♂John Bickford

John Bickford (died by 1697) was a yeoman of Oyster River, in Dover, in the Province of New Hampshire^W, and the husband of Temperance Hull. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his son John Bickford (died 1715). He left all his movable goods to his wife, and after his death his son Thomas took the will from his sister Joanna, promising to give it back, and kept it, until her husband complained to the council of the province.

Oyster River

John Bickford made his home at Oyster River, the part of Dover that is now Durham, New Hampshire. He is said to have bought his land there from Darby Field^W on 16 July 1645, to have sat on the grand jury in 1650, 1659 and 1683, and to have been licensed as a victualler in 1657. He was over sixty in March 1669, and in 1671 he was freed from military training at Dover. He was probably the John Bickford who, with the widow Dorothy Kent, was granted the administration of the estate of Oliver Kent of Oyster River in June 1670, and who signed its inventory.

Family

John Bickford married Temperance Hull, a daughter of the Reverend Joseph Hull^W; the date of the marriage is not known. Ten children are credited to them: Elizabeth, Joseph, Lydia, Mary, John, Thomas, Hannah, Temperance, Joanna and Benjamin, the last born in 1672.

His will

On 12 February 1685/6 John Bickford, “Senr of Oyster River Yeoman”, gave his “beloved wife Temperance” all his movable goods, outdoors and in, from the cattle, horses, sheep and hogs to the bedding, pots, kettles and pewter, and for her lifetime “the Lower fire roome at the west end of my house”. Out of it his daughter Joanna was to have a feather bed and its bedclothes. He signed with his mark.

He died before September 1697. The paper was left in Temperance’s keeping, and when, in Joanna’s words, “God was pleased to take away her speech”, about the autumn of 1696, Joanna gave it to her brother Thomas. Thomas, her husband said, had asked only to look at it and give it back. He kept it, and kept the goods Temperance had left Joanna in a will of her own.

Joanna had lately married John Redman Jr. of Hampton, and on 1 September 1697 he petitioned the president and council of the province to have both wills brought forth and the goods returned “to the right owners”. Joanna, aged about 28, swore to her part on 27 September, and the next day Thomas was summoned to answer for not proving his father’s will. The will was proved on 7 October 1697, and the administration was granted to Thomas, the oldest son consenting. An inventory taken on 2 November valued the estate at £32 8s, part of it in the hands of John Redman, John Bickford, Benjamin Bickford and Jeremiah Burnham, who is said to have married the couple’s daughter Temperance.

Notes

Sources

The paper of 12 February 1685/6, John Redman’s petition of 1 September 1697, Joanna’s sworn statement, the summons to Thomas, the proving of the will and the inventory are printed in the Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire, vol. 1 (New Hampshire State Papers, vol. 31), pages 296 to 298. The paper is worded as a gift to his wife, but the petition calls it his will and it was proved as one. His age in 1669, the purchase from Darby Field, the grand juries, the victualler’s licence, the release from training and the list of children come from the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire by Noyes, Libby and Davis. The dictionary dates his will 12 February 1685, the year as he wrote it; 1685/6 gives both styles.

The children

The dictionary names all ten children and gives Joanna’s marriage to John Redman Jr. as 12 November 1696; her age of about 28 in 1697 fits her birth in 1669. Of the ten, only Joanna and Thomas are named as his children in the records of his estate. His son John’s place in the family, through whom the line runs, rests on the dictionary; the dictionary also gives the husbands of the daughters, among them Joseph Smith for Elizabeth and Jeremiah Burnham for Temperance. One of the three witnesses to the 1685/6 paper was Joseph Smith; another signed as “Reu: Hull”, and the records here do not say whether he was kin to Temperance.

Oliver Kent’s estate

The administration of 1670 names a John Bickford with Oliver Kent’s widow, and the inventory was signed by Thomas Edgerly and John Bickford. Another John Bickford and his son of the same name lived at Bloody Point, in Dover, in these years, so the identification with the Oyster River man rests on the place.