company in 1637 as the seventh signer, and was a Senior Sergant by 1639. His occupation was a surveyor.
John married Elizabeth Newgate in 1638. They had four children: John (1638), Elizabeth (1640), Hannah (1642), and Thomas (1645). Two died in infancy.
John's allotment of land on Pullen Point is recorded as:
"John Oliver, 50 Acrs of upland and marsh together: bounded towards the North by said Creeke, towards the East by the said Allittment of Governor Mr. John Winthrop, senr., towards the south by the Allottments of Thomas Faireweather and William Stidson of Wynesemitt, and towards the West by the Allottment of William Brenton." 1
Despite being a member of the Deputy in the General Court, John was caught up in the Antinomian Controversy having signed a petition in favor of John Wheelwright. He was disarmed and dismissed from his position. Recanting, he “acknowledged his error” and made the significant decision to attend the recently founded Harvard College as a divinity student. This was unusual in that he was already married, most men attended when they were younger, and single.
He graduated in 1645, but died of illness in 1646. His wife married Edward Jackson in 1648 and had six children. Edward died in 1681. Elizabeth died in 1709.
John’s land on Pullen Point was sold to James Bill in 1666.
Selected John Oliver descendants, locations, events, and objects of note:
- Peter Oliver (b. 1682) - A grandson of John Oliver, Peter was a silversmith in Boston. He first married Jerusha Mather (b. 1684), the daughter of Increase Mather (b. 1639), and sister to Cotton Mather (b. 1663) of Salem witch trials fame. His second wife, Hopestill, was the daughter of successful Bostgon merchant John and his Elizabeth Wensley. The silver flagon he made was as a gift to the Second Church of Christ in Boston after Elizabeth’s death in 1710. - Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Wintherthur, Del.
- Wiswall's Pond, Newton, Mass. (now called Crystal Lake) - John’s daughter Elizabeth married Enoch Wiswall of Dorchester. Enoch’s father Thomas Wiswall was one of first settlers in what was then part of Cambridge. - Newton Conservators
- Oliver Wiswall. The Wiswall’s kept the Oliver name in use through multiple generations; Oliver Wiswall (b. 1665, Dorchester, Mass), Oliver Wiswall (b. 1702, Dorchester, Mass.) and Oliver Wiswall (b. 1780) was mayor of Hudson, N.Y. and builder of the Oliver Wiswall House in 1836.
- Humphreys of Athol, Mass. - Rev. James Humphrey (b. 1729) moved with his wife Esther (Wiswell), a descendant of John's son John (b. 1638), from Dorchester, Mass. to become the first settled minister in what was then called Pequoig, Mass. - A Brief History of First Church, Unitarian Universalist of Athol, Massachusetts, ebook
- Isaac Gardner, Jr. (b. 1726) - Mary Sparhawk (b. 1730), a descendant of John's son Thomas Oliver (b. 1645), was the wife of Isaac. He will killed by British soldiers retreating from Concord and Lexington on April 19, 1775 - The First Harvard Graduate Killed in the Revolution, The New England Magazine, Volume 12; Volume 18, 1895, pg. 107, ebook
- Colonel William Prescott (b. 1726) - Colonel in the Revolutionary War who commanded the rebel forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was the son of Abigail (Oliver) Prescott (b. 1697), the daughter of John's son Thomas Oliver (b, 1645 )- Wikipedia
- Peter Oliver (b. 1713) and Andrew Oliver (b. 1706), two sons of Daniel Oliver (b. 1664), and grandsons of John Oliver’s brother Peter Oliver (b. abt 1616). They were successful merchants at one point controlling Long Wharf, the center of Boston’s shipping interests. They also were Loyalists. Andrew was the official responsible for implementing the Stamp Act. He was burned in effigy at the Liberty Tree in 1765, and his house ransacked in protest by a mob. He died in 1774. Peter also thought the Revolution was a rebellion destined to fail. He left Boston when the British evacuated troops and Loyalists in 1776. He died in England in 1791. - Wikipedia.
- Oliver Mill Park, Middleborough, Mass. Remains of an ironworks Peter Oliver (b. 1713) purchased and enlarged. - Oliver Mill Park: Herring, History and a Whole Lot More, Discover Middleborough.
- Peter Oliver House, Middleborough, Mass. (PDF) Site originally incorporated a vast water powered ironworks and two
mansion houses built by Judge Peter Oliver and his son, Peter Oliver Jr. - Peter Oliver Jr. Estate, Structural Assessment & Reuse Study, Iron Bars and Genteel Culture in Southeastern Massachusetts: The Development of The Oliver Estate and Ironworks in Middleborough, Massachusetts 1745-1777, Town of Middleborough, Mass., Walter Frederick Eayrs, 2002.
- Peter Oliver's Origin & Progress of the American Rebellion: A Tory View - Contemporary account of the Revolutionary War written by someone the losing side. - Internet Archive
| Selected John Oliver Descendants |
| John (b. 1616); m. Elizabeth Newgate |
| Elizabeth (b. 1640); m. Enoch Wiswall |
| John Wiswall (b. 1660); m1. Mary ____, m2 Hannah Parker |
| John Wiswall (b. 1688); m. Sarah Pierce |
| Esther Wiswell (b. 1729); m. James Humphrey |
| Royal Humphrey (b. 1763); m. Eusebia Crosby |
| Henry Humphrey (b. 1795); m. Sophronia Parker |
| Henry Humphrey (b. 1840); m. Abbie Holton |
| John (b. 1644); m.Susanna Sweet (Sweetland) |
| Peter (b. 1682); m1. 1709 Jerusha Mather, m2. Hopestill Wensley |
| Thomas (b. 1645); m1. Grace Prentice 1648-1681, m2. Mary Wilson |
| Nathaniel (b. 1685); m. Bethiah Fuller. |
| Mary (b. 1716); m.Thomas Sparhawk |
| Mary Sparhawk (b. 1730); m. Isaac Gardner, Jr. |
| Abigail (b. 1697); m. Benjamin Prescott |
| William Prescott (b. 1726); m. Abigail Hale |
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| Selected Thomas Oliver Descendants (Father of John Oliver) |
| Thomas (b. 1582); m1.Ann _____, m2. Anne Purchase |
| John (b. c. 1616); m. Elizabeth Newdigate (Newgate) |
| Nathaniel (b. c. 1618); died 1633 |
| Peter (b. c. 1617); m. Sarah Newdigate (Newgate) |
| Daniel (b.1664); m.Elizabeth Belcher |
| Daniel (b. 1704) |
| Andrew (b. 1706); m1. Mary Fitch, m2. Mary Sanford |
| Peter (b. 1713); m1. Josiah Willard, m2. Mary Clarke, m3, Mary Wendell |
| James (b. c. 1619); m. Mary Dexter |
| Abigail (b. c. 1622); m. James Johnson |
| Samuel (b. c. 1627); m. Lydia ______ |
| Daniel (b. c. 1629); d 1637 |
Links
- John Oliver - Memorials of the Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, John Farmer, 1833, pg. 33, Internet Archive
- The Oliver Family - The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1865, Vol. 19, pg. 100, ebook
- Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts - William Richard Cutter, Vol. 2, 1908, pg. 1882, ebook
- Genealogy of Descendants of Thomas Oliver, of Bristol, England and of Boston, New England - Henry K. Oliver, 1868, Internet Archive
- Oliver Family Papers - Massachusetts Historical Society
- Pedigree of the Oliver Family - The History and Antiquities of Boston, Samuel Drake, 1856, pg. 293, Internet Archive
- 1 A Documentary History of Chelsea: including the Boston Precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, Vol. 1, pg. 118 - Mellen Chamberlain, 1908, Internet Archive
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