1Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vol. I-III, pp. 864-865 (1995).
"THOMAS HARRIS
ORIGIN: Hatherup, Gloucestershire (or vicinity)
MIGRATION: 1630
FIRST RESIDENCE: Winnissimmett
OCCUPATION: Ferryman. . . .
BIRTH: Born about 1590 in or near Hatherup, Gloucestershire, son of William and Agnes (Mason) Harris [Bethia Harris Anc 5].
DEATH: Prior to 1634, when Stitson took over the ferry between Boston and Winnissimmet.
MARRIAGE: By about 1613 Elizabeth _____. She married (2) WILLIAM STITSON, who took over the ferry operation. Her death is given as 16 February 1669/70, aged 93 {ChVR 1:73]; she was more likely a decade younger.
CHILDREN:
i ANNA, b. about 1613 (d. Reading 7 September 1697, aged 84); m. by 1635 Elias Maverick, son of Rev. JOHN MAVERICK.
ii JOHN, b. say 1616; m. (1) by about 1645 Bridget _____ (eldest child b. by about 1645 [Bethia Harris Anc 10-11]); m. (2) Rowley 24 October 1677 Elizabeth (Rowlandson) Wells; m. (3) Alice ____, who survived him [Bethia Harris Anc 10].
iii THOMAS, b. about 1618 (deposed aged about forty in 1658 [EQC 2:113]); m. Ipswich 15 November 1647 Martha Lake [Bethia Harris Anc 56].
iv WILLIAM, b. say 1620; m. (1) by 1645 Edith _____ (first child b. Rowley 1 July 1645); m. Lydia (Wright) Smith, daughter of Thomas Wright and widow of Joseph Smith [TAG 23:153; Manwaring 1:233].
v ANTHONY, b. say 1622; m. by 1651 Elizabeth _____, who survived him and was named in his 1651 will [Bethia Harris Anc 8, citing MPR Case # 10479].
vi DANIEL, b. say 1626; m. by 1651 Mary Weld (first child b. Rowley 2 April 1651), daughter of Joseph Weld (on 19 May 1652 "Daniell Harris and Mary my wife, one of the daughters of Captain Joseph Weld of Roxbury ... late deceased" sold to John Weld land that had been bequeathed to her by "her said father Joseph Weld" [SLR 1:260; Parker-Ruggles 500-01; Brainerd Anc 153, 155, 296-97; TAG 23:154]).
ASSOCIATIONS: Nephew Richard Iles also resided at Winnissimmet.
. . .".
1William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Family History of Western New York: a Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a . . ., Vol. 2, p. 843 (1912).
"(I) John Johnson, brother of Edward and William, and son of William of Herne Hill, England, brought with him his wife Margery and five children. He was admitted a freeman in 1630, settled in Roxbury, and was called a yeoman. October 19, 1630, he was chosen constable of Roxbury and surveyor of all the arms of the colony. He kept a tavern, was a man of wealth and distinction, and a deputy to the general court in 1634 and for many years afterward. His house was burned August 6, 1645, when seventeen barrels of powder and many arms belonging to the colony were lost. He was elected a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1638. He was granted three hundred acres of land by the general court as compensation for his services as surveyor-general. His wife Margery died in 1635. He married (second) Grace, widow of Barnabas Fawer. He died September 30, 1659. Children by first wife: Isaac, mentioned below; Humphrey, married Ellen Cheney; Mary, married Roger Mowry, of Providence, Rhode Island; Elizabeth, married Robert Pepper; a daughter.".
1Douglas Richardson, The Heath Connection: English Origins of Isaac and William Heath of Roxbury, Mass., John Johnson, Edward Morris, and Elizabeth (Morris) Cartwright, NEHGR Vol. 146, pp. 266-268 (Jul 1992)
"2. WILLIAMA HEATH, born say 1550-1555, and probably the eldest son in the family, was buried at Ware 7 January 1624/5. The name of his wife has not been learned.*
That William, and not either of his brothers Robert or John, was the father of the next generation of Heaths in Ware is strongly suggested by the fact that he inherited his father's house there, to the exclusion of his brothers. He was probably well established there already.
Although the Ware parish registers do not include the name of the father of children baptized there in the period 1581-1604, the spacing of the baptisms strongly implies that there was only one Heath family having children in the parish in the 1580s and 1590s. Beginning in 1604, the baptismal registers include the father's name, and that year William's son Thomas was baptized there. Chronology suggests that this was William Heath's last child. Significantly, no further children for this William appear in the registers of either Ware or Great Amwell.
Probable children; surname Heath:
i. JOHN, bp. at Ware 5 Aug. 1581; d. probably young, before 25 July 1591 when another son was named John.
ii. ALICE, bp. at Ware 22 Dec. 1583; buried at Great Amwell 10 Oct. 1640; probably the Alice Heath who m. there 19 Sept. 1624, as his first wife, NATHANIEL LARKE of Amwell Street, Great Amwell, who was buried there 24 Feb. 1648/9, having survived his second wife, Annis _____, by only a few days. He was one of the overseers of the will of Thomas Johnson of Ware, dated 13 Aug. 1639, proved 9 Feb. 1640 (ERO, D/ABW 57/46).
Children bp. and bur. at Great Amwell; surname Larke; 1. Elizabeth, bp. 23 July 1615; bur. 9 Aug. 1615. 2. Mary, bp. Sept. 1616; bur. 8 Oct. 1616. 3. John, bp. 2 Nov. 1617. 4. Mary, bp. 7 Feb. 1618/9; bur. 4 June 1619. 5. Elizabeth (twin), bp. 2 April 1620. 6. Mary (twin), bp. 2 April 1620. 7. Nathaniel, bp. 3 June 1621; bur. 12 Oct. 1622. 8. Joseph (twin), bp. 20 Oct. 1623. 9. Benjamin (twin), bp. 20 Oct. 1623; bur. 6 March 1645/6. 10. Susan, bp. 1 June 1625; bur. 12 April 1626. 11. Nathaniel, bp. 15 Sept. 1626; bur. in Sept. 1626. (By his second wife, Annis, Nathaniel Larke had: Susanna, bp. 21 Oct. 1642 and Rebecca, bp. 23 Feb. 1643/4.)
iii. ISAAC1, bp. at Ware 13 Feb. 1586/7; d. at Roxbury, Mass., 21 Jan. 1660/1 aged about 75 years; m. at Ware, Herts., 14 Jan. 1628/9, ELIZABETH MILLER, bp. at Bishop's Stortford, Herts., 3 March 1593/4, bur. at Roxbury 14 Jan. 1664/5 aged about 70 years, daughter of Thomas Miller, gentleman, and his wife Agnes. (For information about the Miller family, see Spencer Miller, "The Millers of Bishop's Stortford," in New York Genealogical and Biographical Record [hereinafter NYGBR], 70[1939]:148.) Elizabeth was sister of the immigrants Agnes, wife of Robert Burnap, and Margaret, wife of Thomas Waterman. On 22 Dec.1630, Isaac Heath witnessed the will of Agnes Porter, widow, of Ware (ERO, D/ABW 50/101), whose stepson, Edward Porter, and stepdaughter, Elizabeth Porter (later wife of heath's nephew, Isaac Johnson of Roxbury, Mass.), immigrated to New England.
Isaac Heath came to New England in 1635 on the ship Hopewell, with his wife Elizabeth, one child, and a cousin, Martha Heath. Upon landing, he proceeded to Roxbury where William Heath was already settled; he represented the town in the General Court in 1637 and 1638. In 1637 he was chosen Ruling Elder of the Roxbury church, and held that position until his death. He was one of the founders of the Roxbury free school in 1645. (For more information, see Davis, Ancestry of Annis Spear, 29-31.)
Children, bp. at Ware, Herts.; surname Heath:
1. Elizabeth, bp. 7 Feb. 1629/30; d. at Roxbury, Mass., 6 July 1655 aged 25; m. there 2 April 1649, as his second wife, John Bowles of Roxbury. Their four children included John Bowles, Jr. (1653-1691), who became Speaker of the Massachusetts General Court.
2. Isaac, bp. 13 May 1632; buried at Ware 21 June 1632.
iv. GEORGE, bp. at ware 4 Aug. 1588, apparently named for his uncle, George Heath, who died the previous month. No further record.
v. WILLIAM1, baptism not found at Ware, Herts.; bur. at Roxbury, Mass., 30 May 1652. Peter walne, County Archivist for Hertfordshire, suggests that William may have been born at Great Amwell during the period, Oct. 1586 to May 1590, when there is a gap in the records (Register, 122:21). If so, his birth would necessarily be in early to mid-1590, in order to fit his birth between his brothers George and John; such spacing is consistent with the date of his first marriage and the birthdate of his first wife. he m. (1) at Great Amwell, 10 Feb. 1616/7, MARY CRAMPHORNE [sic], bp. at Sawbridgeworth, Herts., 16 Jan. 1592, bur. at Great Amwell 24 Nov. 1621, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Lyndesell) Cramphorne. He m. (2) at Gilston, Herts., 22 Jan. 1622/3, MARY PERRY, bp. at Sawbridgeworth 27 June 1602, bur. at Roxbury, Mass., 15 Dec. 1659, daughter of John and Annes (Peerce) Perry.
William Heath immigrated in 1632 on the ship Lyon, with his wife, Mary, and five children. He became a prominent figure in Roxbury, representing the town in the colony's first General Court on 14 May 1634 and in the courts of 1637, 1639, and 1640 through 1642. (For additional information, see Davis, Ancestry of Annis Spear, 32-34.)
Children; surname Heath,
by first wife Mary Cramphorne:
1. Mary, bp. at Great Amwell 10 May 1618; living, unm. in 1652, probably an invalid or incompetent.
2. Isaac, bp. at Great Amwell 21 May 1620; d. at Roxbury, Mass., 29 Dec. 1694; m. there 16 Dec. 1650, Mary Davis.
3. Daughter, stillborn, bur. at Ware 27 Nov. 1623.
by second wife, Mary Perry, bp. at Nazeing, Essex:
4. Peleg, bp. 30 Jan. 1624/5; d. at Roxbury, Mass., 18 Nov. 1671; m. Susanna (prob. Barker).
5. Mary, bp. 2 Sept. 1627; d. at Braintree, Mass., 7 Dec. 1674; m. ca. 1643 George Spear. (see Verne Raymond Spear, The Descendants of George Spear who settled at Braintree, Massachusetts 1642 -1988 [West Hawley, Mass., 1988], 17-18.)
6. Hannah, bp. 5 Nov. 1629; m. Isaac Jones of Dorchester, Mass.
vi. JOHN, bp. at Ware 25 July 1591; prob, the John Heath bur. there 20 Jan. 1594/5.
vii. MARY, bp. at Ware 24 March 1593/4; bur. there 15 may 1629; m. there, 21 Sept. 1623, as his first wife, JOHN JOHNSON. He immigrated in 1630 to New England, where he settled in Roxbury, Mass. See Part Two below.
viii. PRUDENCE, bp. at Ware 6 Nov. 1597; m. at St. Mary Mounthaw, London, 25 Oct. 1622. EDWARD MORRISON of Ware and Great Amwell. See Part Three below.
ix. THOMAS, bp. at Ware 1 Oct. 1603; prob. the Thomas Heath bur. there 5 oct. 1603.
x. THOMAS, bp. at Ware 30 Sept. 1604, "son of William Heath"; m. at Great Amwell, 9 April 1627, ELIZABETH MUMFORD. They lived at Great Amwell, Ware, and Watton at Stone, Herts.
Children; surname Heath: 1. and 2. Twin Sons, bur. at Great Amwell 19 Sept. 1627. 3. Isaac, bp. at Ware 29 Aug. 1628. 3. Isaac, bp. at Ware 29 Aug. 1628. 4. Elizabeth, bp. at Watton at Stone 14 Jan. 1630/1. 5. John, bp. at Watton at Stone 1 May 1633.".