By Jared L. Olar
November 2018
One of my mother's hypothetical ancestors was John Tinker (1613-1662) of Massachusetts, son-in-law of John Smith (c.1600-1669) of Lancaster, Massachusetts. The surname of "Smith," of course, is one of the most common English surnames, and "John Smith" is so common that it is extremely difficult, and very often impossible, for genealogists to distinguish various John Smiths from each other. In the case of John Smith of Lancaster, genealogists in the past confused him with various other Massachusetts John Smiths. In his study, "John Smith of Watertown, Massachusetts" (in The American Genealogist, vol. 61 (1985), pages 18-31), Robert Charles Anderson painstaking disentangled various John Smiths from that period and locale. His study is the basis for the following presentation of what is known about John Smith of Lancaster and his family.
1. JOHN SMITH, an English immigrant to Massachusetts who lived at Sudbury, Middlesex County, and Lancaster, Worcester County, born circa 1600 in England, died 16 July 1669 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Nothing is known of John's ancestry in England, and so, for example, the identity and ancestry of John Smith of Lancaster shown at the Updike-Wiebe Genealogy is erroneous. John's wife was named MARY (NN), born circa 1600 in England, died 27 Dec. 1659 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mary's maiden name and ancestry are unknown, but some genealogists have proposed that her maiden name was Homan. John and Mary are known to have had two sons and two daughters, Richard, John, Alice, and Anne.
In Robert Charles Anderson's above cited study, he examined several past John Smith misidentifications, and demonstrated that John Smith of Lancaster was not John (Bland) Smith, nor was he another son of John (Bland) Smith's mother Adrian (whose maiden name is unknown, but whose married names include Bland, Smith, and Norcross), nor was he the husband of Alice Smith who came to New England on the Planter in 1635. The 1928 Miner Genealogy says Alice Smith, age 40, arrived in America on 10 April 1635 with her children Mary, Hannah, Richard, and John, and claimed that "the names of her children makes her identification as the first wife of John Smith (of Lancaster) almost positive; Hannah was probably the child later known as Ann." However, Anderson notes that Alice and the four younger Smiths do not appear together on the list of passengers of the Planter -- Alice's name is separated from the name of John Smith, age 13, by the name of Elizabeth Cooper, age 24, and the other names (Richard Smith, age 14, servant of Martin Saunders, and Hannah and Marie Smith, both age 18) appear on a different list dated 6 April 1635 and are scattered within a list of individuals, not families. In light of this evidence, Anderson says, "There is no justification for considering these five Smiths to be part of one family unit." Alice and John were related, Anderson said, but the other Smiths "have all the appearance of being servants, or on their own." Anderson identified Alice as the wife of Francis Smith of Watertown and John Smith, age 13, as that man's son. The Miner Genealogy also erroneously assigned Amos Richardson's wife Mary Smith to John Smith of Lancaster as a daughter, an error that apparently is due to the misidentification of the Marie or Mary Smith who traveled on the Planter as a child of Alice Smith and John Smith.
John Smith of Lancaster first appears on record in 1647, in which year John's sons Richard and John were married in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The 1654 marriage of his daughter Anne to John Moore is also recorded in Sudbury. Based on his sons' probable ages at marriage, Anderson estimated that John was born no later than 1600. John Smith and his children moved to Lancaster by the mid-1650s, and it was there that John's wife Mary died in 1659.
On 5 April 1669, John Smith deeded all of his estate to his son-in-law John Moore on the condition that John Moore and his wife Ann care for him in his old age: "Now in my old age I being old and infirme, & not able to improve land, nor to maintayne myself by my labours nor to pay publique charges for my land, therefore in consideration of my foresaid son John Moore & his wife are to keepe mee duringe my naturall life" (Henry Nourse's Early Records of Lancaster, page 287). The death of John Smith on 16 July 1669 is recorded in the Lancaster, Massachusetts, town records. He had made his will on 12 April 1665, and it was proved on 27 Sept. 1669. The will reads as follows:
These presence testifie and declare unto all Christian people that I John Smith of Lancaster in the Countie of Midlesex in new England Planter being sicke and weake in body but of good and perfect memorie, doe by this my Last will and testament Comitt and Comend my soule to Allmightie God that gave it and my body to the Comon burying place in the aforsaid Lancaster. And as for those Lands and other goods the Lord in his mercy hath intrusted me with, it is my desir that my debts if any bee shall be paid out of them, and the Charg of my sicknes and buriall, And that my sonn John Smith shall have an old blak Cow that hath sum whit upon her Rumpe, And it is my mind and will that my daughter Ann More shall have a Red pied cow, And I give to my sonn Richard Smith two shillings to be paid him if he demand it and two shilling to my daughter Ales, And furthermore I desir and also impower my beloved sonn in Law John More my sole executor to se this my Last will and testament truly and faithfully performed, unto whome I freely give the overpluse of my goods if any be. witness my hand this twelft of the 2: mon: 1665. John [mark] Smith witness Jacob Farrer his mark Daniel Gaines Ralph Houghton
John Smith's probate file says John Moore appeared in court on 5 Oct. 1669 and renounced his right as executor, but was granted administration of the estate. John Moore testified that the inventory of the estate of John Smith, deceased, was a true one. The inventory, taken by Jacob Farrer and Ralph Houghton, came to 4 pounds 4 shillings. Items in the inventory were an old cow (2 pounds), feathers and an old bed covering (1 pound, 10 shillings), an iron pot, old frying pan, pothooks and tramels, an old pewter Chamber pot, an old ax and an old hoe (12 shillings), and an old chair (2 shillings). The small size of John Smith's estate was probably due to his having transferred his property to John Moore in 1669.
The known children of John and Mary Smith were:
-- RICHARD SMITH, born circa 1621 in England, died 1699 in Lyme, Connecticut, married twice.
-- JOHN SMITH, born circa 1622 in England, died 13 Oct. 1687 in Sudbury, Massachusetts, married Sarah Hunt.
2. ALICE SMITH, born 20 Nov. 1629 in England, died on her birthday, 20 Nov. 1714, in Lyme, Connecticut.
-- ANNE SMITH, born circa 1632 probably in England, died 10 March 1671 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, married John Moore.
2. ALICE SMITH, born 20 Nov. 1629 in England, died on her birthday, 20 Nov. 1714, in Lyme, New London County, Connecticut, daughter of John and Mary Smith of Lancaster, Massachusetts. She married on 9 April 1649 in Boston, Massachusetts, (as his second wife) JOHN TINKER, born 13 July 1613 in Windsor, Berkshire, England, died 21 Oct. 1662 in Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, son of Robert and Mary Tinker of New Windsor, England. Information on Alice's life is presented by Douglas Richardson in his 1995 study on the Tinker and Merwin families in the New England Genealogical and Historical Register vol. 149. There is also an extended biography of John Tinker and his wife Alice in Robert C. and Sherry (Smith) Stancliff's 1995 "Descendants of James Stanclift of Middletown, Connecticut and Allied Families," based on primary sources and on other studies, especially Richardson's. The Stancliffs' biography of John and Alice Tinker is here quoted and excerpted:
. . . John Tinker married before 9 Dec. 1649 as his second wife ALICE SMITH, daughter of John and Mary [Homan] Smith of Boston, Sudbury and Lancaster, MA (who immigrated to New England in 1635 on the Planter (sic) and later settled in Sudbury), born Nov. 20, 1629, and died in Lyme, CT, on her birthday, Nov. 20, 1714, at age 85. While the record of John Tinker's second marriage has not been found, there is an entry in Aspinwall's Notarial Records in which both John and Alice act as witnesses to a land transaction in which Amos Richardson was the attorney, dated Dec. 9, 1649. On this date Alice signed her name Alice Tinker. . . .
In 1663, much too long after the death of John Tinker, it became evident that the widow Tinker was "with child". Since this was not to be tolerated in a Puritan community, Alice was forced to face the Court and be examined. It is not clear who made the complaint, but Alice admitted the circumstance and further shocked the community by stating that the father of her unborn child was the 21-year-old son of the former minister, Jeremiah Blinman. Alice paid a fine. In other Court cases there was frequently a choice of punishment, a woman could be forced to wear some sort of identification pinned to her bonnet proclaiming her sin, but for affluent sinners the Court was satisfied to exact punishment in the form of money, the usual fine for "impurity" being £5. It is probable that the Court accepted Alice's statement about Jeremiah Blinman, as he too paid a fine of £5 in 1663. But Jeremiah was not the father of the child, and we will never know why he was thus accused. The father was LT. SAMUEL SMITH, one of the commissioners of New London, and a married man. It was thought that a woman in labor would be unable to lie about the paternity of her child. The Court so firmly believed this evidence that it was sufficient to cause a man to become legally responsible for the financial support of a child when he was identified under these circumstances. Perhaps this was what led Samuel Smith to desert his wife and move to Virginia and finally the Carolinas, perhaps he feared the censure of his peers, but more likely he simply did not want to face up to such an unsettling circumstance. Smith spent a great deal of time at the local Tavern and evidently talked freely as a result. When his wife, Rebecca, applied for a divorce on grounds of desertion, there were letters and depositions supplied that indicated that Samuel Smith had told numerous people that he must leave town before Mrs. Tinker's baby was born, as he was responsible. It would even seem that he took the daughter of the local Tavern owner with him when he left. There were also documents saying Samuel Smith offered to pay a significant sum of money, a reward, to anyone who would take the child and deliver it to him, whether it was weaned or not. So it is the more surprising that several printed sources feign ignorance to the reason that Lt. Smith left town and even suggest that it was an act of self sacrifice on his part to allow his wife to marry another man. Rebecca Smith received her divorce in 1667, returned to her family in Wethersfield, and did indeed marry again.
Alice Tinker had a child [Sarah] in the spring of 1664. She then remarried before 27 Jan. 1665 to Attorney and Scrivener WILLIAM MEASURE [surname also spelled "Masuer" and "Mauser" in contemporary records]. William Measure was born about 1636, died on 24 March 1688, and his Inventory, registered in Boston, MA, was dated 27 July 1688. Gov. E. Andros granted Administration to his relict Alice on 26 June 1688. George Dennison, a magistrate of Stonington, CT, was ordered to appear at the Court at Hartford as a result of performing this marriage. Frances Caulkins speculated that it was because of the "scandalous behavior of Alice Tinker," but in her book Miss Caulkins says it was because Capt. Dennison had received his commission from Massachusetts Colony and Connecticut probably did not consider that he had the authority to perform the marriage. Whatever the case, George Dennison had a long history of refusing to submit to Connecticut authority, and it will be noted that he refused to appear before the Connecticut Court to answer these charges against him.
William and Alice [Smith] Tinker Measure took the Tinker children and moved to Lyme, CT, soon after their marriage. William Measure's name appears frequently in Town records and it is clear that he was very active in civic affairs. At a Lyme Town meeting on 18 Jan. 1681 William Measure was granted the license to run "an ordinary" or an Inn. At the same meeting "Mr. Wm Measure was chosen and Agreed with to keep A Schoole and to teach Children to Read Wright and Cost Accounting According to theire Capasitys." Amos and Samuel Tinker as well as Alice and William Measure obtained land from the Town of Lyme "by grant." It was by right of John Tinker, who must have been a proprietor of Lyme, as in later divisions of the town property, descendants of John Tinker received headrights by virtue of being descendants of John Tinker.
John Tinker Jr. never claimed the land in Stonington or Groton that was put in trust for him by his father, and that land was sold years later by Samuel Tinker with approval of the Court. John Tinker Jr. does not appear in any record after the death of his father. So on 18 June 1688, when Amos Tinker presented a grievance at a Lyme Town Meeting because his brother John Tinker, deceased, had not received his portion of the land in the fourth division, the fact that the Town did grant land to John Tinker (Jr.) indicates "head rights." At a much later date land was laid out in the right of Mary as "daughter of John Tinker." This was after Mary's death and the only reason for mentioning her father would be to establish her right to the land.
It is something of a mystery that William Measure did not marry Alice before the birth of Sarah, but possibly as long as Alice remained the legal widow of John Tinker, the law looked upon all of her children as children of John. Sarah [Tinker] Hudson, claimed her "headright" in land of the fourth division of Lyme by virtue of being "daughter of John Tinker" [even though John wasn't her father at all]. All of John Tinker's heirs received grants of land in Lyme, with the exception of Rhoda. The only knowledge of Rhoda is her birth and mention of her in her father's will. . . . .
The death of Alice (Smith) (Tinker) Measure is recorded in the Diary of Joshua Hempstead of New London, Connecticut, covering a period of forty-seven years from September, 1711, to November, 1758, published in 1901 by the New London County Historical Society, as follows (emphasis added):
Saturd 20 fair pleasant. I workt at Capt Jno Prentts's al day & Joshua. Ms Measurs Amos Tinkers Mother died. little wind. Sund 21 Some Snow at night Cloudy. Mr adams Preached al day. In ye forenoon I was out at Amos Tinkers & Josh. We made ye Coffin for his Mothr. Very aged woman of 85 years to a day. She was buried between Meetings.
The known and undisputed children of John and Alice Tinker were named Sarah, Mary, John, Amos, Samuel, and Rhoda. There is also a 1 April 1660 birth record in Lancaster, Massachusetts, for an unnamed son, who may in fact be Samuel, who was born 1 April 1659 in New London, Connecticut -- the Lancaster record may only be a mistaken duplicate record, but it may be a son who, say, died soon after birth and was never named. Then in 1664, two years after John's death, Alice bore an illegitimate daughter, Sarah, whom she had conceived in adultery with Lt. Samuel Smith. Some genealogists also place another daughter, Rebecca, in the family of John and Alice Tinker, though positive evidence for that hypothesis is scanty. If Rebecca was their child, she would be their eldest, born about a year or so after John and Alice's marriage (see below).
The known and possible children of John and Alice Tinker are listed here, with their half-sister Sarah, daughter of Samuel Smith:
4. REBECCA [TINKER], born circa 1650, perhaps John Tinker's oldest daughter.
-- SARAH TINKER, born 2 Jan. 1652 in Boston, Massachusetts, died 28 Aug. 1652 in Boston, Massachusetts.
-- MARY TINKER, born 2 July 1653 in Boston, Massachusetts, married twice.
-- JOHN TINKER JR., born 4 Aug. 1655 in Boston, Massachusetts.
-- AMOS TINKER, born 28 Oct. 1657 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, died 8 May 1730 in New London, Connecticut, married Sarah Durant.
-- SAMUEL TINKER, born 1 April 1659 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, or New London, Connecticut, died 28 April 1733 in Lyme, Connecticut, married Abigail Durant.
-- [SON] TINKER, born 1 April 1660 in New London, Connecticut -- perhaps this is Samuel, whose birth record may have been recorded in Lancaster though he was born in New London.
-- RHODA TINKER, born 23 Feb. 1661 in New London, Connecticut.
-- SARAH TINKER, born Spring 1664 in New London or Lyme, Connecticut, died 11 Sept. 1746 in Brookhaven, Long Island 1702, died 25 Sept. 1763, married Jonathan Hudson.