SAMUEL PACKARD [#354 & #378], d. Bridgewater, MA 7 Nov 1684, m. ELIZABETH ____, d. after 27 Oct 1694. She m(2) John Washburn, bap. Evesham, Eng. 28 Nov 1621, d. Bridgewater, MA 12 Nov 1686.
Samuel Packard and his wife Elizabeth, with one child, came from Windham, near Hingham, Norfolk, England. They came on the ship Dilligent of Ipswich and landed Aug. 10, 1638. There were 133 passengers aboard and the same year they settled in Hingham, MA. Samuel was among those granted land in Hingham in the years from 1635 to 1640.[1] The Packards came to New England with Reverend Robert Peck's company, which also included the Stephen Gates family. Rev. Peck came from the Hingham, Norfolk area of England and had been convicted as far back as 1615 of teaching the Puritan scruples against the requirement to kneel when entering church and of saying it is superstition to bow at the name of Jesus. Peck was suspended in 1636, but he continued to hold secret services for select parishoners. Only the threat of summons before the draconian Court of High Commission in London drove the elderly minister and his devoted followers into exile in 1638. Some fellow villagers had already moved to New England and settled in 1635 at Bear Cove on the south shore of Massachusetts Bay. That year Bear Cove was renamed Hingham. The New Hingham would prove as independent and ornery as Old Hingham. The church retained its presbyterian bias among its congregationalist neighbors and fiercely asserted its local rights in the 1645 militia case, creating a constitutional crisis in the colony. About 200 people came with the Peck company, depleting Hingham by about a third of its residents.[6]
From Hingham the family removed to Weymouth about 1653, where Samuel was a selectman. The family then removed to Bridgewater between 1660 and 1663. Samuel served as a constable in Bridgewater in 1664[3/4:61] and 1674[3/5:145] and held an innkeeper's license in 1671.[3/5:54] In March of 1671-2 a Samuel Packard (maybe the son) was fined one pound by the Plymouth Colony Court for "selling liquor and cyder to the Indians".[3/5:128] He was also one of twelve laying out highways in Bridgewater in 1667 [3/4:1545] and 1668[3/4:1923]
Samuel had six sons and six daughters. The sons were all soldiers in King Phillip's War in 1675 and 1676.[1] It has been stated by some that Samuel probably served as well. However this seems unlikely due to his advanced age at the time (71 or so). His will was dated Oct. 29, 1684 and probated March 3, 1684-5, he being then between 70 and 80 years of age. Samuel signed the will as "Samuel Packer".[2] Since then the name has mostly taken the form of Packard. His widow remarried after his death to John Washburn of Bridgewater.
July 1, 1684 a Samuel (possibly son of the immigrant) was on the grand jury that found Robert Trayes, negro, guilty of shooting Daniel Standlake of Scituate in the leg. Standlake's shattered leg had to be amputated from which he subsequently died. Trayes was let off with a fine as the shooting was found to be an accident (or "misadventure" as stated in the records).[3/6:1412]
Several sources list Samuel's parents as George and Mary (Wither) Packard of Colmans, Whitsun Green, Stonham Aspal Parrish, Suffolk, who were married at Woolpit Parrish March 27, 1600. George was buried at Stonham Aspal Dec. 14, 1623. Mary died at Stowmarket, England in 1652.[5] However no proof is given to connect Samuel of Norfolk county England and of Massachusetts with Samuel, the son of George and Mary Packard, who was baptised in Suffolk in 1612. In fact, it is believed that Samuel of Massachusetts was born around 1604, and since baptisms were performed on infants, it would seem highly unlikely the two Samuels were the same man. Furthermore, George Packard left a noncupative will which did not mention any children by name. Mary, however, listed the children but did not include Samuel.[5] Whether the ommission was due to the fact that he had already died or was left out because he had moved to America is not known. These same sources give this Samuel's wife's name as Elizabeth Stream, again with no proof. She is suppossed to have been born about 1614 and died in Hingham, MA June 17, 1716. Again, it seems improbable that the woman lived to 102 years of age. If she was his wife, either the death date is incorrect or Samuel had two wives named Elizabeth, the later one being much younger than the first.
REF: [1] The Packard Genealogy - Theophilus Packard, 1871
[2] Plymouth Colony Trancripts (Document Set 604)
[3] Plymouth Colony Records, 1855
[4] The Ancestry of Samuel Bartlett and Lucy Jenkins - Edith
B. Sumner, 1951 (pgs.79-80)
[5] The Packards - Brigdier J. John Packard, 1987
[6] The New England Historic Genealogical Register, Vol. 146,
1992 (pgs.244-245)
Children (order of birth not certain):
1. Elizabeth, m. 14 Nov 1665 Thomas Alger of Boston 2. Samuel, m. Elizabeth Lathrop, d. 19 Jun 1716 3. Zaccheus, d. Bridgewater, MA 3 Aug 1723, m. Sarah Howard (dau. John Howard and Martha Hayward) 4. Thomas, b. Hingham, MA 5. John, b. Weymouth, MA 20 Jul 1655, d. 16 Mar 1741, m. 12 Apr 1688 Judith Winslow, d. 19 Jun 1761 6. Nathaniel, m. Lydia Smith (dau. Henry Smith and Elizabeth) 7. Mary, m. Richard Phillips, d. Weymouth, MA 1695 8. Hannah, d. 20 Apr 1727, m(1) Clement Briggs, d. abt. 1669, m(2) Thomas Randall, d. 11 Jun 1711 9. Israel 10. Jael, m. 15 Nov 1672 John Smith 11. Deborah, m. Samuel Washburn (son John Washburn and Elizabeth Cooke), b. abt. 1651, d. Bridgewater 1720 Chil.: 1) Samuel, b. 1678; 2) Noah, b. 1682; 3) Israel, b. 1684; 4) Nehemiah, b. 1686; 5) Benjamin; 6) Hannah, m. 1711 John Keith 12. Deliverance, m. Thomas Washburn
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