William Sabin
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 11 Oct 1609 - Tichfield, H, England
Christening: 11 Oct 1609
Death: 17 Jul 1687 - Reheboth, Massachusetts
Burial: 8 Feb 1687 - Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Cause of Death:
AFN #: 4J3T-RX
Parents
Father: Samuel Sabin (1589- ) 1
Mother: Mrs. Elizabeth SABIN (1591- ) 1
Father: Samuel Sabin (1589- ) 1
Mother: Elizabeth (1591- )
Spouses and Children
1. *Mary Wright (1620 - 27 Sep 1660) 1
Marriage: 1640 - Reheboth, Massachusetts
Status:
Children:
1. Samuel Sabin Sgt. (Abt 1640-1699) 1
2. Elizabeth SABIN (1642-1717) 1
3. Joseph SABIN (1645-1690) 1
4. Benjamin SABIN (1646-1725) 1
5. Nehemiah SABIN (1647-1676) 1
6. Experience SABIN (1648-1728) 1
7. (Mary) Mercy SABIN (1652-1674) 1
8. Abigail SABIN (1653-1721) 1
9. Hannah SABIN (1654-1729) 1
10. Jonathan Or Jeremiah SABIN (1657- ) 1
11. Sarah SABIN (1660-1709) 1
12. Patience SABIN (1655-1712) 1
2. Martha Allen (11 Dec 1641 - 11 Jan 1735)
Marriage: 22 Dec 1663 - Reheboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Status:
Notes
General:
Original Proprietor of Rehoboth, MA
From http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/mudhouse/2435/id300.htm:
William Sabin was baptized on the 11th day of October 1609, in St Peters Parish, Titchfield, Hampshire, England. He was the son of Samuel Sabin and Mary Bushe Sabin. His parents were married on October 29, 1608 in the same parish.
It is not known when William Sabin came to the colonies. Tradition says he came from Wales or the south of England, where he had found refuge in the flight from France. Another history states that William Sabin perhaps came from County Hampshire, England in about 1638. He may have come with others from Titchfield, Hampshire on the ship "Brevis" which sailed from Southhampton in May of 1638.
William married the daughter of Richard Wright, himself a founder of the Rehoboth settlement. The marriage took place in Braintree, MA about 1639. It is thought she was the Widow Hickman.
The Sabins were members of the Weymouth Church in 1642.
The first recorded appearance of William Sabin in America was at the organization of the town of Rehoboth, Ma in 1642. He was one of the Original Proprietors, and took up land in an area which is now in RI, known as Seekonk. William Sabin was a miller by trade.
He was one of the leading figures of Rehoboth at its organization in 1643, interested in school, church and town affairs at Plymouth. He was made a Freeman of Rehoboth on June 3, 1657 and was an active member of the church. He contributed a large sum of money to help establish the first free public school in America in 1643.
On June 6, 1649, William was presented to the court for shorting some customers on corn he had milled for them. He was cleared by the jury.
William was a man of considerable culture: and possessing wealth as is shown by an account of his estate and gifts for the relieving of the wants of those who suffered from the ravages of the Indians.
He could read and write, as proved by his large collection of books.. His estate was worth £ 53 at the time Rehoboth was settled.
Mary Sabin was the mother of his first twelve children. She died sometime before 1663. William then married (2) Martha Allen who was born on December 11, 1641, twin sister of Mary Allen. She was the daughter of James and Anna Allen of Medfield Mass. They married in December of 1663 in Medfield, Norfolk County, MA. Martha was a sister to Nathaniel and Joseph Allen who both married daughters of William Sabin by his first marriage. Martha and William had eight more children born to them from 1664-1680.
William Sabin was the jury foreman that convicted of murder the three Indians whose hanging in June 1675 initiated the beginning of King Phillip's War. The Indians burned William's mill in March 1676 and killed his 29 year old son, Nehemiah the following June.
Children by his first wife Mary were all born in Rehoboth except the two oldest whose place of birth is unknown. Children by his second wife Martha Allen were also born in Rehoboth.
William died in Rehoboth, Bristol County, MA on February 8, 1687 and was buried the following day in the Kickemuit Cemetery which is now in Warren, Rhode Island.
His will was made June 4, 1685 and probated in Boston on July 17, 1687 during the administration of Govenror Andros. The original will is on file in Boston
The Will of William Sabin
William Sabin left his house,half of a barn and homelot, some meadowland and pasture, plus six acres to his wife Martha. He gave land to his sons:
Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, James, John, Hezekiah and Noah.
To his daughters Experience, Abigail and Hannah, he gave three pounds each. To his grandson Samuel Allen he gave six pounds.
To daughter Elizabeth and Patience, he gave a cow. To his four youngest daughters, Mehitabel, Mary, Sarah and Margaret he gave five pounds each when they married.
William's books were divided among his children, one per child by their choice, with the remainder going to his wife. He added a provision that son James was to receive the house and lands given to his wife if she remarried, provided he pay her five pounds per year for life.
Rehoboth and the War With King Phillip
1675 - 1676
Relations between the colonists and Indians worsened throughout the previous years. The growing families and greed of the English began to push the Indians to the outskirts of their native land. Tensions grew, and finally erupted into full scale war.
Rehoboth was in the midst of this fury. One cause was the trial of three Indians who were put on trial in Rehoboth. Mr. William Sabin was forman of the jury that found them guilty of murder. They were hanged in June of 1675 in Rehoboth.
Nine months later, the Indians burned Sabin's Mill and killed his 29 year old son, Nehemiah.
Rev. Noah Newman's letter of March 27, 1676, relates the story of the sad legacy of the war with Philip.
On the day after the letter was written, the "Ring of the Town" was burned by the Indians, under the command of King Phillip. Forty houses and thirty barns were destroyed. Only two houses escaped destruction - the garrison house, and one other house on the south side of the Common, which was saved in a clever manner. Many black sticks were placed surrounding the home, giving it the appearance of being strongly guarded. The fires were set early in the evening. The next morning, only a few smouldering ash heaps marked the site of the thriving village.
All the town inhabtants, except one, sought refuge in the garrison house, which was a strong fortified structure avoided wisely by the Indians.
The one citizen who did not join the others was Robert Beers, and Irishman and brick-maker. He was very religious but a bit eccentric. When the alarm was given that the Indians were coming, he refused to seek safety in the garrison. Instead, he chose to remain in his own house reading the Bible, believing that nothing could harm him while reading that book. The Indians shot him through the window, and he fell dead with his Bible in his hand, the only person slain on that day.
The Town of Rehoboth is an historic pastoral community in Bristol County incorporated in 1745. The town never had a large amount of agricultural land because of its extended marshy terrain and hills, but there was always good fishing on the Palmer River and an annual herring run provided abundant food. The first settlement of the town was about 1652 on the southern portion of the river. The colony suffered a good deal of damage in the King Philip war but the earliest house in town, Kingsley House, built 1680, still remains a part of the town. By 1704 there was an iron forge in town and by 1714 the Goff Inn was handling travelers coming through on the stage to Taunton, Providence or Newport, Rhode Island.