Caleb Lamb
Of Roxbury, Massachusetts, a son of Thomas Lamb, probably by his second wife Dorothy Harbottle, and probably born there on 9 Apr 1641. He married Mary Wise at Roxbury in 1669 and had children recorded there from 1671 to 1687; he was probably the father of Mary Lamb, who married David Low.
Life
- 1641Born9 Apr 1641, Roxbury, Massachusetts
Recorded as son of Thomas and Dorothy (1:208). A second entry, in different ink, gives a Caleb, son of Thomas, born 27 Nov 1639.
documentedprobable - 1669Married Mary Wise30 June 1669, Roxbury, Massachusetts
"Marie Wise" (2:240). Mollie's Wise page has 9 Apr 1669.
documentedproven
Family
- Father
- Thomas Lambdocumentedproven
- Mother
- Dorothy Harbottle
The 1641 entry names Dorothy. If the 1639 entry is right, his mother was Thomas's first wife Elizabeth, buried 28 Nov 1639 after "child birth."
documentedprobable - Spouse
- Mary Wisedocumentedproven
Pedigree
Notes
Mariner, of Roxbury. On 3.2m.1670 (3 Apr 1670) “Mary, wife to Caleb Lamb solemnly owned the Covenant” at Roxbury; Caleb himself, with Joshua Lamb and Richard Davis, was later “received to take hold on the covenant” (Roxbury church records).
Children recorded at Roxbury: Caleb 1671; Joseph 1673; Mary 1678 (d. 1679); Jeremiah 1679; John 1683/4; Eunice, bp. 1685; Huldah 1687. Mollie (pp. 92-94) says his father outlived him, which is impossible: Thomas died in 1646, when Caleb was not quite five.
He was dead by the 1690s. In a division of Roxbury lots entered “by order of the selectmen” on 26 Feb 169- (the last digit is damaged in the print), lot no. 129 is assigned to “Caleb Lamb’s heires” (Roxbury land records).
John Eliot’s Roxbury church record supports the 9 Apr 1641 birth. After his first wife’s death, Thomas Lamb “afterwards married Dorothy Harbitle …: Caleb his first borne by her, & his 7th child was borne about the midle of the 2d month 1641.” The conflicting 27 Nov 1639 entry falls at the birth of Benjamin, Thomas’s 6th child, born about the 8th month 1639, whose mother died of it.
Open questions
- His death and estate (Suffolk Probate). Pane-Joyce’s “30 Jun 1690” looks like a confusion with his marriage date.
- Born 9 Apr 1641 or 27 Nov 1639? The answer decides whether his mother was Dorothy or Elizabeth. Eliot’s church record (above), which the colonial tree adds, names him Dorothy’s first-born and Thomas’s 7th child, born in the 2nd month 1641, and puts the 6th child, Benjamin, in the 8th month 1639; that favours 1641 and Dorothy.
Mollie's typescript
Mollie says he was a mariner who married Mary Wise and left three daughters, Mary, Hulda and Eunice, whose interests their uncle John Wise looked after (the Roxbury records show sons as well).
CALEB LAMB who was a mariner. Married Mary Wise and left three daughters, Mary, Hulda and Eunice. ... John Wise had a hand in settling the estate, and cared for the interests of his nieces.
p. 94 →
Checked against the records
- PossibleMary Lamb, Caleb Lamb's daughter, was born at Roxbury on 7 Mar 1681
Probable, but her birth is not recorded. Caleb and Mary (Wise) Lamb's first Mary, born 13 Apr 1678, died of smallpox on 4 July 1679; David Low's wife is taken to be a later daughter, born about 1680-82. Her death, 3 Mar 1735, is recorded at Chebacco.
Read it in the book, p. 92 → - DisprovenThomas Lamb outlived his son Caleb
Impossible. Thomas Lamb was buried at Roxbury on 28 Mar 1646, when Caleb was not quite five; Caleb married Mary Wise in 1669 and had children there until 1687. Caleb's own death and estate have not been found.
Read it in the book, p. 94 → - DisprovenMary Wise married Caleb Lamb on 9 Apr 1669
Roxbury records give 30 June 1669 ("Marie Wise"), as Mollie's own Lamb chart has it. 9 April is Caleb Lamb's birthday (1641).
Read it in the book, p. 95 →