Fisher Joshua b. ABT 1620/21 d. 10 AUG 1672 Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA

1621 - 1672

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Birth Abt 1620/21 [1]

Gender Male

_UPD 17 AUG 2009 18:14:10 GMT-5

Died 10 Aug 1672 Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA [2]

Person ID I4868 Alan Donald Vibber

Last Modified 08 Dec 2009

Father Fisher Joshua, b. Abt 1585, d. 09 Nov 1674, Medfield, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA

Family ID F2022 Group Sheet

Family 1 Lydia, d. 02 Feb 1683

Married Y [3]

Children

1. Fisher Vigilance, b. 21 Nov 1654, d. 10 Apr 1713

Family ID F2018 Group Sheet

Family 2 Aldis Mary, d. 03 Sep 1653

Married 15 Nov 1643 [3]

Family ID F2019 Group Sheet

Notes	6. Joshua, son of Joshua (2), of Medfield, was baptized at Syleham, England, April 2, 1621, and came to New England in 1637. The Dedham Records contain the following : "Dedham. The First of ye 11th Month 1637. That w was agreed upon ye last meeteing was now Reade & confirmed. Upon a motion made by Anto Fisher It is condescended that Josua Fisher may enter upon the Smithes Lott & ther fitt himselfe ye building & otherwise for to doe some worke of ye trade for ye Towne in the behalfe of his Father w is expected this next somer. Provided ye yf he cometh not in such a tyme as may be conceived fitting by our sayd society Then the sayd Josua shall leave ye sayd Lott & ye Towne to be at liberty to put in another Smith : allowing unto the sayd Josua his wholl Charges upon the same to be alowed by2 : Judicious men." About this time he signed the Dedham Covenant, but we cannot learn the exact date. In August, 1639, he joined the Dedham church ; the following year became a member of the Ancientand Honorable Artillery Company and was its second sergeant in 1648 ; and was made a freeman May 2, 1649. Joshua married 1st, Nov. 15, 1643, Mary, dau. of Deacon Nathaniel and Mary Aldis, of Dedham. She died Sept. 3, 1653 ; and he m. 2d, Feb. 16, 1654, Lydia, widow of Samuel Oliver, of Boston. Upon the Petition of Dedham for Eleazer Lusher to be their Captaine, Josua Fisher their lief tenant, & Henry Philips their ensign, their petition is granted. [Oct. 18, 1648 : Mass. Col. Rec., II,.257, and III, 139.] To the honoured Gouerner Majestrats and deputies assembled at the General! Court at Boston The petition of the Towne of Dedham Humbly Sheweth : That wheras our band of Trayned Souldiers have bin yet : defectivc for want of Queers established : to exercise them : and as we humbly conceive that we have some amongst us that may be fitt. to exercise our Company we have with one consent made choyce of Eliazer Lusher to be our Captaine : and Joshua Fisher to be our Leiftenant aud Henry Phillips to be our Ensigne humbly desyringe this Honor Court : that you would be pleased to Ratifie and confirme them in the said places if you shall thinke good : And your petioners shall pray et William Bullard. clarke of ye Trayne band The deputies have graunted this pet. wth Refferanee to the concurrance of o honord magists William Torrey by order &c The mag' consent hereto Jo: Winthrop. Gou 19 (8) 48 (Mass. Arch., LXVII, 43, See Col. Rec., Ill, 139.] So by the title of "Lieutenant Joshua" he was thereafter known throughout the Colony. At the town meeting in January, 1648-49, he was chosen selectman and continued in that office 22 years. He also tries his hand at surveying, for the records state that Jan. 7, 1649-50, he "is deputed and undertaketh to take and make a true platt of ye out most Lines of the Towne." We find him later regularly chosen town surveyor, and the records show him at work in other parts of the Colony, one large work being the surveying of 8000 acres completed in May, 1665, "at a place called Pocumptuck " (Deerfield),"it lyinge northward from Hadley about tenn or twelve mile," being the land given Dedham in the exchange for the land they claimed at Natick. It is ordered by this Court, that whereas there was graunted to Dedham eight thousand akers of land the last session of this Court, Ensigne John Euerard & Jonathan Danforth are hereby appointed to lay out the same according to graunt. [Oct. 21, 1663: Mass. Col. Rec., IV, Part II, 91.] This tract of land, conteyuig eight thousand acres, being layd out according to this plott given into the Court & remayning on file, beginning att A, & so running to L, by the Foote of a mountejne, south & by west two miles forty sixe rod ; from L to K, along by the same mounteine five miles forty rod south & by east two degrees easterly ; From ? to I, u?o? a streight Iine two miles & a halfe & ahalf west halfe a point southerly ; From H to I, upon a streight line south halfe a point easterly, fower miles; From G to H, norwest fower degrees, westerly three hundred sixty two rod ; From E to G. S. S east three degrees southerly, one hundred & sixty rod ; from E to F south southeast, west three degrees southerly, eighty eight rod ; from D to E south west one hundred and eight rod ; from ? to D south south east eighty rod ; From ? to ? south & by west three degrees westerly, five hundred & eighty rod ; from A to ? west north west two degrees westerly, one mile twenty rod. This tract of land is laid out at a place called Pecumptick, to answer the grant of the honoured Generall Court made to Dedham for the lands at Natick, which the Indians are setled upon, by the Courts order, it lyinge northward from Hadley about tenn or twelve mile. Layd out as above said May, 1665, By me, Joshua Fisher. The Court allowes & approoves of this returne, provided they make a toune of it, to mainteine the ordinances of Christ there once wthin five yeares, & that it interfere not wth Majr Genll Dennison & Hadley grant. [Oct. 11, 1665: Mass. Col. Rec., IV, Part II, 282.] Probably referring to the above, Temple's History of North Brookfield, p. 54, says : "The compass was first brought into use in laying out land grants in this region, by Lieut. Fisher, of Dedham, when he surveyed the Deerfield lands in 1665. They had a chain to measure distances, andsome prominent object was selected as starting and turning point. The chief concern was to get the full quantity named in the grant." "Att a Generall metting of the Inhabatance the 23 of the 11 mo 1656" holding the office also in 1658, 1662 and 1663. We also find him going to the General Court as deputy from Dedham in 1653, '58, '62, '63, '64, '67, '68, '71, '72. With Eleazer Lusher he undertook to "erect a sawe mille upon Neponset River or any pt thereof ....... in the Ceader swampe already granted," March 4, 1658-9. He also kept the "publicke house ;" May 9, 1649, petitioning to be freed from the custom on wine. [Colony Records, III, p. 159.] In ansr to ye request of the selectmen of Dedham, desiring, in regard of theire remotenes from Boston, Left Joshua Fisher might have liberty to sell some strong waters, to supply ye necessity of suchas shall stand in neede thereof in that toune, the Court graunts theire request. [Oct. 19, 1658: Mass. Col. Rec., IV, Part I, 352.] The Dedham records state that on Nov. 30, 1672, "the Administrators to the Estate, of Lieft Joshua Fisher, Declare that they find not themselves, in a capassity to keep the Ordinary any Longer, To which wee doe Order them, to take downe the signe that stand before the house that Lately was Lieft Fishers. "We find two depositions in the records : "The testimony of Joshua Fisher aged about 40 yeares .... Joshua Fisher deposed to the truth of what is above written : 28: January 1661." "The testimony of Joshua Fisher aged about 41 yeares," March 5, 1661. He was therefore born about 1620, and was probably baptized the following April at Syleham. He died at Dedham Aug. 10, 1672; and his widow died Feb. 2,1683. His son, Capt. Joshua, succeeded his father as inn-holder, and is so described in hiswill. The site of the tavern was near the junction of High and Court streets in Dedham. In the Dedham records, Jan 11, 1646-7, his house is spoken of as on land adjoining the road to "the landing place" on Charles River, Bullard street, north of High street. There was a drinking-room in the brew-house, and one small beer vessel among his effects, perhaps the same Madam Knight calls the "pewter engine," at the time of her visit. In the Dedham records, under "the sumes of mens estats," we find his property assessed at £216 10s., Feb. 20, 1656-7. His homestead was appraised in 1648 at £40 36s.; on Sept. 20, 1651, at .£31. Lieft. Fisher agreed to shingle the meeting house at Dedham, Jan. 17, 1651-2, and have it done by June 24, 1652, for .£15 ; later on we read, "for covering the Meeting house. nayles & other charges" £20. In 1642 the town granted him a lot of eight acres, and another of six acres, and the next year an additional lot. In the Division of 500 acres he receives fifteen acres, March 7, 1652-3. In the Records of the General Court: "granted 1664.27, (3) to Lieut. Joshua Fisher of Dedham, 300 acres upon Medfield line toward the South, and Tyng's farm toward the West, and an acute angle toward the East. This land he seems to have sold to Nicholas Wood. He appears to have previously received a grant of 900 or 500 acres west of this grant, which he had before sold to Edmund and William Sheffield." (Morse's Sherborn, p. 268.) Roberts' History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company says of him : " From the Colonial archives of Massachusetts Bay we learn that in 1648 he was appointed lieutenant of the military company in Dedham, and usually after this time he is styled ' Lieutenant, and when he is not his name is connected with some survey that identifies his individuality. In 1650 he was appointed by the General Court to run the line between Sudbury and Watertown ; in 1656 was appointed to lay out Mr. Alcock's land, also Mr. Bradstreet's eight hundred acres ; in 1664 the General Court granted him three hundred acres of land for surveying the south line of the patent of Massachusetts Bay, next to Plymouth ; in 1666, he settled the controversy between Mr. Z. Gold and Gov. Endicott as to land bounds, and laid out Gov. Endicott's farm on Ipswich River; in 1667 was appointed, with others, to lay out the town of Mendon ; also to lay out Dedham's eight thousand acres, near Hadley. In 1670, the General Court ordered a further survey of the line between Massachusetts and Plymouth, andOct. 11, 1670, the bill, forty shillings, of Lieut. Fisher, for doing the same, was paid to his children. The survey was reported to the General Court May 15, 1672, and Lieut. Fisher died in August of that year. From the records of Dorchester, we lear n that Lieut. Fisher was employed to run the line between Dedham and Dorchester; in 1670, to run the line from ' Blue Hill' to Plymouth; in 1661, Dorchester paid him for a new map of the town, and in 1670 for a second revised map." .... "A maker of artistic maps." (Hon. Chas. Levi Wood- bury's MSS.) The following items from the Dedham Records give some particulars of him during a short period, and show how he figured in his own town affairs : "libettie is yet further giuen to Lieft Fisher to take Lt Fisher vpthatptof the 5oo acre deuident. that he purchased of Will Avery notwthstanding the limitation of time set" (18. 5:60:). Dedham Records state that on Nov. 14, 1660, " Lieft Fisher & Serg' Ellice are deputed to treat (& Committee to buy if it may be) to couclude wlh the Ind1ans or Sagamore Wolomonup- that clayme right at wolomonuppucke to buy them pucke all out. and cleere the place from all Indians title." 31. of 1o. 166o (Dec. 31, 166o): " Lieft Fisher prsents his bill wherein it apeeres Lt Fisher's that he is Credit' to the Towne for Select mens dyet for layeing out the 2000 Acres at Naticke and other Journeyes upon Townes service. and for fyer wood & house roome at the last generall meeteing 4—11—7 And by his bill debter as receaved by bills & the rent of the heard-yarde. and debts assigned to him . 2— 4—2 upon ballance of these accounts rest due to him 2— 7—5." " At a Generall meeteing of the Towne 1-11-1660 It is agreed. & by voate declared in refference to the layeing out of the devident of 500 Acres formerly granted, that the Surveyor Lieft Fisher shall be alowed 3d p Acre for his owne labour & Arts in respect of what he hath allready done therein. & what is yet wanting to pfect the same." "At a meeting of the select men the 9 (4) 1662: Upon a motion made by lieutenant Joshua Fisher of Dedham to rent the meadows which are in Dorchester neare Dedham bounds above Dedham: It is ordered bythe select men the 9 (4) 1662 ; that William Sumner and Ensigne Capen or either of them have by this order power aud are desired to bargaine with afore sayd Leiutenant Fisher for as many parcells of meddow and for what prise and pay they shall judg meet; aud if the afore sayd Fisher will not give what in reason they inge meet: then they to take ther best Chapman only they are to agree or bargainefrom yeare to yeare and they shall be payd for ther paines oat of the towne rate." [Dorchester (printed) Records, p. no.] In the Dorchester town rate for 1662 is this item: "I to Lieft Fisher for towne plott 02—00—00," showing that he received £2 for making the plot or map of Dorchester as required by law. The Inventory of his estate, made Aug. 20, 1672 (Suffolk Pro., VIII, folio 239 et seq.), covers many pages. Among the articles enumerated are the following: Meadow of 12 acres abutting upon the houselot, £60; all the houses at home, the dwelling house and leantoos adjoining, the brew house, the shop, and barn, £120; the orchard on the south side of the street, .£35; eleven acres in the broad meadows, £12; one piece of woody land near Thomas Fisher's, £4; land in the Clapboards, £3.17; common rights, £3 ; cedar swamps near the town, £3.5. The total value of the estate was £1145. 6. 5. Daniel Fisher, Thomas Battelle and Joshua Fisher, the administrators, filed a bond Sept. 5, 1672, for £2200. In the division of the estate, made Nov. 23, 1672, the widow was given ''a trunke with what is in it, prissed at £22.18 and 50£," and the thirds of all the houses and lands, or instead £10 per annum. The remainder was divided into seven parts: two to Joshua, the eldest son, and one each to John, Vigilance, Mary, Abigail, and Hannah; the signers to the agreement being Joshua Fisher, William Avery for John Fisher, Thomas Fuller for Vigilance Fisher, Thomas Clap, John Holtou, and Daniel Fisher for Hannah Fisher. Children, all born in Dedham, were: -MARY, b. March 23, 1644; m. Thomas Clapp, Nov. 1o, 1662. (Clapp Genealogy, p. 1o7-9.) -Joshua, b. Oct. 3o, 1645; d. Jan. 14, 1646. -Hannah, b. Feb. 14, 1647; d. Sept. 4, 1648. -ABIGAIL, b. Feb. 29, 1649; m. John Houlton, of Dedham, March 1, 1667. -13. JOSHUA4, b. Jan. 9, 1651; m. Esther Wiswall. -14. JOHN4, b. Feb. 18, 1652; m. Hannah Adams, March 6, 1674. HANNAH4, b. Jan. 19, 1653; m. [William?] Burroughs. -15. VIGILANCE4, b. (by second wife) Not. 21, 1654. JAMES4, b. March "1, 1657; d. Sept. 27, 1658.

Sources

[S236] The Fisher Genealogy Record of the Descendants of Joshua, Anthony, and Cornelius Fisher, of Dedham, Mass., 1630-1640, Philip A Fisher, (Name: Massachusetts Pub. Co., 1898;), 11&13 (Reliability: 3).
[S236] The Fisher Genealogy Record of the Descendants of Joshua, Anthony, and Cornelius Fisher, of Dedham, Mass., 1630-1640, Philip A Fisher, (Name: Massachusetts Pub. Co., 1898;), 14 (Reliability: 3).
[S236] The Fisher Genealogy Record of the Descendants of Joshua, Anthony, and Cornelius Fisher, of Dedham, Mass., 1630-1640, Philip A Fisher, (Name: Massachusetts Pub. Co., 1898;), 11 (Reliability: 3).