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Holmes George
Male 1594 - 1645

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  • Birth  1594  Nazeing, [parish], Essex, England, U.K. Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Gender  Male 
    _UPD  18 AUG 2009 17:41:11 GMT-5 
    Died  18 Dec 1645  Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Buried  Eliot burying ground, near John Eliot his friend and advisor Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Person ID  I1787  Alan Donald Vibber
    Last Modified  08 Dec 2009 
     
    Family  Deborah,   d. Abt 06 Nov 1662, Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married  England, U.K. Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Children 
     1. Holmes John,   b. 1643, Roxbury, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 17 May 1676
    Family ID  F817  Group Sheet
     
  • Notes 
    • George Holmes was born in Nazing, England, in 1594 and died in Roxbury, Mass., Dec. 18, 1645, according to the tawn record ; although the Apostle Eliot, under date of " Month 12 day 2, 1645," tells us in the church records that " George Holmes a godly broth7 dyed of a fea?." He is buried in the Eliot burying ground, near John Eliot his friend and adviser.

      He married in England, Deborah , born there and died in Roxbury, according to Eliot, who says in his diary, " Moneth 11, day 6th, 1662 Widdow Homes was buryed."

      Nazing is a small parish in the town of Waltham, Essex County, sixteen miles north of London. It is situated on an elevation, rendering it pleasant and healthful. The old church is on a hill and is seen for miles around ; it is built of brick, stone and flint ; it has an entrance on the side, as shown in the frontispiece, and the building is now used for worship, as it will be probably for scoresof years to come. At the west end there is a square tower, embattled, containing five bells. It was built in 1535 and the records were begun in 1559 and are well kept. (See engraving, which is from aphotograph taken in June, 1904, by a young miss of eleven years, a grand daughter of Mr. Goddard, the (then) present vicar. The negative was made specially for Mr. Mather Hinckley Holmes of Monrovia,California, when he visited the birthplace of his pilgrim forefather.)

      Mr. Holmes found the following record of Baptisms in Nazing Parish.
      GEORGE HOLMES, bapt. Nov. 5, 1692.
      GEORGE HOLMES, bapt. July 27, 1694.
      SAMUEL HOLMES, bapt. Dec. 13, 1598.
      JOHN HOLMES, bapt. Mar. 29, 1601.
      LYDIA HOLMES, daughter of George Holmes, bapt, July 26, 1635.

      These are all the Holmeses there are in the earlier records, and the present (1904) vicar's assumption is that, with the exception of Lydia, they were all of one parentage, the first George dying in infancy. Joseph's name is not given, and it is supposed that he was born on the way over, or very soon after his parents arrived in Roxbury.

      The following entries also appear in Nazing Parish Register and are given here only as a curiosity,
      1680. Nicholas, a vagrant woman child christened Jan. 16.
      1693. William ffox nurse child Buried Nov. 7.
      1699. A wandering woman Buried Sep. 2.
      1601. A wandering boye Buried Jan. 19.
      1605. Ed a young child Buried

      William Holmes was made vicar of Nazing, Sep. 28, 1513, and continued until his death, 1541 ; if he was a relative of George, the writer has not discovered it, having made no systematic search on theother side of the water. The work is lengthy and arduous enough on this side.

      GEORGE' HOLMES came to this country, as near as can be ascertained, in 1637.

      The apostle Eliot left the same town in 1631, his brother Philip Eliot, following in April, 1635, in the Hopewell. There were about twenty others from that locality, most of them settling in Roxbury.W. Winters, F.R.H.S., in his "Memorials of the Pilgrim Fathers, " gives the name of Holmes with the names of many others who were in Roxbury with Eliot (pages 68, 70). There is on the court records of Nazing Court Leet, dated 1637, the names of certain jurymen, in some cases identical with the names of early settlers of Roxbury. In that list is the name of George Holmes. (Ibid, p. 71.) Mr. Winters has in his possession a manuscript of all " coppieholders and freeholders belonging to this manor of Nazing this twelfe of January 1637. " This list also contains many names appearing later on this side of the Atlantic, the name of George Holmes being among them. (Ibid, p. 73.)

      He was made freeman May 22, 1639. (Mass. Col. Rec., vol. I, p. 376.) He and his wife are mentioned in Roxbury church
      records as being members of Eliot's church.

      In Roxbury Land Records, page 49 (•27), are described the possessions of George Holmes, including dwelling-house and barn, summing up about two hundred and fifty-two acres in eight different parcels.(Boston Rec. Com. Rept., No. 6, p. 26.)

      In Roxbury Town Records we find that in 1640 there was a list called "A note of the estates and persons of the Inhabitants of Rocksberry. " The assessments range from £1 to £18. There were three who were assessed £10, George Holmes being one of them, he standing the tenth in amount of property in a list of seventy.

      The following is an abstract of his will, the original in the handwriting of Eliot. (See REGISTER, vol. 7, p. 36.)

      Will of George Holmes. (Rocksbury.)

      My loving wife sole executresse. I gine vnto her my whole estate, to be improved for the education my children, but none of my lands to be sould vnlesse in case of necessity & by the advice of my overseers. After my wives decease, my houses & lands shall be equally divided amongst all my children ; yet if it shall please the Lord to convert my sonne Joseph in the meane time, so as y1 he is in charity accepted among the saints, my will is y1 he shall haue two parts, & the rest but each of them one. And my request is to my Dearly beloved brethren Elder Heath, brothr Eliot & broth1 Parks our Deakens & my broth7 Ruggles and Brother Riggs to be my overseers to counsell & guide my wife in all her affaires. I gine full power to them to make the fore named division of my lands in the most equal &peacable manner they can, & if any of my children will not rest in what they doe, my will is y' child shall lose his part, & it shall be given to such as my overseers see most fitt, & I intreate my deare wife to doe nothing of moment w^out the advice of these my overseers. Also my will is y1 there shall not be strip & wast made of timber and fire wood from my ground, only so much as may be for the necessary vse of my family,

      witnesse John Eliot. mark of George + Holmet.
      John Scarebrow.

      Mr John Eliot deposed before court, 30 11 1651 that George Holmes was of a disposing mind the yeare 1646 or thereabouts. "

      Children, all born in Roxbury, except Lydia and perhaps Joseph :
      I. LYDIA, b. in Nazing, England, baptized there July 26, 1635; died in Dorchester, Sept. 5, 1689 : m. in Dorchester " by Capt. Roger Clap 12 day of the (1 mo.) 1666/7 unto DANIEL ELDER, a Scotsman." He took the oath of allegiance in
      1679 and died May 4, 1692. He lived after marriage on the banks of the Neponset River in that part of Dorchester that is now Hyde Park and adjoining the property of his neice Mehitable Trescott (See vi under NATHANIEL 3.) Eliot's diary tells us that " 7 mo (16 dy) 1678 Lidea Elder daughter of Bro Homes took hold on the Covenant & had 4 Child'n baptized." The children, all born in Dorchester, as recorded, were: 1. Lydia, b. "10th of the (5 mo) 1668"; 'd. "12 (mo: 5) 1668". 2. Remember, b. " 29 (m : 4) 1669." 3. Andrew, b. 13 (mo. 1) 71. 4. Daniel, b. Jan. 1, 1673. 5.
      Lydia, b. June 13, 1675.
      2. II. JOSEPH, b. 1637 (?) on the passage over or soon after the arrival of his parents in Roxbury ; d. Oct. 27, 1713.
      3. III. NATHANIEL, b. Feb. 1, 1639; d. 1712. IV. DEBORAH, b. Jan. 31, 1641 ; d. Mar. 3, 1641. (Eliot's diary states "a new borne infant of George Holmes.")
      V. AN INFANT, buried Oct. 28, 1642.
      4. VI. JOHN, b. 1643 (?); d. May 17, 1676.
      VII. SARAH, bapt. Jan. 7, 1644.
      VIII. DEBORAH, bapt. Nov. 9, 1645 ; d. Sep. 29, 1646.
     
  • Sources 
    1. [S139] The Descendants of George Holmes of Roxbury, George Arthur Gray, 1 (Reliability: 3).

  

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