Sussman-Laabs

John Washburn, born in Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England, in 1597, married Margery Moore, daughter of Robert and Ellen (Taylor) Moore, of Bengeworth, England, on 23 Nov. 1618 in Bengeworth. She was born ca. 1586, baptized on 3 Nov. 1588 in Bengeworth, a granddaughter possibly of George and Elizabeth (Pepill) Taylor, of Alvechurch, Worcester.

Robert Moore married Elen Taylor on 19 Nov. 1585 in Bengeworth. He was a “Glover” in Bengeworth, and died there testate in 1625, and was buried on 14 Jan. 1624/5 in Bengeworth. The will of “Robert More of Bengworth in the County of Worseter[,] glover” was dated 18 Dec. 1624, and mentioned his wife Elener, son and heir Thomas More, and the 3 children of Margery Washborn, among others. Ellen Taylor was baptized on 14 July 1567 in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, England, and evidently died sometime after 1626, presumably in Bengeworth.

John Washburn was a Churchwarden of St. Peter’s Parish, Bengeworth, in 1625-1626. He sailed to New England in about 1631 or 1632, and settled in the town of “Duxborrow” in Plymouth Colony, where he was a tailor. On 2 Jan. 1632/3 John Washburn sued Edward Doty in Plymouth Colony for wrongfully taking a hog from him, but the court found Washburn’s case to be faulty, and dismissed it. John Washburn was on the list of those taxed in Plymouth Colony on 25 Mar. 1633. He may have returned to England to arrange passage for his wife and children in 1634, because his name was not among those taxed in Plymouth Colony that year, but he probably returned to Plymouth Colony in late 1634. His wife followed in April of 1635, in the ship “Elizabeth and Ann”, with their two sons, John Washburn, 14, and Phillip Washburn, 11.

On 5 Jan. 1635/6 John Washborne purchased a “house and palisado” from Edward Bompass in Plymouth Colony, “beyond Eagle Nest Creek,” presumably on the “Duxborrow” side of Plymouth. In 1637 John Washburn was living in Duxbury, where his farm was described in the laying out of a path passing between William Bassett and Francis Sprague’s land to the town of Duxbury. The description of the path gives the names of some of Washburn’s neighbors. It was described as beginning at “Wadsworth’s, through Sprague’s and Basset’s orchards, thence through John Washburn’s land to Wm. Palmer’s gate, thence through Peter Brown’s land to the westward of Henry Howland’s house, thence through a marsh to Mr. John Alden’s, thence through a valley by the corner of Philip Delanoy’s farm to Edward Bumpasse’s, and thence by Rowland Leyhorne’s house to Greens harbor.” On 4 June 1638 John Washburne acknowledged that he owed £40 to the King. Plymouth Colony Records include a decision on 6 Apr. 1640 where William Sherman and John Washborne were “to have such accommodations of land as may be spared in the place where they desire.” Probably as a result of this, on 5 Apr. 1641 the colony allowed John Washbourne 40 acres additional land in “Duxborrow.” He was surveyor of highways in Duxbury on 5 Mar. 1638/9, and again on 6 June 1649, and on 4 Mar. 1650/1 he was fined for failing to repair the highway in Duxbury he was overseer of. On 3 May 1642 a committee was directed to set the bounds between the lands of Mr. Thomas Besbeech and John Washburn in Duxbury, and Washburn was appointed on committees to “view bounds” in others’ cases on 1 June 1647 and on 10 June 1650. Morris and Jane Truant, of Duxbury, sold 28 acres of planting land and 2 parcels of meadow in Duxbury between John Irish and John Alden to John Washburne on 4 Mar. 1647/8.

In August 1643 John Washborne Sen., John Washborne Jun., and Phillip Washborne were listed among those able to bear arms, aged 16 to 60 years, in “Duxborrow.” John Washburn, and his son, John Washburn Jr., were among the original 54 proprietors, or purchasers, of the new town of Bridgewater in Plymouth Colony in 1645. John Washburn became a freeman in Plymouth Colony on 2 June 1646. On 3 June 1662 he was granted a double portion of land at “Saconnet” (Little Compton) for his having been both an “ancient freeman and a former servant,” but there is no record as to whom he was a servant of, and he apparently never moved to the Little Compton area.

John Washburn served on several juries in Plymouth Colony, beginning on 7 Sept. 1642, again on 5 Nov. 1644, on a grand jury on 4 June 1645, and juries on 7 June 1648, 5 June 1666, and 25 Oct. 1668. He was also on the coroner’s jury regarding the inquest of the body of John Paybody, of Duxbury, who died about 1666.

On 26 May 1666 John Washburne deeded his homestead dwelling house and land in Duxbury to his “true and natural son” Phillip Washborne.

Margery (Moore) Washburn apparently died shortly after arriving in New England, presumably in Duxbury, and John Washburn eventually moved to Bridgewater, although he took an oath of fidelity in Duxbury in 1668. He was living in Bridgewater by 17 Mar. 1670, when his son, John Washburn, Jr., sold a share of land in Bridgewater to Edward Southworth, and the 29 May 1670 list of freemen in Duxbury included the name “John Washburne, Senr.” John Washburn died in Plymouth Colony in 1671, between 17 Mar. 1670/1 and 22 May 1671, but no probate records were filed for his estate in Plymouth Colony. (maltbyfamily.net)