Nielsen Hayden genealogy
Maj. Gen. Humphrey Atherton

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Name Humphrey Atherton Prefix Maj. Gen. Birth Abt 1603 [1] Gender Male Alternate death 17 Sep 1661 Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts [2]
Death 17 Sep 1661 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts [1]
Burial 20 Sep 1661 Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts [1]
Person ID I23238 Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others Last Modified 10 Feb 2024
Family Mary d. Between 21 Feb 1671 and 16 Sep 1672, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts Marriage Bef 28 Sep 1628 [1] Children + 1. Elizabeth Atherton, b. Bef 28 Sep 1628, England d. 15 May 1678 (Age > 49 years)
2. Margaret Atherton, b. Abt 1633 d. 17 Aug 1672, Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts (Age ~ 39 years)
+ 3. Rest Atherton, b. Bef 26 May 1639 d. 3 Nov 1708 (Age > 69 years) + 4. Thankful Atherton, b. Bef 29 Apr 1644 d. 11 Apr 1719, Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts (Age > 74 years)
Family ID F13979 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 10 Feb 2024
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Notes - Possibly a son of Edmund Atherton of Winstanley, Lancashire, who died 10 Apr 1613. Whether or not this is correct, it seems clear from multiple pieces of evidence that he was from Lancashire. Attempts to identify his specific origin have been hampered by the fact that a surprising number of Lancashire individuals named Humphrey Atherton could, chronologically, have been the emigrant.
He is first seen in New England in Dorchester, 1636. He was a soldier and a magistrate. He was killed 17 Sep 1661; it is said that this happened when, on the way back to Dorchester from a review of the troops on Boston Common, he was thrown from his horse when it stumbled over a cow lying in the road. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1636-1638 (citation details below) notes that no eyewitness account of this exists.
- Possibly a son of Edmund Atherton of Winstanley, Lancashire, who died 10 Apr 1613. Whether or not this is correct, it seems clear from multiple pieces of evidence that he was from Lancashire. Attempts to identify his specific origin have been hampered by the fact that a surprising number of Lancashire individuals named Humphrey Atherton could, chronologically, have been the emigrant.
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