Richard Scammon

Richard SCAMMON (1593 – 1660 ) Richard and  John SCAMMON were probably brothers but most genealogies show they were born about the same date, died in Dover, Strattford, N. H. about the same date.  Most of the children listed for both have the same names and born on the same dates which makes it easy to assume they are the same person.

Richard Scammon was baptized 21 Sept. 1593 in Nettleton, Lincolnshire, England. His parents were Richard SCAMMON Sr. and Prudence WALDREN.  His father may have been Capt Edmond Scammon.  He arrived in Boston about 1630. It is believed that he first came to Barbados in the West Indies and later continued onto Boston. He ultimately settled in the area of Portsmouth, New Hampshire about 1640.  He died about 1660 in Dover, Strafford, N. H.

Richard Scammon may have been baptized and married Elizabeth at St. John the Baptist Church in Nettleton, Lincolnshire, England

The name of his wife has not been found – maybe Anne or Elizabeth?

Children of Richard and [__?__]:

According to Farmer’s Genealogical Register Richard was living at Portsmouth, NH in 1640. He later lived in Dover, NH.  He emigrated from England via the Barbadoes Islands and arrived in Boston about 1630.

1637 – Richard’s potential father Captain Edmund Scammon commanded a British war vessel under Admiral Rainsborough.

Several families of the Scammon name are now landed proprietors in Lincolnshire, England.

The story was told by a grandson of Richard the Immigrant that one of Richard’s sons was approached by a man who was well known for his ability to tell anyone’s origins from his speech. The man told Richard’s son that he was from Wales, and Richard’s son told the man he was right, possibly because he had been so informed by his father. The rather rare and curious character of the name betrays a possible Welsh origin, as many names from there are virtually unpronounceable by outsiders.

Copies of Deeds left by Mr. Scammon of and about Shrewsbury Men’s Interest in Quamscott.

Sept. 13, 1642.

To all Christian people to whom this present writing shall come, I Thomas Larkham, Pastor of the church at Northam in Piscataquacke in New England greeting, Whereas I, the said Thomas Larkham with divers others have an adventure or stock in the Patents and plantation of Pascataquacke granted, sold, assigned & sett over by one Obediah Brewer of Cape Anne alias Gloucester in New-England aforesaid, to the propper use of me my executors & administrators and assignes, which was granted, sold, assigned & sett over unto the said Obediah Brewer by Richard Percivall now or heretofore of Shrewsbury in Old England, as by a writing of sale drawne by Richard Percivall above named bearing date the 22nd of October 1635 Annoque regis Caroli undecimo more at large it may & doth appeare, approved by Richard Hunt, Thomas Wingfield, Thomas Knight & other adventurers and partners in the above mentioned Patents & plantations as by a writing bearing date the 4th of May anno Dom. 1640 appeareth. Now know yee that I the sayd Thomas Larkham for & uppon a certaine valluable some of money by me received of William Walderne & for divers good causes & considerations me thereunto moving, Have given, granted, bargained, sold, assigned & sett over & by these presents doe fully grant bargaine, assigne & sett over unto the aforenamed William Waldern to his own propper use & to the use of his executors… all my said adventure or stock by me bought as aforesaid & all the produce & increase by me also bought as aforesaid and all sith hence coming of the said Adventure & stocke… In witness whereof I have put to my hand & seale this thirteenth day of September Anno Dom. 1642

Thom. Larkham

Sealed & delivered in presence of
William Ballew,
Phillip X Cheslin

That this is a true Copy Compared with its original left on file & in its stead left to remayne on file. Attestes.

Edw. Rawson Secretary,
Richard Scamon

A similar document is dated 4 May 1640 and again the “true copy” is attested to by Edward Rawson and Richard Scammon on 11 June 1666.(3) Why Richard was in possession of these documents remains a mystery.

Richard was in Portsmouth, NH in 1642. Either he or his son was taxed in Dover (Cochecho) in 1663 for 0-4-6.

26 July 1665 – Richard signed the petition requesting that the King take New Hampshire under Royal Protection

Praying to be freed from ye Jurisdiction of ye Massachusetts
To the Kings most Excellent Matie

The humble peticon of the inhabitants of Portesmouth and Strawberry Bank Dover: Exiter and Hampton, Humbly sheweth

That yor Maties peticoers were much transported wth joy and hope of settlemt when they heard of the care of yor Matie had of these plantacions in New England and had heard the power wch yor Matie had given yor Commissioer for the appointing of bounds and govrmt amongst us here But yor Maties peticoers find to theire great grief that the Masachusetts Denying that authorytie whch yor Matie gave yor Commissionrs hath hindered us from that good wch were Expected from those Commissionrs.

Wherefore yor Maties peticoers humbly desire that yor Matie would be gratiously pleased to take them into yor Royall pteccon and govrnmt and joyne them to the pvince of Meyne that they may be goved by the knowne lawes of England and enjoy the use of both the sacramts wch they have bin too deprived of. And as in all duty bound, yor peticoers shall dayly pray for the increase of all earthly honor untill you arive at the heavenly kingdome… Richard Scamond…

1677 – Either he or his son (most likely his son) signed an Exeter petition in 1677

We whose names that are under wrytten being the inhabitants and dwellers of the towne of Exeter, doe manifest hereby that it is our humble desire, that if it be thought meete that an addresses should be made to his Majesty for the Continuance of the Present government under which wee have lived many years, that in the same address or petition that among others these our names may be inserted in reference to the present Goverment from Pascataquack to Merimacke river excepting the three miles… Rich: Scamon…

Children

1. Elizabeth Scammon

Elizabeth’s first husband Peter Lidgett was born xx. Peter died 26 Apr 1676 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts,.

Elizabeth’s second husband John Saffin (1632-1710) was born in 1632 in Devonshire, England. He was the eldest son of Simon Saffin of Exeter and Grace Garret of Barnstable, England. Saffin emigrated to America as a youngster and by 1643 he was living in Scituate, Massachusetts. By the age of 21, Saffin was elected to be a selectman in Scituate, which meant that he was a part of the board of town officers chosen annually to manage the community’s local affairs. On 2 December 1658, he married his first wife, Martha Willett of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Martha was the daughter of Thomas Willett, a magistrate of Plymouth and the first mayor of New York. John and Martha were married for twenty years and had eight children, but only one survived past childhood: John (1659-1661), John II (b. 1662), Thomas (1664-1687), Simon (b. 1666), Josiah (b. 1668), Joseph (b. 1670), Benjamin (b. 1672), Joseph II (b. 1676). Martha died in 1678 and John often lamented her loss in his writings.

Following the death of his first wife, Saffin was made a judge of the Supreme Court in Boston and became prominent in the city’s affairs. In 1680, Saffin married Elizabeth (Scammon) Lidgett (d. 1682). This marriage was childless and short lived, since Elizabeth died two years later. In 1686, he was the speaker of the general assembly and also spent time as a deputy for Boston to the general court. Saffin moved to Bristol, R.I. in 1688 and here he met his third wife, Rebecca Lee (fl. 1688), who was the daughter of the first settled minister in the town. Saffin was the first judge of probate in the county of Bristol from 1692-1702. John Saffin died in 1710.

The New England historical and genealogical register, Volume 13 By New England Historic Genealogical Society

Abstract Of Elizabeth Saffin’s Will—Late widow of Mr. Peter Lidgett;—Gives to two children Charles Lidgett & Elizabeth wife of John Usher;—to grandchild Elizabeth Usher;—my present husband John Saffin mercht.;—to brother John Scammond;—to brother Richard Scammond;—to sister Anni Waldron;—to cousin Elizabeth Atkins, brother John Scammond’s daughter;—to cousin Jean Scammond daughter to my brother Richard Scammond;—to cousin Hannah Gerrish. Date 14 Apl. 1682. Cod. 26 Oct. 1687. Proved 30 Dec. 1687. Recorded, Bk. 10, p. 189 to 194.

Dean Vs. Lidget.—Thomas Dean, of Boston, Taylor & Shopkeeper* and Jane, his wife, late Jane Scammond, daughter to Richard Scammond* late of Exeter, in ye Province of New Hampshire in New England, Brother to Elizabeth Saffin, Pllfs.

The Estate of said Elizabeth Saffin decd, late wife of John Saffin of Boston, merchant, now Esqr, and late ye widow and Executrix of Mr. Peter Lidget, of said Boston in New England, deceased, In ye hands & Possession & under ye administration of Mary Lidget, now in Boston aforesaid, widow, Relict & Executrix of the late will & testament of Charles Lidget, formerly of Boston aforesaid, Esq., and late of London in y° Kingdom of England, decd, (which said Charles Lidget was Execr of the last will & Testament of said ElizabethSaffin, with a codicil to said will annexed) Bfdt.

In an action of trespass upon the case in ye Writt bearing date July 23, 1700 is at large set forth, [&c, &c]—Suffolk Court Records

Children of Elizabeth and Peter:

i. Charles Lidgett (29 Mar 1650 – )

ii. Elizabeth Lidgett  (? – 17 Aug 1698); m. 24 Apr 1668 to John Usher (17 Apr 1648 – 5 Sep 1726 in Medford, Mass.) He was a son of Hezekiah & Frances Usher. John bacame Liet. Governor of New Hampshire. 6 children

3. Ann Scammon

Ann’s husband Major Richard Waldron  (wiki) (1615 – 1689) dominated the society and economy of early colonial Dover, New Hampshire and had a substantial presence in greater New Hampshire.  He was the second president of the colonial New Hampshire Royal Council after it was first separated from Massachusetts.

Masonian property dispute: Perhaps because Waldron was a prominent landholder, he was singled out for a lawsuit which was part of a plan seeking to overturn all land titles in colonial New Hampshire in favour of the descendants of John Mason, the adventurer who had named New Hampshire and planted the first British colonists.

Whipping of Quaker Women: Waldron was the local magistrate whose stern Puritan action in 1662 toward three persistent Quaker women proselytizers became the stuff of condemnatory poetry by Whittier. He ordered them to be marched behind a cart through eleven townships and stripped to the waist and whipped in each. When released in the third township they were marched into, the women left for Maine.

Cocheco Massacre: Richard Walderne may be most famous for the way he died. Local native women were allowed into the garrisoned homes of the settlers when they requested to stay the night of June 27 1689 and, after all was still, stealthily opened the doors to waiting armed native warriors. “In one bloody afternoon, a quarter of the colonists in what is now downtown Dover, NH were gone — 23 killed, 29 captured in a revenge attack by native warriors. In one afternoon, 50 years of peaceful co-existence between the Pennacook tribe and European colonists ended. The massacre of 1689 entered the history books ….” The sword-wielding elderly Walderne, once disarmed, was singled out for special torture and mutilation.

The historian Reverend Jeremy Belknap notes that Walderne was placed in a dilemma about 13 years before his death when as leader of the New Hampshire militia he was required to bring some Massachusetts fugitive natives into custody at the end of King Philip’s War. They were sheltered by the peaceful Penacooks, who had recently signed a peace treaty with Walderne. Either Major Walderne and the militia would attack to retrieve the “strange Indians” at some risk to local natives and to the militia members, or would not and would fail to carry out orders from his Boston superiors.

He chose what seemed a third way – invite the natives for a friendly wargame, dupe them into discharging their single-shot weapons, and apprehend the Massachusetts native fugitives at gunpoint. This “sham” or play battle that he envisioned did preserve the local natives and satisfy his Massachusetts masters but, as Belknap tells us, the humiliation and the execution or enslaving of some of the native fugitives once back in Massachusetts also stoked within the local Penacooks an implacable fury and thirst for revenge which culminated in the summer slaughter of 1689.

Children of Anne and Richard Waldron:

i. Anna Waldron (? – 7 Dec 1724); m. 19 Aug 1667 to  Rev. Joseph Gerrish, who was b.Mar. 23, 1649, son of Capt. William & Joanna[Lowle] Gerrish of Newberry. Mass.

ii. Elnathan Waldron  (6 Jul 1659 – 10 Dec 1659)

iii. Esther Waldron (1 Dec 1660 – )

iv. Mary Waldron (14 Sep 1663 – d. young)

v. Eleazor Waldron (1 May 1665 – )

vi. Elizabeth Waldron (18 Oct 1666 – ); m. John Gerrish (12 Feb 1646 – 19 Dec 1714).  He was a son of Capt. William & Joanna Lowle Gerrish of Newbury, Mass.

vii. Maria Waldron (17 Jul 1668 – 1682)

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4. Richard Scammon

Richard Scammon, eldest son of Richard the immigrant, accompanied his father from England, resided in Portsmouth and Dover until 1665, when he settled on what is known as the Shrewsbury Patent, located on the east bank of Swamscot river, in the southern portion of what is now the town of Stratham, and became sole proprietor of the entire tract. Although his estate was not within the limits of Exeter, he was considered a resident of that town, held public offices, and was one of the largest taxpayers. He died previous to 1697. In 1664 he married Prudence, only daughter of William Waldron, recorder of the court at Dover.

Richard married Prudence Waldron, who d. prior to 1727. She was an only dau. of William Waldron of Dover, NH & a niece of Major Richard Waldron. Richard was a “gunsmith” by trade.

From the Gen. Dic. of ME & NE pg 613:

Richard Scammon Dover, Exeter or Stratham, whose will, 1682, gave £20 each to bos. John and Richard S. and sister Anne Waldron, £40 to John’s daughter Elizabeth Atkins, £60 to Richard’s daughter Jean, and £5 to Hannah Gerrish. He married Prudence Waldron (13), evid away from Dover (where first taxed in Dec 1663). On his pet to the MA Ct as heir by mar to the estate of Wm Waldron, the ct 5/23/1666 allowed him to take over the Shrewsbury patent provided he gave security to respond to the creditors and other partners. Lists 356h(2), 47, 54, 359ab, 383, 386, 49, 52, 57. On 4/24/1691 he deeded to s William “my farm where I now dwelleth” near town of Execter, and stock, reserving for dau Mary the meadow called Jeremies Pocket and meadow by the river next land of Capt. Wm. Moore. Appar dead 10/12/1691 when Richard Talley and w Sarah of Boston and Mary Hale witProdence Scammon’s consent to her dau Jane’s mar in Boston. Unrec ch: Sarah m 12/10/1674 Christian Dolloff. Richard. Thomas, at Stratham in 1680 with fa and br Wm. (see later Marbleh records). Ch. (Prov. rec.) their mo. Prodence: William b 2/29/1664-5. Jane b 7/21/1667 m 1st Thomas Stedman q.v.; m 2d at Boston 10/12/1691 Thomas Deane; see N.E. Reg. 13: 140; 37:288. Prudence b 8/29/1669. Elizabeth b 4/22/1671. Mary b 5/31/1673 m James Sinclair (2).

Children of Richard and Prudence:

i. Richard Scammon. (1662 – 1724) Richard is said by Willis (His. Portland, I. 138) to have been a Quaker. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Wakely, and grand-dau. of Thomas W., of Falmouth. She was b. abt. 1664, and at the age of 11, in Sept. 1675, was taken captive by the Indians, (her father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and three of her brothers or sisters, having been killed,) and after a captivity of several months was returned, in June 1676, by Squando, the Saco Sagamore, to Major Waldron, at Dover. Robert Evans made a deposition in relation to her, 15 Feb. 1723, she being then, as per said deposition, about 60 years of age (Folsom Hist. Saco & B. 157)

ii. Thomas Scammon. b. in 1663.
iii. William Scammon (28 Feb 1664 – 28 Sep 1743); m. Rachel Thurber. 5 ch.
iv.  Jane Scammon. (21 Jun  1667 – 9 Oct 1726) [Mentioned in her aunt Elizabeth’s will] mar. Thomas Deane, of Boston, Hampton Falls, and Salisbury
v. Prudence Scammon  (29 Aug 1669 – )
vi. Elizabeth Scammon (27 Apr 1671 – )
vii.  Mary Scammon (31 May 1673 – ); m. James Sinclair. 12 ch.

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5. John Scammon

Another son of Richard the immigrant was John Scammon, who lived at Kittery, Maine for a while and then returned to Barbados. Given the bitter winter weather in Maine, he made a good choice. Nothing is known of him thereafter but he is presumed to have relaxed in the sun the remainder of his life. Barbados was a sugar-cane growing area at the time and many immigrants to that area eventually went to New England. Good farm land in Barbados was expensive- one source says that in 1657, 45 acres of land in Barbados cost as much as 5000 acres in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

John Scamon was the father of Mary Scammon. She was the only heiress of his estate. He may have been in Barbados at some time but it is stated in The Early Settlers of Barbados that John Scamon was a Planter and a long time resident of that Island which was Rhode Island and not Barbados. He was around those that signed a compact for Portsmouth but this was not Portsmouth N.H but Portsmouth Rhode Island.

Mary married  Dr. John Rodman who was from Barbados and they moved to Flushing Long Island following religious persecution at the time of the Quakers (Society of Friends) which John Rodman was a member.  John Rodman had a first wife Christiana Gibson who had two children. The daughter of Christiana and John Rodman died at two years old in Rhode Island, the mother Christiana already being dead.  Doctor Rodman was a well-known surgeon and landowner in Block Island.

Dr. John Rodman (John¹ Redman) was born in 1653 at Barbadoes. He married Christina Gibson on 15 May 1676 at Barbadoes; 1st wife. He married Mary Scammon after 25 Oct 1682; 2nd wife. He died on 10 Jul 1731 at Flushing, NY.

John was a physician. He was a minister of the Society of Friends. He resided on 22 Dec 1679 at Christ Church Parish, Barbadoes. He immigrated circa 1682 to Newport, RI. He resided circa 1688 at Block Island, RI. He resided between 1691 and 1702 at Flushing, Long Island, NY.  Christina Gibson died circa 1682.

Sources:

http://www.familyorigins.com/users/s/t/g/Bob–Stgelais/FAMO1-0001/d1452.htm#P21061

http://capecodhistory.us/genealogy/wellfleet/i2204.htm#i15253

Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs …, Volume 1

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/r/o/j/Heather-W-Rojo/GENE16-0071.html

http://genforum.genealogy.com/scammon/messages/40.html

http://mainegenie.cwahi.net/SCAMMON.htm

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mainegenie/SCAMMON.htm