Rand

1635–1752

The line in brief

In 1667 Bartholomew Cheever, a Boston cordwainer with no children of his own, sent to Canterbury for one of his brother’s sons. The two eldest refused; the youngest, Richard, seven years old, “accepted, and in 1668 Came over to his uncle,” from Mercery Lane, where the family Bible has him born. He became a cordwainer like his uncle, and in February 1676, still in his teens, he marched out of Boston with Capt. William Turner’s company to Medfield and the Connecticut River towns in King Philip’s War. He married Abigail, probably the daughter of Humphrey and Mary Milam, in 1680, served the town as tithingman, sealer of leather and constable, and later rode express for the Council to Piscataqua and New London. In January 1709/10 his eldest daughter, Susanna, married Robert Rand, a joiner.

The Rands were of Lynn. Robert Rand had been a servant of Robert Keayne, the Boston merchant, who left him forty shillings in his will of 1653, and by 1649 he was farming at Woodend, in the north of the town. Robert Rand Jr., probably his son, marched at about twenty-two, it seems, with Capt. Samuel Brocklebank’s recruits to the Narragansett army in January 1676 and on the Hungry March, and in 1683/4 he married Tabitha Ivory, entered in the town book at her birth as “Talithacumy,” from Mark 5:41. She was a daughter of Thomas Ivory and Mary Davis, who outlived her husband by forty-two years and died at about ninety-seven, a granddaughter of Thomas Ivory, of Lynn by 1638, and a first cousin of John Burrill, Speaker of the Massachusetts House. Their son Robert, born at Lynn in 1686, was probably the Robert Rand who went to Boston as a joiner and married Susanna Cheever. Their daughter Susanna, born at Boston on 12 February 1715/6, married Emanuel Derevers in 1740 and then, probably as his widow, Israel Ellingwood, a Boston mariner, on 18 March 1741/2. She was the mother of Richard Ellingwood, the cooper, and was dead by 1752; her father’s estate provided for her children.

Where it went

  1. by 1638Lynn, MassachusettsThomas Ivory
  2. Sent for by his uncle1660Canterbury, KentRichard Cheever
  3. 1668BostonRichard Cheever

Five generations

Notable ancestors and small world

2 notable ancestors in the line

  • Richard Cheever

    Canterbury-born cordwainer of Boston, sent for by his uncle as a boy; a soldier of 1676 and an express rider for the Council

  • Robert Rand

    Once a servant of Robert Keayne, the Boston merchant, who remembered him in his will; a farmer at Woodend in Lynn

With the famous kin, on Notable connections →

1 small-world story

Still being worked on

Research thread

Open questions

  • Robert Rand Jr.’s probate (Essex, 1717/18), which should name his son Robert of Boston, joiner; and the joiner’s own (Suffolk, 1752).
  • The parents of Robert Rand of Woodend, and of his wife Elizabeth.
  • Richard Cheever’s baptism at Canterbury, about 1660, and his father’s name.
  • Mary Davis’s parents, and Tabitha’s death.
  • What became of Emanuel Derevers.
For the record: the line at a glance and how sure it is

The line at a glance

The Rands: Robert Rand (d. 1694), of Woodend, Lynn = Elizabeth (d. 1693) > Robert Rand (c. 1653-1717), of Lynn = Tabitha Ivory (b. 1663), daughter of Thomas Ivory (d. 1690) and Mary Davis (c. 1635-1732), and granddaughter of Thomas Ivory (d. 1664) and Ann, of Lynn > Robert Rand (1686-1752), joiner of Boston = Susanna Cheever > Susanna Rand (1715/6-bef. 1752) = Israel Ellingwood > Richard Ellingwood (1742/3-1784), cooper of Boston.

The Cheevers: Richard Cheever (1660-bet. 1706 and 1709), cordwainer, of Canterbury and Boston = Abigail Milam (1660-1732/3) > Susanna Cheever (1682-1748) = Robert Rand, joiner, above.

The scope walks every ancestor of Susanna Rand. Her husband’s side is the Ellingwood line, which stops at her.

How sure it is

  • Susanna to Robert Rand and Susanna Cheever (documented, proven): her birth at Boston to Robert and Susanna Rand; the Rand genealogy (1898), which has her marry “Israel Ellenwood”; and the Suffolk guardianship of 1753, which gave one of Israel’s sons a portion “in right of his Grandfather Robert Rand late of Boston Joyner.”
  • Robert the joiner to Robert Rand Jr. and Tabitha Ivory (documented, probable): the Lynn birth of 6 Oct 1686 names “Roberd, jr. and Tabitha.” That the Boston joiner is that child is the Rand genealogy’s, and in 1733 “Robert Rand, son” claimed a Lynn soldier’s right in the Narragansett townships. Robert Jr.’s probate (Essex, 1717/18) would settle it.
  • Robert Jr. to Robert Rand of Woodend (compiled, probable): the Rand genealogy and Savage (“s. prob. of the preced.”); he was “Roberd, jr.” in the Lynn records while Robert Sr. lived. Robert Sr.’s wife Elizabeth’s surname is not known, and his own descent from Robert and Alice Rand of Charlestown is possible only: it rests on T. B. Wyman’s unpublished opinion, and Alice’s will of 1683 does not name him.
  • Tabitha to Thomas Ivory and Mary Davis (documented, proven): her Lynn birth. Thomas to Thomas Ivory of Lynn (1638) is compiled, probable (Savage). Mary Davis’s parents are not known.
  • Susanna Cheever to Richard and Abigail Cheever (documented, proven): the Boston birth record and the family Bible. Abigail as the daughter of Humphrey and Mary Milam is probable, Torrey’s identification, and her age at death fits exactly.
  • Richard Cheever’s father is not identified. Richard was the nephew of Bartholomew Cheever, and so probably a grandson of Richard Cheever, glover, and Katharine Willyams of Canterbury; James Cheever, a glover of Canterbury, is possible as his father. His birth year, 1660, is the family Bible’s.
  • Susanna’s first marriage. Her intention with “Jumanuel DeRivers” was marked “forbid” in March 1738/9, but she married “Emanuel Derevers” on 5 Apr 1740; what became of him is not known. Her death is “1751” in the Granary list, and Israel remarried in November 1752; the trees’ 18 Oct 1749, at Beverly, has no source.

The Ancestry tree has merged two Robert Rands who married at Boston in 1709. The other, a sailmaker born at Charlestown on 18 June 1684, son of Thomas Rand, married Elizabeth Welch: his birth is disproven for the joiner, and “Elizabeth Welch” for the wife of Robert Rand of Woodend. The tree’s father for Richard Cheever, Daniel Cheever of Cambridge, is disproven, since Daniel’s children were all born in New England and none was a Richard (Hassam, 1882); and Susanna does not descend from Ezekiel Cheever, the schoolmaster, for Bartholomew’s will of 1693 names “Cousin Ezekiel Cheever schoolmaster” and Richard as two separate cousins. The tree’s 1697 death for Thomas Ivory is disproven (he died in 1690), and its 20 Apr 1663 for Tabitha’s birth is a misreading of 30:2m:1663. The research is in research/ellingwood/Ellingwood_Woodbury_Rand.md, section 1B.

Their families and the files

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