John3 Robinson, the eldest child of John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and Elizabeth Weeks, was born at Falmouth, Mass. March 20, 1668/9 (Barnstable VR). By modern construction, he is purported to have married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. circa 1691. She was born July 3, 1666 at Rehoboth, the first born child of Jeremiah Wheaton and Hannah Annadowne (or Amidon.)
Records that confirm John3 Robinson, Jr. of Falmouth, MA married Hannah Wheaton are not to be found. In Barnstable Families, Amos Otis' initial 1860 presentation of the immigrant Isaac Robinson's family does not say who John Robinson, Jr. married. The Charles Edson Robinson version of The Robinson Genealogy (1925) errantly says in a footnote:
• John...married twice. Married 1st, in 1690, Hannah Harper, of Barnstable, Mass."
Robinson then fails to mention the name of the purported second wife. However, John Robinson, Jr. did not marry Hannah Harper. His one-year younger brother Isaac married Hannah Harper on March 1, 1689/90 at Falmouth, MA (Falmouth VR).
That John Robinson, Jr. married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. is of modern construction, not of family fact or even a long-standing tradition. On the other hand, the will of John Robinson, Jr. at Barnstable, Mass. provides the connecting proof of who he married, and has been in plain sight for more than 280 years.
The first evidence that John Robinson, Jr. grew to near manhood is an indirect reference on Oct. 21, 1688, at age 20-1/2. On the latter date six of his younger siblings were group baptized at the Barnstable Church. John, along with his brother Isaac, are indirectly mentioned that their father's "2 oldest sons were adults, so not baptized."
The next appearance is at Barnstable, Mass. in April 1690. However, the proof is found in a document filed 45 years later. In Barnstable Men in the Campaign of 1690 (NEHGS REGISTER, 155:318), in early 1690 Sir William Phips led an expedition from New England against the French in Canada. This ill-fated expedition departed in April 1690 and quickly conquered Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The expedition then sailed up the St. Lawrence River intending to subdue Quebec and Montreal, which utterly failed leaving the Province of Massachusetts Bay with a mountain of debt.
On June 12, 1735, Shubael Gorham of Barnstable, Mass. petitioned the Province of Massachusetts for a grant of land as a township for the benefit of the survivors and heirs of the men who had been under command of Capt. John Gorham of Barnstable in the 1690 expedition. The petition lists 60 men including those who were, by notation, still alive and those by absence of notation who were deceased. Of the 60 names, the majority are readily identified with the early families of Barnstable. One such name is "Jno. Robinson," who by the absence of notation was dead by June 12, 1735.
No person with the surname Robinson who resided on Cape Cod during the 1600s and early 1700s were other than a descendant of the immigrant Isaac Robinson. In April 1690 there were two John Robinsons in the descendant family then over the age of 16 - John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and his son John3 (John2, Isaac1). In April 1690 the elder John was then 50 years old and had just been elected to his second of three consecutive one year terms (1689, 1690 and 1691) as deputy to the Plymouth Court from the newly incorporated Town of Falmouth, Mass. Thus, the John Robinson who in April 1690 was on the expedition to Canada was the elder John Robinson's son John. A great many men from New England lost their life during the failed 1690 Canada expedition. Some were killed during battle, others were captured and died in a French prison. Still others were captured and detained then released in 1694 and 1695. How "Jno. Robinson" faired is not evident from the records, but as will be seen, by June 12, 1735, the date of the Gorham petition, John Robinson, Jr. was indeed dead.
On May 14, 1699, an "Elizabeth, wife of John Robinson" was admitted to membership of the Barnstable Church [Barnstable Ch. Rec.] On its face the entry suggests that at the approximate age of 50 years of age, after having been married for 32 years and giving birth to seven known children, John Robinson junior's mother finally joined the church. But, was this really Elizabeth (Weeks) Robinson or the first wife of John Robinson, Jr. There are no vital records that indicate a younger John Robinson married a wife Elizabeth and no children are of record of such possible marriage at either Barnstable or Falmouth in the late 1690s or early 1700s.
Nonetheless, per the Yarmouth, Mass. vital records, on the "11th day of April 1717, Peter Thacher, J.P., married John Robinson to Mary Lambert" [Yarmouth VR 1:140]. Mary's proper surname was Lumbert, being a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Lumbert late of Barnstable. There is no Lumbert family listed in the Yarmouth vital records and the marriage of Mary "Lambert" to John Robinson is not listed separately under her own name in the Yarmouth vital records. In 1714 after the original Barnstable Church was separated into the East and West Parishes, the majority of the Lumbert family of Barnstable either transferred their membership from the parent West Barnstable church or subsequently appear as members of the East Barnstable Parish church, latter which adjoined Yarmouth.
Mary Lumbert was the daughter of Joshua and Hopestill (Bullock) Lumbert of Barnstable, born Nov. 22, 1697 at Barnstable [Barnstable VR]. Her father Joshua3 [Joshua2, Thomas1] wrote his will at Barnstable on Oct. 23, 1724, but none of his daughters in the will are named by a married name. In the will, Joshua bequeathed "to my daughter Mary I give her my smallest Bible she having Recving her portion allready" [Barnstable PR, 4:214]. The unwieldy phrase "having receiving her portion already" undoubtedly means she was then married and had received her share of her father's estate upon marriage. There are no recorded children of the cited Robinson-Lumbert marriage in the extant records.
On July 4, 1726, the inventory of the deceased Shubael Claghorn was taken at Barnstable. The third appraiser was John Robinson.
Less than three years after her father's death, Mary Lumbert's husband John Robinson died testate at Barnstable, Mass.
[BarnCPR 4:370] In the name of God Amen.
• The twentieth day of February In the year of our Lord 1726/7.
• I John Robinson of the Town & County of Barnstable In New England, Blacksmith being weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God. Calling to mind the mortality of my body knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my Last will & testament. Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it hopeing through the merits death & passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have pardon & forgiveness of all my sins and to inherit eternal Life and my body I comitt to the earth by a comely and decent burial at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive ye same by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly goods wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life I give demise and dispose of the same In the following manner and form.
• First, I will that all those debts & duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter named.
• 2ly I freely give unto my Loving wife Mary Robinson all my both Psonal and Real Estate to be wholly at her disposal to all Intents & purposes.
• 3ly I do here nominate make and appoint my Loveing wife Mary Robinson to be my Sole Executrix to this my Last will & testament.
John Robinson. (seal)
Signed sealed published
& declared by the sd John
Robinson as his Last
will and testament In presence of
Joshua Lumbert.
Isaac Isum.
Shubal Davis.
On Apr. 20, 1727 execution of the will was committed "unto his Loving wife Mary Robinson sole Executrix in the same will named..." and his estate inventory totaling £71.09.06 was admitted to court on Apr. 25, 1727. The largest item in the inventory was land valued at £20.
That the testator was John3 Robinson, Jr. requires identifying the three witnesses to the will.
• First, two of the three witnesses, Joshua Lumbert and Shubal Davis, were the documented brother and brother-in-law, respectively, of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. Joshua was Joshua4 Lumbert [Joshua3-2, Thomas1].
• Shubal Davis was the son of Dolar Davis and Hannah Linnell, long-time residents of early Barnstable. Shubal was born at Barnstable in 1685, and married Hopestill4 Lumbert, the sister of Joshua4 Lumbert and Mary4 (Lumbert) Robinson.
• The third witness to the will, Isaac2 Isum (q.v. Isham and Issum), was born at Barnstable Feb. 7, 1693/4, son of John and Jane (Parker) Isham. Isaac Isham's wife was not Thankful Lumbert as quoted by the Barnstable records, but Abigail Lumbert, the sister of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. John2 Isham was also the brother of Hannah, the wife of John Robinson, Jr's nephew Peter Blossom, son of John's sister Fear (Robinson) Blossom.
Hence, all three witnesses to the cited will were the testator's brothers-in-law. One will note the lack of any mention of children in the will. Yet, the will concerned a mature individual, with the widow Mary also recognized as a mature individual by the court capable of executing the estate. If there were children, they would have been mentioned during probate with the widow receiving special compensation for their care. A careful reading of the first clause of the will - "all those... duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease..." reinforces this observation.
If John Robinson, Jr. had creditors, there is no record of such in the extant probate record. There is no subsequent receipt of the inventoried real estate, personal property or any legacy distributed from the estate, nor is there an extant record that the deceased's real estate was subsequently sold. And, despite the will stating that John was "of the Town & County of Barnstable," there is no death entry of a John Robinson in the Barnstable vital records, or in the records of any other town in Barnstable County, Mass. in or near the year 1727.
While there is no direct record of the widow's remarriage, death or will in the Barnstable records, she very likely was the Mary Robinson who married as his second wife, John Abbott in Tolland, Conn. Oct. 27, 1731 [Tolland VRs.] He was the son of Nehemiah and Abigail (Lovejoy) Abbott, born at Andover, Mass. Nov. 4, 1697, and d. at Tolland Nov. 25, 1779.
On May 14, 1732, Mary Abbott, "formerly of Barnstable, now of Toland in Connecticut," had her eldest stepchild, Elizabeth Abbott, baptized at the East Barnstable, Mass. church [Hinckley Collection, Records of the Town of Barnstable, MA; NEHGS CD 2002].
If Mary (Lumbert) Robinson's second husband was the foregoing John Abbott, she had two known children by him. She died Apr. 2, 1778, "ae. 81," the latter meaning "in the 81st year of her age" - i.e., she was physically 80 years old at death and Ætatis suæ 81. Her physical age at death is complemented by the recorded birth Nov. 22, 1697 of Mary Lumbert at Barnstable. Mary (Lumbert) (Robinson) Abbott is buried with her second husband at the South Yard cemetery in Tolland, CT.
Edited 11/29/2016
Records that confirm John3 Robinson, Jr. of Falmouth, MA married Hannah Wheaton are not to be found. In Barnstable Families, Amos Otis' initial 1860 presentation of the immigrant Isaac Robinson's family does not say who John Robinson, Jr. married. The Charles Edson Robinson version of The Robinson Genealogy (1925) errantly says in a footnote:
• John...married twice. Married 1st, in 1690, Hannah Harper, of Barnstable, Mass."
Robinson then fails to mention the name of the purported second wife. However, John Robinson, Jr. did not marry Hannah Harper. His one-year younger brother Isaac married Hannah Harper on March 1, 1689/90 at Falmouth, MA (Falmouth VR).
That John Robinson, Jr. married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. is of modern construction, not of family fact or even a long-standing tradition. On the other hand, the will of John Robinson, Jr. at Barnstable, Mass. provides the connecting proof of who he married, and has been in plain sight for more than 280 years.
The first evidence that John Robinson, Jr. grew to near manhood is an indirect reference on Oct. 21, 1688, at age 20-1/2. On the latter date six of his younger siblings were group baptized at the Barnstable Church. John, along with his brother Isaac, are indirectly mentioned that their father's "2 oldest sons were adults, so not baptized."
The next appearance is at Barnstable, Mass. in April 1690. However, the proof is found in a document filed 45 years later. In Barnstable Men in the Campaign of 1690 (NEHGS REGISTER, 155:318), in early 1690 Sir William Phips led an expedition from New England against the French in Canada. This ill-fated expedition departed in April 1690 and quickly conquered Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The expedition then sailed up the St. Lawrence River intending to subdue Quebec and Montreal, which utterly failed leaving the Province of Massachusetts Bay with a mountain of debt.
On June 12, 1735, Shubael Gorham of Barnstable, Mass. petitioned the Province of Massachusetts for a grant of land as a township for the benefit of the survivors and heirs of the men who had been under command of Capt. John Gorham of Barnstable in the 1690 expedition. The petition lists 60 men including those who were, by notation, still alive and those by absence of notation who were deceased. Of the 60 names, the majority are readily identified with the early families of Barnstable. One such name is "Jno. Robinson," who by the absence of notation was dead by June 12, 1735.
No person with the surname Robinson who resided on Cape Cod during the 1600s and early 1700s were other than a descendant of the immigrant Isaac Robinson. In April 1690 there were two John Robinsons in the descendant family then over the age of 16 - John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and his son John3 (John2, Isaac1). In April 1690 the elder John was then 50 years old and had just been elected to his second of three consecutive one year terms (1689, 1690 and 1691) as deputy to the Plymouth Court from the newly incorporated Town of Falmouth, Mass. Thus, the John Robinson who in April 1690 was on the expedition to Canada was the elder John Robinson's son John. A great many men from New England lost their life during the failed 1690 Canada expedition. Some were killed during battle, others were captured and died in a French prison. Still others were captured and detained then released in 1694 and 1695. How "Jno. Robinson" faired is not evident from the records, but as will be seen, by June 12, 1735, the date of the Gorham petition, John Robinson, Jr. was indeed dead.
On May 14, 1699, an "Elizabeth, wife of John Robinson" was admitted to membership of the Barnstable Church [Barnstable Ch. Rec.] On its face the entry suggests that at the approximate age of 50 years of age, after having been married for 32 years and giving birth to seven known children, John Robinson junior's mother finally joined the church. But, was this really Elizabeth (Weeks) Robinson or the first wife of John Robinson, Jr. There are no vital records that indicate a younger John Robinson married a wife Elizabeth and no children are of record of such possible marriage at either Barnstable or Falmouth in the late 1690s or early 1700s.
Nonetheless, per the Yarmouth, Mass. vital records, on the "11th day of April 1717, Peter Thacher, J.P., married John Robinson to Mary Lambert" [Yarmouth VR 1:140]. Mary's proper surname was Lumbert, being a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Lumbert late of Barnstable. There is no Lumbert family listed in the Yarmouth vital records and the marriage of Mary "Lambert" to John Robinson is not listed separately under her own name in the Yarmouth vital records. In 1714 after the original Barnstable Church was separated into the East and West Parishes, the majority of the Lumbert family of Barnstable either transferred their membership from the parent West Barnstable church or subsequently appear as members of the East Barnstable Parish church, latter which adjoined Yarmouth.
Mary Lumbert was the daughter of Joshua and Hopestill (Bullock) Lumbert of Barnstable, born Nov. 22, 1697 at Barnstable [Barnstable VR]. Her father Joshua3 [Joshua2, Thomas1] wrote his will at Barnstable on Oct. 23, 1724, but none of his daughters in the will are named by a married name. In the will, Joshua bequeathed "to my daughter Mary I give her my smallest Bible she having Recving her portion allready" [Barnstable PR, 4:214]. The unwieldy phrase "having receiving her portion already" undoubtedly means she was then married and had received her share of her father's estate upon marriage. There are no recorded children of the cited Robinson-Lumbert marriage in the extant records.
On July 4, 1726, the inventory of the deceased Shubael Claghorn was taken at Barnstable. The third appraiser was John Robinson.
Less than three years after her father's death, Mary Lumbert's husband John Robinson died testate at Barnstable, Mass.
[BarnCPR 4:370] In the name of God Amen.
• The twentieth day of February In the year of our Lord 1726/7.
• I John Robinson of the Town & County of Barnstable In New England, Blacksmith being weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God. Calling to mind the mortality of my body knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my Last will & testament. Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it hopeing through the merits death & passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have pardon & forgiveness of all my sins and to inherit eternal Life and my body I comitt to the earth by a comely and decent burial at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive ye same by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly goods wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life I give demise and dispose of the same In the following manner and form.
• First, I will that all those debts & duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter named.
• 2ly I freely give unto my Loving wife Mary Robinson all my both Psonal and Real Estate to be wholly at her disposal to all Intents & purposes.
• 3ly I do here nominate make and appoint my Loveing wife Mary Robinson to be my Sole Executrix to this my Last will & testament.
John Robinson. (seal)
Signed sealed published
& declared by the sd John
Robinson as his Last
will and testament In presence of
Joshua Lumbert.
Isaac Isum.
Shubal Davis.
On Apr. 20, 1727 execution of the will was committed "unto his Loving wife Mary Robinson sole Executrix in the same will named..." and his estate inventory totaling £71.09.06 was admitted to court on Apr. 25, 1727. The largest item in the inventory was land valued at £20.
That the testator was John3 Robinson, Jr. requires identifying the three witnesses to the will.
• First, two of the three witnesses, Joshua Lumbert and Shubal Davis, were the documented brother and brother-in-law, respectively, of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. Joshua was Joshua4 Lumbert [Joshua3-2, Thomas1].
• Shubal Davis was the son of Dolar Davis and Hannah Linnell, long-time residents of early Barnstable. Shubal was born at Barnstable in 1685, and married Hopestill4 Lumbert, the sister of Joshua4 Lumbert and Mary4 (Lumbert) Robinson.
• The third witness to the will, Isaac2 Isum (q.v. Isham and Issum), was born at Barnstable Feb. 7, 1693/4, son of John and Jane (Parker) Isham. Isaac Isham's wife was not Thankful Lumbert as quoted by the Barnstable records, but Abigail Lumbert, the sister of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. John2 Isham was also the brother of Hannah, the wife of John Robinson, Jr's nephew Peter Blossom, son of John's sister Fear (Robinson) Blossom.
Hence, all three witnesses to the cited will were the testator's brothers-in-law. One will note the lack of any mention of children in the will. Yet, the will concerned a mature individual, with the widow Mary also recognized as a mature individual by the court capable of executing the estate. If there were children, they would have been mentioned during probate with the widow receiving special compensation for their care. A careful reading of the first clause of the will - "all those... duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease..." reinforces this observation.
If John Robinson, Jr. had creditors, there is no record of such in the extant probate record. There is no subsequent receipt of the inventoried real estate, personal property or any legacy distributed from the estate, nor is there an extant record that the deceased's real estate was subsequently sold. And, despite the will stating that John was "of the Town & County of Barnstable," there is no death entry of a John Robinson in the Barnstable vital records, or in the records of any other town in Barnstable County, Mass. in or near the year 1727.
While there is no direct record of the widow's remarriage, death or will in the Barnstable records, she very likely was the Mary Robinson who married as his second wife, John Abbott in Tolland, Conn. Oct. 27, 1731 [Tolland VRs.] He was the son of Nehemiah and Abigail (Lovejoy) Abbott, born at Andover, Mass. Nov. 4, 1697, and d. at Tolland Nov. 25, 1779.
On May 14, 1732, Mary Abbott, "formerly of Barnstable, now of Toland in Connecticut," had her eldest stepchild, Elizabeth Abbott, baptized at the East Barnstable, Mass. church [Hinckley Collection, Records of the Town of Barnstable, MA; NEHGS CD 2002].
If Mary (Lumbert) Robinson's second husband was the foregoing John Abbott, she had two known children by him. She died Apr. 2, 1778, "ae. 81," the latter meaning "in the 81st year of her age" - i.e., she was physically 80 years old at death and Ætatis suæ 81. Her physical age at death is complemented by the recorded birth Nov. 22, 1697 of Mary Lumbert at Barnstable. Mary (Lumbert) (Robinson) Abbott is buried with her second husband at the South Yard cemetery in Tolland, CT.
Edited 11/29/2016
John3 Robinson, the eldest child of John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and Elizabeth Weeks, was born at Falmouth, Mass. March 20, 1668/9 (Barnstable VR). By modern construction, he is purported to have married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. circa 1691. She was born July 3, 1666 at Rehoboth, the first born child of Jeremiah Wheaton and Hannah Annadowne (or Amidon.)
Records that confirm John3 Robinson, Jr. of Falmouth, MA married Hannah Wheaton are not to be found. In Barnstable Families, Amos Otis' initial 1860 presentation of the immigrant Isaac Robinson's family does not say who John Robinson, Jr. married. The Charles Edson Robinson version of The Robinson Genealogy (1925) errantly says in a footnote:
• John...married twice. Married 1st, in 1690, Hannah Harper, of Barnstable, Mass."
Robinson then fails to mention the name of the purported second wife. However, John Robinson, Jr. did not marry Hannah Harper. His one-year younger brother Isaac married Hannah Harper on March 1, 1689/90 at Falmouth, MA (Falmouth VR).
That John Robinson, Jr. married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. is of modern construction, not of family fact or even a long-standing tradition. On the other hand, the will of John Robinson, Jr. at Barnstable, Mass. provides the connecting proof of who he married, and has been in plain sight for more than 280 years.
The first evidence that John Robinson, Jr. grew to near manhood is an indirect reference on Oct. 21, 1688, at age 20-1/2. On the latter date six of his younger siblings were group baptized at the Barnstable Church. John, along with his brother Isaac, are indirectly mentioned that their father's "2 oldest sons were adults, so not baptized."
The next appearance is at Barnstable, Mass. in April 1690. However, the proof is found in a document filed 45 years later. In Barnstable Men in the Campaign of 1690 (NEHGS REGISTER, 155:318), in early 1690 Sir William Phips led an expedition from New England against the French in Canada. This ill-fated expedition departed in April 1690 and quickly conquered Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The expedition then sailed up the St. Lawrence River intending to subdue Quebec and Montreal, which utterly failed leaving the Province of Massachusetts Bay with a mountain of debt.
On June 12, 1735, Shubael Gorham of Barnstable, Mass. petitioned the Province of Massachusetts for a grant of land as a township for the benefit of the survivors and heirs of the men who had been under command of Capt. John Gorham of Barnstable in the 1690 expedition. The petition lists 60 men including those who were, by notation, still alive and those by absence of notation who were deceased. Of the 60 names, the majority are readily identified with the early families of Barnstable. One such name is "Jno. Robinson," who by the absence of notation was dead by June 12, 1735.
No person with the surname Robinson who resided on Cape Cod during the 1600s and early 1700s were other than a descendant of the immigrant Isaac Robinson. In April 1690 there were two John Robinsons in the descendant family then over the age of 16 - John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and his son John3 (John2, Isaac1). In April 1690 the elder John was then 50 years old and had just been elected to his second of three consecutive one year terms (1689, 1690 and 1691) as deputy to the Plymouth Court from the newly incorporated Town of Falmouth, Mass. Thus, the John Robinson who in April 1690 was on the expedition to Canada was the elder John Robinson's son John. A great many men from New England lost their life during the failed 1690 Canada expedition. Some were killed during battle, others were captured and died in a French prison. Still others were captured and detained then released in 1694 and 1695. How "Jno. Robinson" faired is not evident from the records, but as will be seen, by June 12, 1735, the date of the Gorham petition, John Robinson, Jr. was indeed dead.
On May 14, 1699, an "Elizabeth, wife of John Robinson" was admitted to membership of the Barnstable Church [Barnstable Ch. Rec.] On its face the entry suggests that at the approximate age of 50 years of age, after having been married for 32 years and giving birth to seven known children, John Robinson junior's mother finally joined the church. But, was this really Elizabeth (Weeks) Robinson or the first wife of John Robinson, Jr. There are no vital records that indicate a younger John Robinson married a wife Elizabeth and no children are of record of such possible marriage at either Barnstable or Falmouth in the late 1690s or early 1700s.
Nonetheless, per the Yarmouth, Mass. vital records, on the "11th day of April 1717, Peter Thacher, J.P., married John Robinson to Mary Lambert" [Yarmouth VR 1:140]. Mary's proper surname was Lumbert, being a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Lumbert late of Barnstable. There is no Lumbert family listed in the Yarmouth vital records and the marriage of Mary "Lambert" to John Robinson is not listed separately under her own name in the Yarmouth vital records. In 1714 after the original Barnstable Church was separated into the East and West Parishes, the majority of the Lumbert family of Barnstable either transferred their membership from the parent West Barnstable church or subsequently appear as members of the East Barnstable Parish church, latter which adjoined Yarmouth.
Mary Lumbert was the daughter of Joshua and Hopestill (Bullock) Lumbert of Barnstable, born Nov. 22, 1697 at Barnstable [Barnstable VR]. Her father Joshua3 [Joshua2, Thomas1] wrote his will at Barnstable on Oct. 23, 1724, but none of his daughters in the will are named by a married name. In the will, Joshua bequeathed "to my daughter Mary I give her my smallest Bible she having Recving her portion allready" [Barnstable PR, 4:214]. The unwieldy phrase "having receiving her portion already" undoubtedly means she was then married and had received her share of her father's estate upon marriage. There are no recorded children of the cited Robinson-Lumbert marriage in the extant records.
On July 4, 1726, the inventory of the deceased Shubael Claghorn was taken at Barnstable. The third appraiser was John Robinson.
Less than three years after her father's death, Mary Lumbert's husband John Robinson died testate at Barnstable, Mass.
[BarnCPR 4:370] In the name of God Amen.
• The twentieth day of February In the year of our Lord 1726/7.
• I John Robinson of the Town & County of Barnstable In New England, Blacksmith being weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God. Calling to mind the mortality of my body knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my Last will & testament. Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it hopeing through the merits death & passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have pardon & forgiveness of all my sins and to inherit eternal Life and my body I comitt to the earth by a comely and decent burial at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive ye same by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly goods wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life I give demise and dispose of the same In the following manner and form.
• First, I will that all those debts & duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter named.
• 2ly I freely give unto my Loving wife Mary Robinson all my both Psonal and Real Estate to be wholly at her disposal to all Intents & purposes.
• 3ly I do here nominate make and appoint my Loveing wife Mary Robinson to be my Sole Executrix to this my Last will & testament.
John Robinson. (seal)
Signed sealed published
& declared by the sd John
Robinson as his Last
will and testament In presence of
Joshua Lumbert.
Isaac Isum.
Shubal Davis.
On Apr. 20, 1727 execution of the will was committed "unto his Loving wife Mary Robinson sole Executrix in the same will named..." and his estate inventory totaling £71.09.06 was admitted to court on Apr. 25, 1727. The largest item in the inventory was land valued at £20.
That the testator was John3 Robinson, Jr. requires identifying the three witnesses to the will.
• First, two of the three witnesses, Joshua Lumbert and Shubal Davis, were the documented brother and brother-in-law, respectively, of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. Joshua was Joshua4 Lumbert [Joshua3-2, Thomas1].
• Shubal Davis was the son of Dolar Davis and Hannah Linnell, long-time residents of early Barnstable. Shubal was born at Barnstable in 1685, and married Hopestill4 Lumbert, the sister of Joshua4 Lumbert and Mary4 (Lumbert) Robinson.
• The third witness to the will, Isaac2 Isum (q.v. Isham and Issum), was born at Barnstable Feb. 7, 1693/4, son of John and Jane (Parker) Isham. Isaac Isham's wife was not Thankful Lumbert as quoted by the Barnstable records, but Abigail Lumbert, the sister of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. John2 Isham was also the brother of Hannah, the wife of John Robinson, Jr's nephew Peter Blossom, son of John's sister Fear (Robinson) Blossom.
Hence, all three witnesses to the cited will were the testator's brothers-in-law. One will note the lack of any mention of children in the will. Yet, the will concerned a mature individual, with the widow Mary also recognized as a mature individual by the court capable of executing the estate. If there were children, they would have been mentioned during probate with the widow receiving special compensation for their care. A careful reading of the first clause of the will - "all those... duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease..." reinforces this observation.
If John Robinson, Jr. had creditors, there is no record of such in the extant probate record. There is no subsequent receipt of the inventoried real estate, personal property or any legacy distributed from the estate, nor is there an extant record that the deceased's real estate was subsequently sold. And, despite the will stating that John was "of the Town & County of Barnstable," there is no death entry of a John Robinson in the Barnstable vital records, or in the records of any other town in Barnstable County, Mass. in or near the year 1727.
While there is no direct record of the widow's remarriage, death or will in the Barnstable records, she very likely was the Mary Robinson who married as his second wife, John Abbott in Tolland, Conn. Oct. 27, 1731 [Tolland VRs.] He was the son of Nehemiah and Abigail (Lovejoy) Abbott, born at Andover, Mass. Nov. 4, 1697, and d. at Tolland Nov. 25, 1779.
On May 14, 1732, Mary Abbott, "formerly of Barnstable, now of Toland in Connecticut," had her eldest stepchild, Elizabeth Abbott, baptized at the East Barnstable, Mass. church [Hinckley Collection, Records of the Town of Barnstable, MA; NEHGS CD 2002].
If Mary (Lumbert) Robinson's second husband was the foregoing John Abbott, she had two known children by him. She died Apr. 2, 1778, "ae. 81," the latter meaning "in the 81st year of her age" - i.e., she was physically 80 years old at death and Ætatis suæ 81. Her physical age at death is complemented by the recorded birth Nov. 22, 1697 of Mary Lumbert at Barnstable. Mary (Lumbert) (Robinson) Abbott is buried with her second husband at the South Yard cemetery in Tolland, CT.
Edited 11/29/2016
Records that confirm John3 Robinson, Jr. of Falmouth, MA married Hannah Wheaton are not to be found. In Barnstable Families, Amos Otis' initial 1860 presentation of the immigrant Isaac Robinson's family does not say who John Robinson, Jr. married. The Charles Edson Robinson version of The Robinson Genealogy (1925) errantly says in a footnote:
• John...married twice. Married 1st, in 1690, Hannah Harper, of Barnstable, Mass."
Robinson then fails to mention the name of the purported second wife. However, John Robinson, Jr. did not marry Hannah Harper. His one-year younger brother Isaac married Hannah Harper on March 1, 1689/90 at Falmouth, MA (Falmouth VR).
That John Robinson, Jr. married Hannah Wheaton of Rehoboth, Mass. is of modern construction, not of family fact or even a long-standing tradition. On the other hand, the will of John Robinson, Jr. at Barnstable, Mass. provides the connecting proof of who he married, and has been in plain sight for more than 280 years.
The first evidence that John Robinson, Jr. grew to near manhood is an indirect reference on Oct. 21, 1688, at age 20-1/2. On the latter date six of his younger siblings were group baptized at the Barnstable Church. John, along with his brother Isaac, are indirectly mentioned that their father's "2 oldest sons were adults, so not baptized."
The next appearance is at Barnstable, Mass. in April 1690. However, the proof is found in a document filed 45 years later. In Barnstable Men in the Campaign of 1690 (NEHGS REGISTER, 155:318), in early 1690 Sir William Phips led an expedition from New England against the French in Canada. This ill-fated expedition departed in April 1690 and quickly conquered Port Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The expedition then sailed up the St. Lawrence River intending to subdue Quebec and Montreal, which utterly failed leaving the Province of Massachusetts Bay with a mountain of debt.
On June 12, 1735, Shubael Gorham of Barnstable, Mass. petitioned the Province of Massachusetts for a grant of land as a township for the benefit of the survivors and heirs of the men who had been under command of Capt. John Gorham of Barnstable in the 1690 expedition. The petition lists 60 men including those who were, by notation, still alive and those by absence of notation who were deceased. Of the 60 names, the majority are readily identified with the early families of Barnstable. One such name is "Jno. Robinson," who by the absence of notation was dead by June 12, 1735.
No person with the surname Robinson who resided on Cape Cod during the 1600s and early 1700s were other than a descendant of the immigrant Isaac Robinson. In April 1690 there were two John Robinsons in the descendant family then over the age of 16 - John2 Robinson (Isaac1) and his son John3 (John2, Isaac1). In April 1690 the elder John was then 50 years old and had just been elected to his second of three consecutive one year terms (1689, 1690 and 1691) as deputy to the Plymouth Court from the newly incorporated Town of Falmouth, Mass. Thus, the John Robinson who in April 1690 was on the expedition to Canada was the elder John Robinson's son John. A great many men from New England lost their life during the failed 1690 Canada expedition. Some were killed during battle, others were captured and died in a French prison. Still others were captured and detained then released in 1694 and 1695. How "Jno. Robinson" faired is not evident from the records, but as will be seen, by June 12, 1735, the date of the Gorham petition, John Robinson, Jr. was indeed dead.
On May 14, 1699, an "Elizabeth, wife of John Robinson" was admitted to membership of the Barnstable Church [Barnstable Ch. Rec.] On its face the entry suggests that at the approximate age of 50 years of age, after having been married for 32 years and giving birth to seven known children, John Robinson junior's mother finally joined the church. But, was this really Elizabeth (Weeks) Robinson or the first wife of John Robinson, Jr. There are no vital records that indicate a younger John Robinson married a wife Elizabeth and no children are of record of such possible marriage at either Barnstable or Falmouth in the late 1690s or early 1700s.
Nonetheless, per the Yarmouth, Mass. vital records, on the "11th day of April 1717, Peter Thacher, J.P., married John Robinson to Mary Lambert" [Yarmouth VR 1:140]. Mary's proper surname was Lumbert, being a descendant of the immigrant Thomas Lumbert late of Barnstable. There is no Lumbert family listed in the Yarmouth vital records and the marriage of Mary "Lambert" to John Robinson is not listed separately under her own name in the Yarmouth vital records. In 1714 after the original Barnstable Church was separated into the East and West Parishes, the majority of the Lumbert family of Barnstable either transferred their membership from the parent West Barnstable church or subsequently appear as members of the East Barnstable Parish church, latter which adjoined Yarmouth.
Mary Lumbert was the daughter of Joshua and Hopestill (Bullock) Lumbert of Barnstable, born Nov. 22, 1697 at Barnstable [Barnstable VR]. Her father Joshua3 [Joshua2, Thomas1] wrote his will at Barnstable on Oct. 23, 1724, but none of his daughters in the will are named by a married name. In the will, Joshua bequeathed "to my daughter Mary I give her my smallest Bible she having Recving her portion allready" [Barnstable PR, 4:214]. The unwieldy phrase "having receiving her portion already" undoubtedly means she was then married and had received her share of her father's estate upon marriage. There are no recorded children of the cited Robinson-Lumbert marriage in the extant records.
On July 4, 1726, the inventory of the deceased Shubael Claghorn was taken at Barnstable. The third appraiser was John Robinson.
Less than three years after her father's death, Mary Lumbert's husband John Robinson died testate at Barnstable, Mass.
[BarnCPR 4:370] In the name of God Amen.
• The twentieth day of February In the year of our Lord 1726/7.
• I John Robinson of the Town & County of Barnstable In New England, Blacksmith being weak in body but of perfect mind & memory Thanks be given to God. Calling to mind the mortality of my body knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my Last will & testament. Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it hopeing through the merits death & passion of my Saviour Jesus Christ to have pardon & forgiveness of all my sins and to inherit eternal Life and my body I comitt to the earth by a comely and decent burial at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive ye same by the mighty power of God. And as touching such worldly goods wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this Life I give demise and dispose of the same In the following manner and form.
• First, I will that all those debts & duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter named.
• 2ly I freely give unto my Loving wife Mary Robinson all my both Psonal and Real Estate to be wholly at her disposal to all Intents & purposes.
• 3ly I do here nominate make and appoint my Loveing wife Mary Robinson to be my Sole Executrix to this my Last will & testament.
John Robinson. (seal)
Signed sealed published
& declared by the sd John
Robinson as his Last
will and testament In presence of
Joshua Lumbert.
Isaac Isum.
Shubal Davis.
On Apr. 20, 1727 execution of the will was committed "unto his Loving wife Mary Robinson sole Executrix in the same will named..." and his estate inventory totaling £71.09.06 was admitted to court on Apr. 25, 1727. The largest item in the inventory was land valued at £20.
That the testator was John3 Robinson, Jr. requires identifying the three witnesses to the will.
• First, two of the three witnesses, Joshua Lumbert and Shubal Davis, were the documented brother and brother-in-law, respectively, of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. Joshua was Joshua4 Lumbert [Joshua3-2, Thomas1].
• Shubal Davis was the son of Dolar Davis and Hannah Linnell, long-time residents of early Barnstable. Shubal was born at Barnstable in 1685, and married Hopestill4 Lumbert, the sister of Joshua4 Lumbert and Mary4 (Lumbert) Robinson.
• The third witness to the will, Isaac2 Isum (q.v. Isham and Issum), was born at Barnstable Feb. 7, 1693/4, son of John and Jane (Parker) Isham. Isaac Isham's wife was not Thankful Lumbert as quoted by the Barnstable records, but Abigail Lumbert, the sister of Mary (Lumbert) Robinson. John2 Isham was also the brother of Hannah, the wife of John Robinson, Jr's nephew Peter Blossom, son of John's sister Fear (Robinson) Blossom.
Hence, all three witnesses to the cited will were the testator's brothers-in-law. One will note the lack of any mention of children in the will. Yet, the will concerned a mature individual, with the widow Mary also recognized as a mature individual by the court capable of executing the estate. If there were children, they would have been mentioned during probate with the widow receiving special compensation for their care. A careful reading of the first clause of the will - "all those... duties which I do owe unto any person or persons whatsoever shall be well & truly contented and paid in convenient time after my decease..." reinforces this observation.
If John Robinson, Jr. had creditors, there is no record of such in the extant probate record. There is no subsequent receipt of the inventoried real estate, personal property or any legacy distributed from the estate, nor is there an extant record that the deceased's real estate was subsequently sold. And, despite the will stating that John was "of the Town & County of Barnstable," there is no death entry of a John Robinson in the Barnstable vital records, or in the records of any other town in Barnstable County, Mass. in or near the year 1727.
While there is no direct record of the widow's remarriage, death or will in the Barnstable records, she very likely was the Mary Robinson who married as his second wife, John Abbott in Tolland, Conn. Oct. 27, 1731 [Tolland VRs.] He was the son of Nehemiah and Abigail (Lovejoy) Abbott, born at Andover, Mass. Nov. 4, 1697, and d. at Tolland Nov. 25, 1779.
On May 14, 1732, Mary Abbott, "formerly of Barnstable, now of Toland in Connecticut," had her eldest stepchild, Elizabeth Abbott, baptized at the East Barnstable, Mass. church [Hinckley Collection, Records of the Town of Barnstable, MA; NEHGS CD 2002].
If Mary (Lumbert) Robinson's second husband was the foregoing John Abbott, she had two known children by him. She died Apr. 2, 1778, "ae. 81," the latter meaning "in the 81st year of her age" - i.e., she was physically 80 years old at death and Ætatis suæ 81. Her physical age at death is complemented by the recorded birth Nov. 22, 1697 of Mary Lumbert at Barnstable. Mary (Lumbert) (Robinson) Abbott is buried with her second husband at the South Yard cemetery in Tolland, CT.
Edited 11/29/2016
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
