♂Henry Jefts

Henry Jefts (about 1606 – 24 May 1700) was a settler of Billerica, Massachusetts, who was married four times and died there aged about 94. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his daughter Hannah Jefts (1654/55–1729/30).

Towns and land

Henry Jefts was probably a subscriber to the Woburn town orders of 1640, and in September 1645 he was taxed in the country rate. In February 1654/55 he most likely signed, as one of the inhabitants of Shawshin (Billerica), the acceptance of Cambridge’s propositions. In May 1665 the town is said to have granted him four acres at the Indian Hill, where he had also bought land from the Indians.

Family

He first married Anna Stowers at Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts, on 13 September 1647. On 21 May 1649 Henry Jefts and Hannah married at Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts; the Woburn register writes the bride as Hannah Births. The Billerica vital records name her only as Hannah. A son, John, was born at Woburn on 11 May 1651. Their daughter Hana died in the first week of May 1653, and a second daughter, born on 4 February 1654/55, was given the same name. Two more children followed, Joanna on 24 May 1656 and Henry on 21 March 1658/59. His wife Hannah died on 15 September 1662.

On 3 October 1666 he married Mary Bird, a widow, who died on 1 April 1679. On 5 May 1681 he married a fourth time, to Mary Baker, a widow of Concord. The records enter him in that year as Henry Jefts senior, to set him apart from his son, who married Mary Baldwin in April of the same year.

His daughter Hannah married Andrew Spaulding of Chelmsford on 30 April 1674, and the Billerica record of that marriage calls her “Hannah, d. Henry”. Henry Jefts senior died at Billerica on 24 May 1700, and the death record gives his age as about 94. His birthplace is not known.

On 4 March 1691/2 he made a will, which is said to name his four children then living and some grandchildren. It was proved on 17 June 1700, after his death.

Notes

Woburn and Billerica residence

The 1640 subscription to the Woburn town orders is given in Samuel Sewall’s The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. (1868), p.618, and the September 1645 country rate comes from the same history. The February 1654/55 signing is printed in Henry A. Hazen’s History of Billerica, Massachusetts (1883), p.22, and the May 1665 grant and land purchase at the Indian Hill are in that history at p.106. All three are compiled-history grades, not entries in a register.

The will

The will is known from an abstract in Pope’s English and Scotch Immigrant Ancestors of the Clapp-Cheney Family (1900), p.41, which dates it “March 4, 1691-2” and gives the probate as 17 June 1700. It is a compiled abstract, not the full text of the will.

Marriage date

Hazen’s genealogical register gives the first marriage, to Anna Stowers, as 18 September 1647. The Woburn register gives 13 September 1647, the date used in the text.