My Two Descents from William Gerrish

Page down to read the history of the Gerrish line,
or select one of the following names to go directly to that person.

First Line   Second Line
William Gerrish - Joanna (Lowle) Oliver   William Gerrish - Joanna (Lowle) Oliver
Elizabeth Gerrish - Stephen Greenleaf, Jr.   Elizabeth Gerrish - Stephen Greenleaf, Jr.
Elizabeth Greenleaf - Henry Clarke   Elizabeth Greenleaf - Henry Clarke
Mary Clarke - Samuel Page, Jr.   Mercy Clarke - Jonathan Longfellow
Mercy Page - Jacob Longfellow
Mercy Longfellow - Levi Johnson
Levi Johnson, Jr. - Elizabeth Lincoln
Elizabeth L. Johnson - Horatio N. Keene
Anna Evelyn Keene - Francis Woods Darling
Laura Keene Darling - Edward Payson True
Edward Keene True - Mildred Louise Richenburg
James Duncan True

We are descended from William Gerrish through two of his great-granddaughters, Mercy and Mary Clarke. Mercy Clarke married Jonathan Longfellow, and their son, Jacob, married Mercy Page, the daughter of Mary Clarke and her husband, Samuel Page, Jr.

Next Page Index of surnames The Gerrish Bibliography Other sites of interest Home Page

William Gerrish

Husband:
William Gerrish		Born: in Bristol, Somersetshire, England, 20 August 1617.
Died: in Salem, MA, 9 August 1687, at the house of his son, Benjamin, where he had gone a few days before in hope of regaining his health.
Parents: Unknown.
First Wife:
Joanna (Lowle) Oliver		Born: about 1619.
Died: probably in Newbury, MA, 14 June 1677, age 58.
Father: Percival Lowle, who was William Gerrish's former employer in England. Percival Lowle came from Portbury, Somersetshire, England, was born about 1570 and died in Newbury, MA, 8 January 1664/5.
Mother: Unknown.
Widow of: John Oliver of Newbury, MA.
Married:17 April 1645.
William Gerrish married second, in Boston, MA, Ann (Parker) Manning, widow of John Manning, and daughter of Richard Parker.

William Gerrish came to New England in 1638 or 1639, probably with the family of Percival Lowle who came on the Jonathan to Newbury in 1639. He lived in Newbury where he was the first captain of the military band, was confirmed as lieutenant of the troops of Essex County, 27 March 1649; was representative of Newbury, 1650 through 1653, and of Hampton, NH 1663 through 1670; was chosen one of the commissioners for trying civil causes 25 March 1651. One note I have states that William received a mercantile education in England in the house of Percival Lowle, the father of his first wife. In 1678, after the death of his first wife, he moved to Boston where he was the owner of No. 3 Long Wharf and where he carried on his business.

Captain William and his first wfie Joanna (Lowle) Oliver Gerrish had ten children, all born in Newbury, MA, we assume:

  • John, b. 12 Feb. 1645/6 or 15 May 1646; m. 19 Aug. 1667 Elizabeth Waldron, daughter of Major Richard Waldron of Dover, NH. This family settled in Dover, NH, where John was a selectman several times.
  • Abigail, b. 1647.
  • William, b. June 1648; m. 1671, Ann -----. William was a physician in Charlestown.
  • Joseph, b. 23 March 1649/50; d. Wenham, MA, 6 Jan. 1719/2-; m. about 1670 Ann Waldron, sister of his brother John's wife, daughter of Major Richard Waldron. Joseph graduated from Harvard College in 1669, preached first in Dover, NH, and was a minister in Wenham for 46 years.
  • Benjamin, b. 13 Jan. 1651/2; m. Hannah Rush.
  • Elizabeth, b. 20 Sept. 1654; m. Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Jr., son of Capt. Stephen and Elizabeth (Coffin) Greenleaf.
  • Moses, b. 9 May 1656; d. 4 Dec. 1694; m. 24 Sept. 1677 Jane Sewall, daughter of Henry and Jane (Dummer) Sewall.
  • Mary, b. 1658.
  • Anna, b. 1660.
  • Judith, b. 1662.

Captain William and his second wife Ann (Parker) Manning Gerrish had one child:

  • Henry, b. in Boston, after 1668.
Next Page Line of Descent Pedigree Chart Index of surnames The Gerrish Bibliography Other sites of interest Home Page

Elizabeth Gerrish

Wife:
Elizabeth Gerrish		Baptized: in Newbury, MA, 20 September 1654.
Died: probably in Newbury, MA, 5 August 1712.
Father: William Gerrish.
Mother: Joanna (Lowle) Oliver Gerrish.
Husband:
Capt. Stephen Greenleaf, Jr.		Born: in Newbury, MA, 15 August 1652.
Died: in Newbury, MA, 13 October 1743.
Father: Stephen Greenleaf.
Mother:Elizabeth Coffin.
Married: probably in Newbury, MA, 23 October 1676.
Captain Stephen Greenleaf, Jr. married second, in 1713, Mrs. Hannah Jordan.

See the entry on Stephen Greenleaf, Jr. for details of this family.

Stephen Greenleaf, Jr. Prior Page Line of Descent Pedigree Chart Index of surnames The Gerrish Bibliography Other sites of interest Home Page

The Gerrish Family Bibliography

Little, George Thomas, Genealogical and Family Histories of the State of Maine, New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1909, Vol. III, p. 1260.

Noyes, Sybil, Charles Thornton Libby, Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988, p. 258.

Sherman, Jeanette Johnson, Johnson-Mitchell Ancestry with Allied Families, published 1967, p. 76, a copy of this book is in the Free Library, Belfast, ME and the Appleton Public Library, Appleton, ME.

Links to Sites of Interest

The New England Historic Genealogical Society
Home page for the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS).

This page is maintained by
James D. True
jimsancestry@hotmail.com
© Edward K. & Mildred True, and James D. True
Last update April 7, 2000.

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