♂Jacob Towne

Jacob Towne (died 27 November 1704) was a farmer of Topsfield, Massachusetts, and the brother of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, who were hanged as witches at Salem in 1692. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his daughter Katherine Towne (1662–1714).

Early life

Jacob was a son of William Towne and his wife Johanna Blessing, and was christened at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk on 11 March 1631/32. An index of the parish registers gives 11 February 1631 for the same entry. The family probably crossed to New England by 1640 and lived in the North Fields at Salem until about 1651, when his father left Salem. By 1656 Jacob himself held land at Topsfield.

Topsfield

On 4 July 1656 the town voted a highway through lands that included his own and his brother Edmund’s. In December 1656 the two brothers most likely paid William Howard £150 for a farm of fifty acres, and by 1661 they may have been commoners of the town. His land is said to have lain near what is now Hill Street, next to that of John Curtis.

He sat as a trial juror at the Ipswich Quarterly Court in 1656, 1676 and 1681. In June 1660 he was the defendant in a suit at Salem over a mare and foal, which the court decided for the plaintiff; his father, his brother Edmund and his brothers-in-law Francis Nurse and Isaac Estey gave evidence in the case.

The town gave him road and boundary work. He was chosen to lay out a highway in 1669, and in 1682 he was one of three men who ran the bounds with Salem men. Four times between 1679 and 1693 the town chose him a selectman. He also rose through the Topsfield train band, from corporal by March 1679/80 to sergeant in 1686 and ensign by April 1687, a title the town still gave him in 1703/4.

Family

He married Katherine Symonds, daughter of John Symonds of Salem, on 26 June 1657. The couple had six children, born at Topsfield between 1658 and 1666, and their daughter Katherine, born in 1661/2, married Elisha Perkins. When his father’s small estate was finally settled in 1682/3, the heirs asked the court to divide the land equally among “his three sons, Edmond, Jacob and Joseph” and the household goods among the three daughters, Rebecka, Mary and Sarah. Jacob signed the agreement himself; his brother Joseph and Rebecca’s husband, Francis Nurse, made their marks.

1692

In the spring of 1692 the witchcraft accusations at Salem Village reached three of Jacob’s sisters. Rebecca Nurse was hanged in July and Mary Esty in September; Sarah Cloyce was imprisoned but not tried. The records do not say what part Jacob took in his sisters’ defense. On 30 December 1692 the town chose Ensign Jacob Towne to serve on the grand jury at Salem for the assize that opened on 3 January 1692/3, but the record does not show that he sat.

Death

In March 1703/4 he was chosen with Lieutenant Thomas Baker and Isaac Peabody to renew the town’s bounds with Zerubbabel Endicott, the last entry in the town book under his name. On 24 November 1704 he made his will, describing himself as “Jacob Towne Senr of Topsfield”, a husbandman. It names his daughters Katherine, wife of Elisha Perkins, and Deliverance, wife of John Stiles, and was proved in January 1704/5. The Topsfield records enter the death of “Jacob, Ensign” on 27 November 1704. His son of the same name was also living in Topsfield, and the entry is taken to be the father’s on the strength of the title; this is an inference.

Lines of descent

One line of descent connects Jacob with Nancy Jane Blanchard. It runs through his daughter Katherine Towne (1662–1714), who married Elisha Perkins, then through her son Thomas Perkins (1681–1761) and eight generations of his descendants to Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006).

Notes

Baptism date

The Great Yarmouth St Nicholas register, as transcribed by FreeREG (line 304), gives 11 March 1631/32. Davis (1927), the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1867) and Hubbard (1880) agree. The year then began on 25 March, so 11 March 1631/32 is 11 March 1632 in modern reckoning. The England, Births and Christenings index (1538–1975) gives 11 February 1631, with William as father and Joane as mother. The register page itself is too faint to settle the day.

Salem and the move

Hubbard’s The Towne Family Memorial places the family in the North Fields at Salem for about twelve years, to 1651; this is a compiled account. A deposition at the Ipswich court in March 1681 says the father bought twenty acres at Salem and sold them to Nathaniel Felton “when he removed from Salem in 1651” (Dow, Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County).

Topsfield land

The highway vote of 4 July 1656 is recorded in the Topsfield town records and in Dow’s History of Topsfield. The purchase from William Howard in December 1656, the commons status and the Hill Street location come from compiled accounts of Topsfield; the deeds are not cited here.

Courts

Trial juror at the Ipswich Quarterly Court on 25 March 1656, 28 March 1676 and 29 March 1681. The Salem suit of 26 June 1660 (Bartholomew v. Towne) was over a mare and foal; the verdict went to the plaintiff. Witnesses were his father William, aged about sixty, his brother Edmund, and his brothers-in-law Francis Nurse and Isaac Estey. Both from Dow, Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County.

Town and militia offices

Selectman entries: 4 March 1678/9, 2 March 1679/80, 4 March 1683/4 and 7 March 1692/3. Corporal (“Corprel Jacob towne”, 2 March 1679/80), sergeant (“Sargt Jacob Toune”, 28 June 1686) and ensign (“Ensigne Jacob Toune”, by 6 April 1687); “Ensine” in 1703/4. Highway, 15 November 1669; bounds with Salem men, 12 April 1682; bounds renewed with Zerubbabel Endicott, 7 March 1703/4. Sources: Town Records of Topsfield, vol. I, 1659–1739, and Dow.

The 1692 grand jury

The Topsfield return of 30 December 1692 (Massachusetts Archives, vol. 135) names “Ens Jacob Towne” for the grand jury. The son is “Jacob Towne iunr” in the 1691 and 1692/3 entries, so the title is the father’s.

The will and the death entry

The Topsfield vital records enter “Jacob, Ensign, Nov. 27, 1704”, which is taken as the father: the son Jacob married Phebe Smith in 1684, and a Jacob died in 1741. The will of 24 November 1704, proved 1 January 1704/5, is in the Essex County probate records, volume 308 (Book 8). It spells the daughter’s name “Katharine”.

Katherine’s birth

The Topsfield records enter her birth on 25 February 1661/62, which is 1662 in modern reckoning.