John Proctor
Husbandman, who sailed on the Susan & Ellin in 1635, aged 40, with Martha, probably his wife, and John, 3, and Marie, 1. Father of Abigail (Proctor) Varney and probably of John Proctor, hanged at Salem in 1692; he probably died at Ipswich in 1672.
Life
- c. 1595Bornc. 1595
Aged 40 in 1635. In 1667 he deposed "aged seventy-five years" (Essex Quarterly Courts 3:397), which implies about 1592.
documentedprobable - 1672DiedIpswich, Massachusetts
The research gives the year without a source. His will is dated 28 Aug 1672 and his inventory 11 Oct 1672, so he died between those dates (Probate Records of Essex County 2:315-316).
compiledprobable
Family
- Parents
- Spouse
- Martha Proctordocumentedprobable
Pedigree
Notes
Husbandman. Came on the Susan & Ellin in 1635: “Husbandman John Procter 40, Martha Procter 28, John Procter 3, Marie Procter 1” (Hotten p. 59). The John aged 3 was the John Proctor hanged at Salem in 1692. Father also of Abigail (Proctor) Varney.
Historic Ipswich says he bought a 100-acre farm on Island Road from Thomas Firman in 1647. He sat on the Ipswich trial jury as “Jo. Prockter, sr.” in Sept 1663 (Essex Quarterly Courts 3:84). In 1667 “John Prockter, sr., aged seventy-five years, deposed the same as his brother Giddens” (3:397). In March 1671 he sued the town of Ipswich “For not giving him a division lot for the house his son lived in. Verdict for defendant” (4:330).
His will, dated 28 Aug 1672 and proved at Salem court 28 Nov 1672, opens “I John Procter Sen’ beinge aged & infirme in body butt of sownd und’standinge & memory.” For his wife Martha it provides £4 a year, “ye milk of two cows,” “a good hog … wel fatted & fower bushels of malt & fower bushels of wheate,” “ye horse yt was Georg Steuensons,” and “al ye wood she needeth ready split and cut up for her fires.” It gives £5 apiece to “my ffower daughters Martha White, Abigal Varney Sara Dodg & Hanna Wede,” and £10 to “Martha Hadly my grand-daughter.” His sons John, Joseph and Benjamin were executors, “to haue my lands & my moueables equaly deuided amongst them.” He signed by mark, “John (his V mark) Procter” (Probate Records of Essex County 2:315-316). The inventory, 11 Oct 1672, totals £1228 5s, including “fower score & six sheepe,” “musket, fowling ps. & sword,” and “2 bibls & another book.”
In 1673 John Dodge sued the three executors over his wife Sarah’s marriage portion; the jury found for the plaintiff only “if the father’s personal promise upon marriage bound the executors” (Essex Quarterly Courts 5:194).
Open questions
- His age: 40 in 1635 (about 1595) or 75 in 1667 (about 1592)?
Mollie's typescript
Mollie says he came in the Susan and Ellen in 1635 with his wife, son John and daughter Mary, settled at Ipswich, and became one of its richest inhabitants.
came with wife, son John, 3 years, and Marie 1 year, in The Susan and Ellen, 1635; settled in Ips. and became a proprietor in same year. ... He was one of the richest inhabitants of the community
p. 102 →He signed, with Thomas Boreman and Robert Lord, the Ipswich petition against John Winthrop Jr.'s departure for Connecticut.
The petition of remonstrance against the departture of John Winthrop Jr. for Conn. was drawn up by a committee ... and it was signed, among others, by our ancestors, Thomas Boreman, Robert Lord, John Proctor.
p. 106 →
Checked against the records
- ProvenAbigail's brother John Proctor was executed at Salem as a witch
Proved. Abigail Varney's deposition of 1673 speaks of "her father" and "her mother Prockter", and in 1679 her husband testified at "the house which was formerly his father Procter's" (Essex Quarterly Courts 5:195, 7:218). John Proctor was hanged at Salem on 19 Aug 1692.
Read it in the book, p. 102 →
Connections
- Famous kin
- John Proctor
Farmer of Salem, hanged for witchcraft on 19 Aug 1692; the John Proctor of Arthur Miller's The Crucible
John Proctor is the 7x great-granduncle of the centre of this tree: the brother of her 7x great-grandmother, Abigail Proctor.
- John Proctor
- Small world