Capt. Josiah Convers

Josiah married Ruth Marshall on 8 Oct 1685. Ruth died on 16 Mar 1737 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Kesiah Convers was born in 1699.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Feb 1691, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Deacon married Hester Champney on 26 Mar 1651 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Hester (daughter of Richard Champney and Jane) was born before 31 Oct 1630 in Stisted, Essex, England; was christened on 31 Oct 1630 in Stisted, Essex, England; died on 5 Apr 1713 in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From Wikipedia:

Deacon Edward Convers was an early Puritan settler in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was one of the founders of Woburn, MA.

He built the first house and first mill in Woburn. Convers was very active in town affairs, serving as one of its first selectmen. He served on "every committee and had a part in every movement that had this new settlement in view." He also helped establish Charlestown. He was one of the colony's wealthy landowners, and was a farmer, miller and surveyor. [...]

He also founded the First Church of Charlestown, and established the first ferry from Charlestown to Boston. The ferry operated where the Charles River Bridge is now located, and was referred to as the "Great Ferry" (to distinguish it from a smaller ferry operating between Charlestown and Winnisimmet). Convers died on August 10, 1663, in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Edward married Sarah Parker on 29 Jun 1614 in Great Burstead, Essex, England. Sarah (daughter of John Parker and (Unknown first wife of John Parker)) was born about 1596; died on 14 Jan 1662 in Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 14 Jan 1663, Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Notes:

Robert Charles Anderson (citation details below) gives Edward Converse only two wives: (1) Sarah Parker, who he married in 1614 and who died at Woburn, Massachusetts in 1662 or 1663, and (2) Joanna Warren (widow of Ralph Sprague), who Edward Converse married in 1663, just before his death, and who died in Woburn in 1680.

Douglas Richardson (citation details below) gives him three wives: (1) Sarah Parker, d. 1625 in England, (2) Sarah _____, married Edward Converse in Woburn in 1632, d. in Woburn 1662 or 1663, and (3) Joanna Warren, as above. Richardson cites a record of the burial, at South Weald, Essex, 13 Jun 1625, of "Sara wyfe to Edward Convers", citing "Parish registers of South Weald, Essex (FHL microfilm 1,526,985)."

ancestry.com's database "U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s" asserts that Edward Converse arrived in Charlestown with his "Wife Sarah Parker; Son James; Daughter Sara; Daughter Mary; Son Josiah; Son John", which information they credit to the Edward Converse entry in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins, and which would seem to refute Richardson's claim that Sarah Parker died in England in 1625. But in fact Anderson's 1995 GMB entry on Edward Converse, and Anderson's Converse entry in his 2012 The Winthrop Fleet, are entirely silent on the question of which members of Edward Converse's family, if any, accompanied him on his voyage across the Atlantic. The ancestry.com indexer, whether human or algorithmic, has made assumptions entirely unsupported by the cited texts.

(Further demonstrating the unreliability of ancestry.com's indexing, what Anderson actually says about the "Son John" shown in their index record is that no "John" appears in any further records and that the South Weald baptismal record read as "John" may actually refer to Edward Converse's son James, for whom no baptismal record has been found.)

Lacking the expertise to adjudicate this, we show Anderson's model, but Richardson's claim that Converse's first wife died in 1625 and was succeeded by a second wife also named Sarah, who Converse married in New England, could well be correct. Either way, JTS ancestor Josiah Converse, born in 1618, was clearly the son of Edward Converse's first wife Sarah Parker, whether she died in 1625 or the 1660s.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1604

Notes:

Emigrated in 1635 on the Defense.

Richard married Jane before 1629. Jane died after 30 Jun 1669. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Allen married Joanna. Joanna died before 22 Jun 1602 in Navestock, Essex, England; was buried on 22 Jun 1602 in Navestock, Essex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Described in his burial record as "John Parker, householder." He inherited the two houses in Great Burstead from his father.

John married (Unknown first wife of John Parker). (Unknown died before 9 Oct 1606. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]