Capt. Joseph Little

Notes:

Tythingman in 1685; selectman in 1692, 1693, 1700, and 1705; captain of the Newbury company.

The inscription on his gravestone is:

Here Lies Buried y^e
Body of CAPT. JOSEPH
LITTLE Who Departed
This Life September
y^e 6y^th 1740 In
y^e 87y^th Year of
His Age
Come Mortal Man
& Cast an Eye
Come Read Thy Doom
Prepare to Die —

Joseph married Mary Coffin on 31 Oct 1677 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts. Mary (daughter of Lt. Tristram Coffin and Judith Greenleaf) was born on 12 Nov 1657 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 28 Nov 1725 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts; was buried in Old Hill Burying Ground, Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Judith Little was born on 19 Jul 1678 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts; died on 30 Apr 1761 in Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts.

Notes:

Came to Newbury around 1640. He was a tailor. It is unclear whether he had any education.

George married Alice about 1650. Alice was born in 1618; died on 1 Dec 1680. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said in many older sources, some reputable, to have been "Alice Poor", sister of Samuel Poor and Daniel Poor, all three of whom came over on the Bevis in 1638. While Samuel and Daniel are well-recorded, and Samuel settled in Newbury, the only appearance in the record of Alice Poor is on the Bevis passenger list.

It was Mary Lovering Holman (citation details below) who noted several problems with the idea that George Little's wife Alice was Alice Poor: "That George Little married Alice Poor is stated in the Little Genealogy but no proof that this was so has been found. George Little apparently came as late as 1638. His first child of record was born in 1654, when Alice would be thirty-six years old. It is hardly probable that Alice Poor remained unmarried for over a dozen years but she may have been a childless widow when George Little married her, if she were his wife. John Poor at one time gave all his property to George Little and his son, John Poor, and they later returned it. In both the deeds the son is specifically called 'son John Poor,' but no relationship is given for George Little, yet one would expect him to be called 'brother' or brother-in-law, if such a relationship existed. There seems also to be very little other connection between the early Littles and Poors so far as the records show. It seems possible that she was Alice Hulott."

Holman points to a letter from John Hulott of Barbados to George Little of Newbury, Massachusetts, 17 May 1659, in which Hulott desires to make a son of George's his heir. Hulott addresses George as "brother," and Holman makes a good case for the straightforward interpretation, i.e., that Hulott was George's brother-in-law due to George being married to his sister. Arguing against the inverse, that Hulott's wife was George's sister, Holman notes that Hulott says that his wife consents to the estate going to the Littles, whereas if she were a Little she would have desired that it do so.

George Little's wife Alice is nonetheless called "Alice Poor" on the memorial to both of them at the First Settlers burying ground in Newbury.

(We focus, perhaps inordinately, on the "Alice Poor" question because of the possibility, discussed at his entry, that Nicholas Wallingford of Newbury, who died in captivity overseas sometime before Sep 1681, and who is one of PNH's tiny number of known New England ancestors, may have been related to the Poor family.)