Job Tyler
Of Andover, Roxbury and Mendon, and of unknown origin; he accused John Godfrey of witchcraft. In 1659 he, his wife Mary and two of their children deposed that they had seen "a thing like a bird" come into their house with Godfrey at night, and in 1665/6 Godfrey was found "suspitiously Guilty of witchcraft, but not legally guilty." Living in 1700; probably the father of Samuel Tyler, who married Hannah.
Life
- c. 1619Bornc. 1619
Deposed on 27 June 1659 that he was "aged about 40 yeares" (printed by Brigham, p. 6).
documentedprobable
Family
- Mother
- Joan Tyler ("Widow Tiler") of Providence
She was at Providence in 1638 and 1640. Savage says only that she was "possibly" his mother; her link to Job is unknown. Mollie Pfeiffer's "aged fifty-four" misreads Brigham's "one of the 54" lot-holders.
- Spouse
- Mary Tyler
Maiden name unknown. "Mary his wife" in the 1659 deposition.
Pedigree
Notes
Origin unknown. Mollie Pfeiffer made him a son of “Capt. Thomas Tyler” of Budleigh, Devon, a merchant captain. There is no evidence for it, and it is impossible: the Budleigh sea captain was Thomas Tyler of Boston, who married Miriam Simpkins, had children 1685-1698 and was “tak. by a Barbary corsair” in 1703 (Savage 4:355). Brigham found no origin and called the Shropshire tradition baseless; his aside that Job was a “descendant of Wat Tyler” is a flourish, not a claim.
Possibly the “Job Tyler” admitted an inhabitant at Newport in 1638 (RI Col. Rec. 1:92); Savage doubts it is the same man. At Andover by about 1640. “A lit infant also a twinn of Job Tilers dyed” at Roxbury in 1646 (Roxbury church records, via Brigham). Mortgaged property to John Godfrey on 5 Mar 1650. Sold his Andover lands in 1662 (deeds of 10 June 1662 to Thomas and George Abbott, and of 18 April and 28 Aug 1662 to Godfrey; Robert and Mary Lord witnessed the April conveyance). At Roxbury in 1665, Mendon by 1669. Signed the agreement settling Rev. Joseph Emerson at Mendon, 1 Dec 1669 (not “Rev. John Emerson”). Drew lots at Mendon in 1671 and 1673; paid minister’s rates there in 1688, 1689, 1691 and 1695. Deeded his Mendon house lot to his son Moses on 27 Nov 1700 (Suffolk Deeds 20:127). No death record has been found.
John Godfrey. In 1658/9 Job signed a petition against Godfrey: “Jobe tyller of Andever for a bird coming in to suck his wife” (EQC 2:157-158). On 27 June 1659 Job, his wife Mary, Moses “aged between 17 and 18 yeares” and Mary “about 15 yeares old” deposed “that they saw a thing like a bird to come in at the door of their house, with John Godfrey, in the night, about the bigness of a blackbird, or rather bigger, to wit, as big as a pigeon and did fly about, John Godfrey laboring to catch it and the bird vanished as they conceived through the chinck of a joynted bord.” At the County Court at Boston, 30 Jan 1665/6, “Jno Godfrey being Complained against by Job Tyler & Jno Rimington for severall acts which they conceave to be acts of witchcraft”; Tyler and Rimington each gave a bond of £20 to prosecute, and Godfrey’s security of £200 came from Capt. William Davis and Capt. Thomas Lake (Clements Library, Jonathan Godfrey document, GS Box 1). On 6 March 1665/6 the Court of Assistants tried Godfrey “on the Complaint & accusation of Job Tyler & John Rimington on suspition of witchcraft”; the verdict was “suspitiously Guilty of witchcraft, but not legally guilty.” The two prosecutors were allowed “for eleuen dayes a peece two shillings per each day a peece,” and Godfrey was to “discharge the Costs of the trjall” (Records of the Court of Assistants 3:151-152). Acquitted, not “dismissed” as Mollie has it.
Hope’s apprenticeship (1662). A warrant of 23 June 1662 sought “Hope Tiler a youth of about 13 yeares of age, who is run away from his M[r] Thomas Chandler of Andouer.” Godfrey testified that Moses burned the indenture “in the sight of his father” and said “now father you may take away hop when you will from Chandler.” About six weeks before, Job’s house had burned, and Ballard took in his wife and family while Job was away (EQC 2:403-405).
Thomas Chandler (1665/6). Job publicly retracted: “I, Job Tiler, have shamefully reproached Thomas Chandler of Andover by saying he is a base, lying cozening, cheating knave …” (Brigham p. 7). The arbitrators set the costs “considering Job’s poverty and necessities” (EQC 3:443).
Mendon. On 11 Sept 1665 Owannamaug, “Indian Chiefe, neere Marlborough,” complained “of Job Tyler, of Roxbury, for cutting and carrying off hay from his meadows”; fined 2s. 6d. and 10s. costs. On 16 July 1669, summoned by the selectmen, “his answer was he could not nor would come, but if the Selectmen had more to say to him than he to them they might come to him.” A later entry: “he has given satisfaction for that ofence” (Annals of Mendon pp. 43-44, 60). The line Mollie quotes, “Job Tyler is as cantankerous as ever,” is not in the printed Mendon records.
Children (Brigham): Moses (1641/2), Mary (about 1644), Hopestill (about 1645/6), a twin who died in 1646, Hannah, John (died 1652), John (1653) and Samuel (24 May 1655). Hannah has no file because no date is given for her.
Several of his son Hopestill’s family were accused in the Andover witchcraft cases of 1692 (Brigham). Edith Kermit (Carow) Roosevelt descends from him through Hopestill (Brigham). Mollie’s claim for Charles A. Dana was not found in Brigham.
Open questions
- Who were his parents? Was the widow Joan Tyler of Providence his mother?
- Was he the Job Tyler admitted at Newport in 1638?
- When did he die? He was living on 27 Nov 1700.
Mollie's typescript
Mollie calls him the founder of the largest line of Massachusetts Tylers, of cloudy origin, and makes him a son of Capt. Thomas Tyler, a sea captain of Budleigh, Devon (the records show that is impossible).
Job Tyler is usually counted as the founder of this line of the Massachusetts Tylers, from whom are the largest number of Tyler descendants. The origin of Job Tyler is cloudy.
p. 135 →Mollie says he was at Andover when the first settlers came, sold the first land to the first Abbott, and was a contentious man whose lawsuits included a charge of witchcraft, with his wife Mary, against John Godfrey.
He seemes to have been a contentious man, and was involved in several law-suits in Andover, one with John Godfrey, against whom he and Mary Tyler, his wife, brought a charge of witchcraft.
p. 136 →Ordered before the Mendon town meeting over his share of work on the parsonage, he sent word that they could come to him (the "cantankerous as ever" Mollie quotes is not in the printed records); in 1901 the Tyler family dedicated a boulder to him at Boxford.
this Job refused to do, and sent word that if they had as much to say to him as he had to say to them, that they would come to see him.
p. 137 →Mollie quotes Prof. Henry M. Tyler's words at the dedication of 1901, calling him rude, self-asserting and willful, but of good stock.
He was a rude, self-asserting, striking personality, not to be left out of account in the forces that were to possess the land. He did not learn prudence very fast, but he was himself.
p. 138 →
Checked against the records
- PossibleThe widow Tyler at Providence, aged fifty-four, was Job's mother
Possible, not proven. "Widow Tiler" (Joan) was at Providence in 1638 and 1640, but Savage says only that she was "possibly" Job's mother. "Aged fifty-four" misreads Brigham, who says she was "one of the 54" lot-holders.
Read it in the book, p. 135 → - DisprovenJob Tyler's father was Capt. Thomas Tyler of Budleigh, lost at sea
Impossible. The Budleigh sea captain was Thomas Tyler of Boston, who married Miriam Simpkins, had children 1685-1698 and was taken by a Barbary corsair in 1703 (Savage 4:355), two generations after Job. Job's origin is unknown; Brigham found no evidence even for the Shropshire tradition.
Read it in the book, p. 136 → - ProvenJob and Mary Tyler accused John Godfrey of witchcraft
True. In 1659 Job, Mary and two of their children swore they saw "a thing like a bird", as big as a pigeon, come in at the door with Godfrey at night and vanish "through the chinck of a joynted bord". In 1665/6 Godfrey was tried "on the Complaint & accusation of Job Tyler & John Rimington".
Read it in the book, p. 136 → - DisprovenThe witchcraft case against Godfrey was dismissed
Not dismissed: the Court of Assistants tried Godfrey on 6 March 1665/6, and the jury found him "suspitiously Guilty of witchcraft, but not legally guilty" (Records of the Court of Assistants 3). So he was acquitted, and Mollie is right that he escaped execution. Godfrey paid the costs of the trial.
Read it in the book, p. 136 → - ProvenRobert and Mary Lord of Ipswich witnessed one of Job's documents
Right. Robert and Mary Lord witnessed Job's conveyance to John Godfrey of 18 April 1662 (Brigham's Tyler Genealogy, p. 5), one of the deeds by which Job sold his Andover lands that year.
Read it in the book, p. 136 → - ProvenJob was made to take back the names he called Chandler
True. Job's public retraction survives: "I, Job Tiler, have shamefully reproached Thomas Chandler of Andover by saying he is a base, lying cozening, cheating knave ..." (Brigham, p. 7). The arbitrators set the costs "considering Job's poverty and necessities" (Essex Quarterly Courts 3:443).
Read it in the book, p. 136 → - ProvenJob refused to appear and told the selectmen to come to him
True. The Mendon record of 16 July 1669: "his answer was he could not nor would come, but if the Selectmen had more to say to him than he to them they might come to him" (Metcalf's Annals of Mendon).
Read it in the book, p. 137 → - DisprovenA Mendon minute says Job Tyler is as cantankerous as ever
No such line is in the Mendon records as printed by Metcalf (1880) or Brigham (1912). The later entry says the opposite: "he has given satisfaction for that ofence."
Read it in the book, p. 137 → - DisprovenJob helped settle Rev. John Emerson at Mendon
The minister was Rev. Joseph Emerson. Job did sign the agreement settling him at Mendon, on 1 Dec 1669, a few months after his quarrel with the selectmen.
Read it in the book, p. 137 → - PossibleCharles A. Dana descended from Job Tyler through Hopestill
Not traced. Dana is not in the index of Brigham's Tyler Genealogy (1912). His mother was a Denison, and Brigham records Hopestill-line Tylers marrying Denisons, but no chain has been found.
Read it in the book, p. 142 → - ProvenTheodore Roosevelt's second wife, Edith, descended from Job through Hopestill
True, by Brigham's Tyler Genealogy: Job > Hopestill > Daniel > Daniel > Capt. Daniel (m. Mehitable Putnam, daughter of Gen. Israel Putnam) > Gen. Daniel > Gertrude (m. Charles Carow) > Edith Kermit Carow, who married Roosevelt in 1886. Her children are descendants; his daughter Alice, by his first wife, is not.
Read it in the book, p. 142 →
Connections
- Notable ancestor
- Andover settler whose complaint brought a neighbour to trial for witchcraft
Job Tyler is the 7x great-grandfather of the centre of this tree. In court and in controversy.
- Famous kin
- Edith Kermit Roosevelt
First Lady (1901-1909), wife of Theodore Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Roosevelt is the sixth cousin, twice removed, of the centre of this tree. - Mary Post
Accused in the Andover witchcraft outbreak, tried at Salem in January 1692/3
Mary Post is the first cousin, seven times removed, of the centre of this tree.
- Edith Kermit Roosevelt
- Small world