ROBERTS, John

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Weaver

John married CHURCH, Deborah on 1 Oct 1704 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. Deborah (daughter of CHURCH, John and SEVERANCE, Abigail, daughter of CHURCH, John and Living) was born on 15 Aug 1683 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died on 17 May 1720 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. ROBERTS, Sarah was born on 18 Feb 1708 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died on 10 Feb 1770 in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.
2. ROBERTS, Joanna was born on 20 Oct 1705 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died on 4 Jul 1780 in Berwick, York, Maine, USA.
3. ROBERTS, Deborah was born in 1712 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1712.
4. ROBERTS, Phebe was born on 20 Sep 1716 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in Berwick, York, Maine, USA.
5. ROBERTS, Mary was born on 20 Jul 1711 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.

John married EMERY, Frances on 17 May 1720. Frances was born on 17 Dec 1694 in Berwick, York, Maine, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. ROBERTS, Ebenezer was born on 5 May 1721 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died on 4 Apr 1804 in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Said to have come with the Hiltons; probable as he was a fellow member of the Fishmonger's Co in London with the Hiltons
• Name: Thomas Roberts
• Residence: Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: Between 1635 and 1717, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: 1648, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA

Notes:

In 1640 Thomas Roberts succeeded Capt John Underhill as the fourth Governor of the Dover colony. Roberts served until the Massachusetts Bay colony achieved its ambition of annexing, in 1642, the Piscataqua River settlements, Dover, Strawberry Bank and Exeter, also Hampton, and making them a part of Norfolk County.

He had a leading part in the formation and establishment, in 1640, of “The Dover Combination,” an improved scheme of local self-government. He was one of 21 of the 42 signers of the Combination agreement in 1641, a protest against annexation to Massachusetts.

Gov Roberts was not of Puritanic mold. He possessed a liberality of thought which led him 20 years later to embrace the teachings of the Quaker missionaries, who had come here early in the ‘60s, and secured a following from among the orthodox Church people, only to be driven out of Dover in mid-Winter under harrowing conditions in accordance with Massachusetts laws against Quakers.

While he sympathized with the missionaries and was fined by being deprived of his cow for attending their meetings and staying away from public worship, his two sons, John and Thomas, both constables, zealously executed their appointed part of Massachusetts’ order expelling the missionaries from its jurisdiction.

Thomas married LEIGHTON, Mary about 1660 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. Mary (daughter of LEIGHTON, Thomas and SILSBY, Joanna, daughter of Living and Living) was born about 1644 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; died in 1705 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA; was buried in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Immigrant; The Great Migration; signed the Dover Combination; last Colonial Governor of the Dover Colony before it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Great Migration: Believed to have emigrated in 1623 with Edward Hilton
• Web Address: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Roberts-504
• Name: Governor Thomas Roberts
• Religion: Governor Roberts was a regular member of the orthodox Church (Puritan) for many years, but was inclined to be liberal in his views, so when Quaker missionaries came to Dover he favored giving them a fair hearing instead of whipping them as ordered by the Massachusetts General Court. Later in life, Governor Roberts embraced the Quaker teachings
• Residence: USA
• Birth: 1600, Woolaston, Gloucestershire, England
• Arrival: 1623, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: Between 1623 and 1923, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: Between 1635 and 1717, New Hampshire, USA
• Residence: 1640, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA
• Probate: 27 Sep 1673, New Hampshire, USA
• Death: 23 Sep 1674, Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA

Notes:

Thomas Roberts served as the last Colonial Governor of the Dover Colony before it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

At the March, 1640 elections, Thomas Roberts was chosen Governor or President of the Country in place of Gov. John Underhill. He held that office until Dover (then Northam) came under Massachusetts rule in 1642. I have seen this written everywhere. Thomas was not a Governor in any sense of the word as we know it today. In March or April of 1640 he was elected "President of the Court" of the Bristol Company, the owners of Dover. This position has been described as little more than head of a group of selectmen. When the Dover Combination was signed on 22 Oct. 1640, there were only about 40 men in Dover. So, as the colony grew in size other men stepped up into leadership roles. Thomas held various minor offices, but never again assumed a leadership position. This is not said to belittle him as he was quite successful, but to style him as Governor seems a bit much, not to mention Governor of New Hampshire, which he most certainly was not.

He was said to have come with the Hiltons. Signed the Dover Combination: 1640

Sewell's Hisory of the Quakers says he rebuked his sons for being cruel to the Quakers.

The Great Migration Directory:

Roberts, Thomas: London; 1640; Dover [NHPP 1:128, 10:701, 40:4; Lydia Harmon Anc 25; GDMNH 589; Wentworth 1:503]

NHPP - NH Provincial Papers

Lydia Harmon: The Ancestry of Lydia Harmon, 1755-1836 (Walter Goodwin Davis)

The Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, 3 volumes

GDMNH: Geneaologic Dictionary of Maine and NH

Thomas married HILTON, Rebecca in 1627 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. Rebecca (daughter of Living) was born in 1602 in Monkwearmouth, Durham, England; died on 27 Sep 1674 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA; was buried in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Immigrant; The Great Migration
• Birth: Feb 1602, Monkwearmouth, Durham, England

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Immigrant; The Great Migration; signer of Dover Combination
• Great Migration: He arrived in Salem, Massachusetts on October 10, 1633. He moved next to Dover Point.
• Web Address: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Leighton-288
• Name: Thomas Layton
• Residence: Maine, USA

Thomas married SILSBY, Joanna about 1640. Joanna was born in 1610 in England; died on 16 Jan 1703 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Differentiator: Immigrant; The Great Migration

Living + Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]