The New England Chamberlains seem to have descended, almost entirely, from five early settlers of the name, in order of arrival: Henry, Richard, Thomas, William, and Edmond. Our immigrant ancestor was William Chamberlain, born circa 1620 in England, died at Billerica, 31 May 1706, who was of Boston, 1647 to 1649, and of Woburn, 1649 to 1652, and who lived in Billerica after that for the rest of his life. We will probably never know his parentage, his ancestry or his place of residence in England. It is possible, but not proven, that he belonged to the family of Francis Chamberlyn, Senior, of Narburgh, County of Norfork, England, who left a will dated 1 June 1676 leaving bequests to his sons William, Clement, Francis and Thomas. The rare Christian name Clement found in this Narburgh, England Chamberlyn family and in our New England Chamberlain family is suggestive of kinship. Again, not proven but suggestive and found in Hotten's Original Lists of Emigrants, 1600-1700, is the notation "6th June 1635. Theis under-written names are to be transported to Virginia imbarqued in the Thomas & John, Richard Lambard, Mr. being examined by the Minister de Gravesend concerning their conformitie to the orders and discipline of the Church of England: And tooke the oath of Allegeance. *********** Tho : Chamberlin 20 yeres." and, between Aug. 21 and Sept. 2, 1635, "Theis under-written names are to be transported to Virginia imbarqued in the Thomas, Henry Taverner, Mr. have been examined by the Minister of Gravesend touching their conformitie in or Religion &c.******* Wm Chamberlin 16 yeres." The presumption that this Thomas and this William were brothers and our immigrant ancestors and came from Virginia to Boston has been made but not proven.

We do know that our immigrant ancestor, William Chamberlain, bought land with a house and garden from a Francis Smith in 1647-1648 in Boston. Two days after he sold his land in Boston, William was admitted an inhabitant of the Town of Woburn and in less than one month he received a grant of land there.

On 9 June 1652, the First Church of Cambridge made an agreement for the division of Shawshine which became part of the Town of Billerica. All of the Church members received allotments but only a few of them moved to Shawshine to establish homes there. On 25 March 1654, the proprietors of Cambridge executed "the Great Deed" to the proprietors of Billerica granting the latter all rights to the land "now called by the said name of Billerica als Shawshine" and our William Chamberlain signed "for Thomas Hamons Lott." He moved his family to Billerica sometime after 1652 as there is no further record of the family in Woburn after that date.

During the years, William bought land and received eleven grants of land from the Town of Billerica and must have owned at least 200 acres. In 1673, he was chosen constable of the town, serving for one year. At that time "the New England town constables served warrants upon all freemen and freeholders for town meetings;warrants upon the selectmen for choice of jurors; warrants upon offenders against the laws; collected the county rates and the minister's rates and paid the latter to the settled minister of the township, the minister being for many years the only person in the township who received a compensation for his services at public expense."

Much has been written trying to determine the ancestry of William Chamberlain's wife, Rebecca, all to no avail. I have included the following as I found it interesting how thorough people in the past were in gathering every little bit of information in the hopes of establishing a person's identity. The will of a Sarah Shelley, signed 21 April 1686-87, mentions Rebecca Chamberlain and her family among other bequests as follows:

"It. I release unto my Brother William Chamberlin a debt of Six pounds which he oweth me and bequeath unto my Sister his wife and unto her three daughters Twenty Shillings apeice in money: Farther I give unto my sd Sister and her three daughters and my Cousen John Chamberlin's wife all my wearing Apparrell and Household goods of all sorts to be equally divided among them Excepting three small pewder dishes marked S: S: which I give to my Cousen Sarah Sheds Children now living." (John Chamberlin and Sarah Shed were the children of Rebecca Chamberlin.)

"It. I give and bequeath all the rest and residue of my Estate whatsoever unto my Sister Chamberlins Eight Sons to be equally divided to and among them onely my two Cousens John and Clement Chamberlin to have the value of Twenty Shillings apeice over and above an equal Share with their other Bretheren."

"Further I give unto each of my Cousen John and Thomas Chamberlins and my Cousen Sarah Sheds Childn: now liveing Ten Shillings for ye raysing of wch I have some small Remnants of Goods by me wch my Executor may dispose of."

"**** And of this my Last will and Testament I do nominate ordein and appoint my Kinsman Isaac Addington to be the sole and whole Exector."

The above excerpts from Sarah Shelley's will indicate that the relationship to Rebecca Chamberlin was that of a sister. Since, as far as we know, Rebecca Chamberlin did not inherit from her parents, we make the assumption that Sarah Shelley's inheritance came from her husband and not from their parents. Sarah Shelley was referred to as Mrs. and sometimes as Spinster which before the Revolution wasapplied to both maidens and widows, both of which were free of the marriage contract. As you can see, Rebecca's and Sarah's surname remains unknown unless at some future time other records might be found linking them to Issac Addington as his sisters or another family not now known.

We do know that Rebecca was of marriageable age by 1648 and became the mother of thirteen children between 13 August 1649 and 27 September 1671. Both she and her husband were able to write although only one of their thirteen children could, which was true for about three-fourths of the children of the pioneers of New England who lived before King Philip's War.

Rebecca Chamberlain died in 1692 in the prison at Cambridge. This fact shocked me greatly when I read it as I could not imagine what event could bring a woman who had a husband and was the mother of several children into prison. Such women were protected in those days and it was not until I noted the year 1692 that I thought of the horrors of the witchcraft years. My research confirmed that she probably had been accused of witchcraft although there does not seem to be a record of such a charge. (One might hope that a few calm souls were ashamed of such deeds and refused to put the actual accusations into the record.) In 1692, the witchcraft "delusion" spread from Salem Village to Andover, Haverhill, Reading, Lexington, Chelmsford and Billerica. In 1816, John Farmer's article on the "Early History of Billerica" in referring to the death of Rebecca Chamberlain on 26 September 1692 said that she was probably "a victim of the infatuation which prevailed at that time." In Hazen's "History of Billerica", page 196, he says "This was the period of witchcraft troubles and trials, to which the Billerica records make no allusion." Hazen's further sentence "That good men could trust such testimony, and rest such action upon it, is an unexplained marvel of human credulity." somewhat soothes my anger over the abuse of this Grandmother of ours who lived in such perilous times and died such a cold death in prison almost three hundred years ago.

Both Rebecca and William Chamberlain probably were buried in the Old South Cemetery in Billerica. He was the last of the original settlers of ancient Billerica to die.

William and his wife Rebecca Chamberlain had thirteen children, the last nine born at Billerica:

• Timothy, b. at Woburn, 13: 6 mo. 1649. Probably died young.
• Isaac, b. at Woburn, 1 Oct. 1650; d. at Billerica, 20 July 1681.
• William, Jr., b. at Woburn ? at Billerica ?, about 1652; d. at Lexington, 20 Jan. 1734; m. at Watertown, 20 Dec. 1698, Deliverance Fergerson.
• John, b. about 1654. m. Deborah Jaco.
• Sarah, b. 18: 11 mo. 1655/6; m. 9 Jan. 1676/7, John Shed.
• Jacob, b. 18: 11 mo. 1657/8; d. at Newton, 11 April 1712.
• Thomas, b. 20: 12 mo. 1658/9.
• Edmond, b. 15 July 1660; m. 26 Aug. 1690, Mercy Abbott, widow, of Woburn who died 27 Feb. 1697/8.
• Rebecca, b. 25 Feb. 1662/3.
• Abraham, b. 6 Jan. 1664/5; m. at Woburn, 23 July 1708, Mary Shed.
• Ann, b. 6 Jan. 1665/6. The town of Billerica paid Clement Chamberlain "08:03 pounds for keeping her and Dr. How 12 shillings for doctering her", 12 Dec. 1726, from which it is inferred that in her old age she became a town charge.
• Clement, b. 30 May 1669; d. 21 Jan. 1754.
• Daniel, b. 27 Sept.1671.

Although the Edmond Chamberlain mentioned below may not have been the son of William and Rebecca, the following found in Hazen's "History of Billerica" is of interest because it shows how such things were handled in those days "8, 11 mo. 1682. The Selectmen ordered, whereas Edmond Chamberlain by order of County Court was ordered to submit himself to the govn't of select of town, to live with his master, Joseph Walker, for 6 months as a journeyman, to attend family orders and goverment according to law. Also, not to bargain with any man without master's approbation. To declare to select where he intends to reside and what course of life he intends to lead, his said master to paid close attention and inform select in case he cannot keep him in order."

The life of William Chamberlain, Jr. who did military service during King Philip's War shows the same inability of avoiding trouble as Edmond Chamberlain had. On 22 Dec. 1684, "William Chamberlaine, Jun. is ordered forthwith to provide himself a service or els ye Selectmen will place him out according to law." In William, Jr.'s case, he never did seem to recover enough to support himself and his family continuously as he found himself in trouble after moving to Cambridge. In 1700, the Selectmen of Cambridge ordered money for his use after his home burned down. In 14 Feb. 1703-4 and until 10 July 1704, the Town of Cambridge paid Mr. Jason Russel to support William's youngest child, Sarah, and finally agreed with and paid for her support by Mr. Russel until she was eighteen years of age. On 3 Sept. 1726 (Boston Record Commissioners Report, 1700-1728, 153) "Wm Chamberlain from Lexington was warned to depart the Town (of Boston) as the Law Directs." William, Jr. spent his last years in Lexington and died in poverty.

John owned property in Billerica and took the Oath of Fidelity on 23 April 1666. He was behind in his rates to the minister two times (he was no exception as all of the inhabitants were struggling with the expenses of King Philip's War.) He had a legacy left to him by his "Cousin" Sarah Shelley of Boston and he left an estate. His will left to his son, John, 5 pounds in money and his lot of twenty-two acres and one hundred poles of upland and swamp lying on the south side of Nuttens Pond and his lot of forty-one acres and eighty poles of land Eastward of the great swamp. He left to his son, Abraham, (a minor at the time to be placed under the guardianship of Samuel Hill) his homestead or house lot and his lot of twenty acres on the west side of Concord River "only said Abraham shall pay his three sisters five pounds apiece and his mother twenty shillings a year beside her thirds, and after her death the moveables to be divided equally among his three daughters."

John and his wife Deborah (Jaco) Chamberlain had five children, all born in Billerica:

• Deborah, b. 17 Nov. 1682; m. Caleb Farley, Jr. and had son Samuel Farley born at Billerica 14 April 1708.
• John, Jr., b. 22 Jan. 1684/5; m. Margaret Gould.
• Sarah, b. 29 Sept. 1687.
• Lydia, b. 6 Oct. 1689; m. at Concord, MA 17 Oct. 1711, Benjamin Parker.
• Abraham, b. 17 April 1693.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to find any information of note about this couple.

John, Jr. and his wife Margaret (Gould) Chamberlain had at least seven children, all born in Billerica, MA:

• Josiah, b. 27 Aug. 1710; d. 6 Sept. 1710.
• John, b. 26 May 1711; d. 26 May 1711.
• Annah, b. either 3 March or 3 April, 1712; m. John Willibie (also spelled Willoughby).
• John, b. 28 March 1714.
• Deborah, b. 9 Aug. 1716.
• Samuel, b. 22 April 1719.
• Mehitable, b. 12 Nov. 1721.