1Joseph Gardner Bartlett, The Belcher Families in New England, NEHGR Vol. 60, pp. 129-130 (1906).
"2. JOSIAH2 BELCHER (Gregory1), born in 1631, was a wheelwright, and settled in Boston, where he acquired an estate on the southeasterly corner of what is now Essex street and Harrison avenue, measuring 126 feet on Essex street, and running back 285 feet to the water.
. . .
He was one of the founders of the third, or Old South, Church, and died Apr. 3, 1683, aged 52, being buried in the Granary burying ground, where his gravestone still remains. His will, made the day of his decease, names wife Ranis, sons John, Jonathan, Joseph, Edward, Nathan and Benjamin, and daughters Elizabeth, Rebecca, Anna, Dorothy, Abigail, and Ruth. He married, Mar. 3, 1654-5, Ranis,2 born June 4, 1638, daughter of Elder Edward1 and Elizabeth Rainsford of Boston. She died Oct. 2, 1691.
Children:
i. JOSIAH,3 b. Dec. 23, 1655; served in Capt. James Oliver's Co. in the Narraganset campaign in King Philip's War, and took part in the Great Swamp Fight, Dec. 19, 1675. He died unmarried, and was evidently the Josiah Belcher who was drowned at Weymouth in the autumn of 1682, as mentioned in Judge Sewall's diary (vol. 2, page 19*).
ii. JOHN, b. Oct. 9, 1657; d. in infancy.
7. iii. JOHN, b. Dec. 23, 1659.
iv. JONATHAN, b. Sept. 1, 1661; was a goldsmith in Boston, and sold his interest in the paternal estate to his brother Edward, Nov. 22, 1693. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 16, page 220, and vol. 40, page 225.) He died soon after, unmarried.
v. ELIZABETH, b. July 10, 1663; m. John Paine of Swansey, Mass. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 35, page 248.)
vi. JOSEPH, b. Oct. 4, 1665; was a shipwright; d. unmarried, between 1700 and 1708. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 40, page 225, and vol. 41, page 210.)
vii. REBECCA, b. Dec. 31, 1667; m. in Lynn, Nov. 30, 1687, Joseph Fuller, shipwright, who settled in Boston. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 40, page 225.)
viii. EDWARD, b. Jan. 19, 1669-70; d. unmarried before May 14, 1700. (Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 40, page 225.)
ix. ANNA, b. Feb. 13, 1671-2; m. (int. rec. Jan. 26, 1696-7) Joseph Johnson, cooper, of Boston.
x. DOROTHY, b. Oct. 28, 1673; m. Feb. 19, 1693-4, Edmund Gross of Boston; she d. soon, without issue.
xi. ABIGAIL, b. Mar. 10, 1674-5; living unmarried in Boston, June 8, 1717. (Suffolk Co. Deeds.)
xii. NATHAN, b. 1677; d. July 3, 1699, unmarried.
xiii. RUTH, b. Dec. 21, 1678; m. Dec. 28, 1703, Benjamin Tolman. (Boston marriage records incorrectly call her Ruth Fletcher. For proof, see Suffolk Co. Deeds, vol. 41, page 212.)
8. xiv. BENJAMIN, b. Mar. 20, 1680-1.".