St. Andrew's Church- Nether Wallop

Hugh was born "in a playce near unto the Greate Mannour House at The Wallops" and served his carpenters apprenticeship "at that Shoppe at the Great Manour House of Upper Wallop". Hugh came to New England in April 1638 on the "Good Shippe Confidence of London" from Southampton, with John Gibson master, "The nuber of the passengers afore mentioned, greate & little are 110 soules". He was listed as a servant, aged 20, of Stephen Kent, aged 27, of Nether Wallop, Hampshire.(1) Although Stephen was listed as being from Nether Wallop in 1638 he was listed as being from Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1637 when he obtained a license to marry Margery Norris of Collingbourne Kingston.(2)

Upon arriving in New England, the Kents and Hugh went to Newbury which was settled by many people from Wiltshire and Hampshire.

Hugh was a carpenter and dealt extensively in boards and timber with several Exeter lumbermen. Hugh left Newbury in 1646/7 and was a tenant of Nicholas Shapleigh or James Treworgye and plowed their land at Sturgeon Creek in Kittery. In 1667 Hugh was involved with the planning of the settlement of Woodbridge in East Jersey along with his son George and was one of nine "associates" of the town, however, both he and his son were soon back in Newbury.(3)

Hugh was on the Essex county jury in 1649, 1656, 1666, 1674, and 1680. He was a selectman in 1669. He took the oath of allegiance in 1678. In 1680 he was Clerk of the Market, his duty was to see that the weights and measures were according to standard.(4)

Hugh was employed as an attorney in the courts on several occasions. In 1663 by Mr. Greenland and Richard Cordin, by John Rolfe Jr. also in 1663, by Joseph Muzzy in 1664, and by Daniel Davison in 1681. In 1657 the court appointed him arbitrator of the case of Stephen Greenleaf vs. John Hutchings and in 1669 the case of John Woolcott vs. William Harrison was referred to Tristram Coffin and Hugh for settlement.

Hugh was a member of the militia but, was dismissed from training in 1679 but, was to pay 5/ per year to the Newbury company.

In 1653 Judith was in court for wearing expensive clothing, probably a silk hood or scarf, but she was discharged upon proof that Hugh was worth £ 200 or more. Judith was a midwife.

"Writ: Hugh March, Sr., of Newbury v. Benjamin Lowle of Newbury for not keeping his servant Hugh March, Jr., and for not providing for him sufficiently in time of his sickness, also for not teaching him his art or trade according to indenture...

Indenture, dated September 29, 1674, Hugh March, son of Hugh March of Newbury, of his own will and with the consent of his parents was apprenticed to Benjamin Lowle of Newbury, blacksmith for six years to learn the trade of a blacksmith and said Lowle was to perfect him in writing and casting accounts, in reading English and in the trade of making or mending locks...

Daniel Ela deposed that he saw the young lad Hugh March at said March's house in Newbury when Mr John Dole was called to treat him and they did not expect him to live through the night. He was lame in his knee for fifteen months and his thigh was very painful night and day, the flesh and bones being very sore. Deponent saw him often and was called to dress the leg, and Hugh had gotten so much cold and numbness, together with his melancholy, that all the means they used did not good for a long time...

Jonathan March deposed that when his brother was sick at Lowle's house, "I was riding along in the street, and about the midway between my father's house and the house of Benjamin Lowle I met with Benjamin Lowle. He asked me whither I was going with a pillion beside me. I said, to his house for to fetch my brother, if you will let me have him. He made me this answer, "that's very well" and no more that I do remember. Then I went to the house and asked his dame whether she would let me have my brother to carry him home and she said yes. She went to him and fitted on his clothes and helped him down the stairs, and she and her mother helped him upon the horse and wrapped the clothes about him and I brought him home... I did lay with him two nights at his master Lowle's house when he was sick, and... the thing he lay on was a cotton wool bag, or such like thing, filled with chaff and straw and upon it was a piece of old curtain, and his covering was an old cotton rug and a sheet with was all the bedclothes he had, in the coldest winter night that came..."

Judith March deposed that she went to Lowle's to see her son Hugh, and told said Lowle that she was busy and could not attend to him and that he must have a doctor for him. When the doctor came he said the place was not fit for a sick person to be in on account of the coldness of the room. "His dame urged me to take him home. I was not willing and gave her reason for it, as that we were building of our house and had many workmen to lodge, besides the occasions of the ordinary. And her answer to me: she could not attend him to go up and down the stairs; therefore, urged me very hard to take him, and said he would be better contented with me for he did nothing by lie and cry yesterday almost all day long. So he was fetched from thence and remains with us to this day..."

Elizabeth Broune, formerly a servant to Hugh March and of Jonathan March his son, testified that the continual hearing of his doleful crying out night and day for a long time was a great distraction to the family, and his attendance was extraordinary. And for a long time... his parents, the Doctor, and we did think that he would not have lived until the morning. And helping sometimes to carry him from the bed to the fire and sometimes lifting him to and fro and leading him, it was for a long time most of the whole family's work to attend him... Hugh March, Junior, came in to his father's house one bitter cold night in the winter foregoing and was asked from whenc he came. He said from Rowley, and coming to the fire, in a little time, cried out and was not able to stand still. His mother seeing what kind of breeches he had on (which was two stiff leather things like boards about him) she put her hand to see whether he had any drawers on and there was nothing but a rag... and the inside of the thigh... so rough, not like flesh, but like some rough board..." Hugh Senior sough reimbursement from the master for the cost of caring for and treating his son. Verdict was rendered for the plaintiff. (14)

Hugh had a maid, Elizabeth Jago, who complained that Dorcas had slandered her, but the case was withdrawn when Dorcas confessed that she had wronged the girl. Hugh's marriage to Dorcas was not a happy one. Her first husband had deserted her, disappeared and was presumed dead. In 1678, two years after their wedding, Hugh, his sons Hugh and John, and his friends Thomas Woodbridge and John Taylor submitted affidavits in an action in the General Court stating that Blackleach was not dead but living in Virginia when Dorcas married Hugh and that she was fully aware of the fact but, concealed it. Dorcas denied the accusation and said that the scandalous report originated from the malice of Hugh's children. The court evidently believed her as the decision was made that Hugh should keep her as his wife. Obviously this lead to domestic problems and on 15 Aug. 1679 Hugh mortgaged his home to Simon Lynde of Boston for £ 110 and on 31 Jan. 1679/0 he gave all his property to his son John reserving for himself only the old parlor and the chamber above it.(5) In 1682 John Edwards Sr. of Ipswich said that he had kissed Dorcas "in the face of the court" and that there was no harm in it.(6)

In 1663 Richard Knight and Hugh sat down for a friendly game of cards in Knight's house, which was observed by Bathsheba Knight who demonstrated her piety by entering a complaint against them.(7)

Massachusetts law required each town to provide an inn for the entertainment of travelers and to quench the thirst of the inhabitants with beer, wine, and more potent drinks. In Newbury Stephen Swett had held the license from 1653 until about 1667. On 12 Mar. 1669/0 Hugh agreed to carry on the business: "The town of Newbury being destitute of an ordinary for near three years, being fined twice and likely to be fined the third time, and could find no man that would undertake it, divers of the most considerable men of the town applied themselves to me to keep the ordinary at which time I had no need of it or inclination to it, being well settled upon a farm of my own which was sufficient to maintain me...I agreed, however, with the consent of the town and the court, and bought at a dear rate that place which was the ancient place of an ordinary which being out of repair caused me to disburse great sums of money in repairing the old and building the new." He states that he sold one farm at this time and left the farm he lived on, turning it over to his son George for in 1683 Hugh and George entered into an agreement in which "the intaile whereby this farm is engaged to the heirs of said George March or, if none, to the remaining heirs of Hugh".(8) Hugh paid £ 120 for the Swett house, known as the Blue Anchor, and spent more than £ 400 on repairs, new construction and furnishings. His license was renewed each year until 1682.(9)

"att Nubery ordinary: Hue marches---- 2-6... May 7 1673".(10)

Hugh's patrons at the "Blue Anchor" were sometimes slow to pay. In 1677 Mary Williams, Hugh's barmaid, age 16, testified that Mr. William Longfellow usually came to her master's house and called for wine, beer, victuals and cider and sometimes for rum and it used to be put on an account for he never paid money. He had done this for two years and she had carried him many a pint of liquor so that the account must have been large. Hugh won the case after attaching Longfellow's "neager servant and three cows". Hugh sued William Chandler, a cooper, for carelessly staving a butt of Pasado wine worth £ 15, but he lost the case.(11)

Hugh had more trouble upon the marriage of his son John in 1679. Evidently Hugh had agreed to give John twice as much as Joseph Fletcher, the stepfather of John's wife Jemima True, in consideration of the marriage. Hugh had tried to persuade John to return to him the property covered by the deed of 1679 and on 28 Jan. 1681/2 John left the "Blue Anchor" and turned over the key to his father. Whereupon in March 1682 Joseph Fletcher "in behalf of John March and Jemima, his wife" brought suit against Hugh stating that he had already given the young couple £ 66 and demanded that John's father produce £ 132 to redeem his promise. The court decided in Hugh's favor, probably because no valid agreement had been signed.(12) John's departure from the "Blue Anchor" was due to his opening of an ordinary on the bank of the Merrimac River where he could cater to the growing business from the shipping in Newbury's harbor. This was a blow to Hugh who addressed the court in opposition: "This honored court having in some measure understood how I committed my estate to my son and the way he has had to deprive me of my license and likewise of my estate, he having little mercy on his father, I hope you, the fathers of the land, will have more mercy upon me." John got his license and Hugh was refused in Nov. 1682. Hugh applied again and got a license in 1683 which he probably held until his death.

Hugh and John evidently patched up their differences as on 5 Dec. 1693 Hugh again conveyed all of his property to John who was to allow Hugh's wife Sarah an annual sum of money, the old parlor and the room above it. John was to pay to Hugh's son George 10/, to his son Hugh 40/, to his grandson George Thurlow £ 3, to his granddaughters Judith and Mary Thurlow 30/ each, to his grandson Hugh March his musket, to his grandson John March, son of George 20/, to the surviving children of his son George 12d each, to the children of his son Hugh 30/ each except Henry who received 40/, to Rebecca Badgon formerly Browne 40/ and to his son James 20/.(13)

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