♂John Colson

John Colson (died 4 July 1752) was a settler of Weymouth, Massachusetts, where the town recorded the births of nine of his children by his wife Susannah between 1712/13 and 1732, and where he died in his seventy-first year. His will calls him a glazier, and a family account by his grandson, printed in that history, says that he was born on the island of Bermuda in 1681. He was the seventh great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006) by two separate lines of descent, both through his daughter Elizabeth Colson (1723–1798).

From Bermuda to Weymouth

His origin rests on one witness. Thomas Vinson (1756–1841) of Weymouth, the son of John Colson’s youngest daughter, wrote an account of his family in which he said that his grandfather was born “in the Island of Bermuda in the West Indies in the year 1681”, came to Weymouth about the year 1700 and settled there “near the Abington line”.

A 1923 history of Weymouth records that John Colson and Susannah Lincoln were married at Hingham on 29 May 1706. The bride, born at Hingham on 19 September 1688, was a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Lewis) Lincoln of that town, according to the same history. The couple lived at Hingham until 1 February 1711/12, when John bought “a house and land at a place called Mutton Lane in Weymouth” for £140. He sold the sixty-acre property to Daniel Cushing of Hingham on 20 August 1727; the history does not say where the family lived afterwards.

Glazier and father

By trade he was a glazier. In 1725 the county court appointed “John Colson of Weymouth, glazier” to the committee dividing the estate of Sergeant John Porter, a Weymouth cooper, and his own will names him “John Colson of Weymouth … Glazier”.

The couple had twelve children between 1707 and 1732: the history places the first three at Hingham, and the town of Weymouth recorded the other nine as children of John and Susanna, from Thomas in January 1712/13 to a daughter born on 12 March 1732. Two daughters named Sarah died as children, according to the same history, and the name was given a third time to the youngest.

Will and death

John Colson made his will on 3 May 1749, and it is recorded in the Suffolk County probate register. It reads in part, “Item I Give to my Daughter Susanna Ager two pounds Old Tenor … with what she hath Already had. Item I Give to my Daughter Elizabeth Hovey two” pounds. His son Ebenezer was named executor. As the 1923 history abstracts the rest, he left his wife the use of his estate for life, after which it was to be divided among his three sons, Thomas, Ebenezer and Josiah. Josiah was to have £250 and Ebenezer £200, but Thomas only £2. His married daughters Susannah, Elizabeth and Ann received £2 each, the others on terms like Susannah’s, and his youngest daughter, Sarah, £150.

Two sons are missing from the will. The history says that Brackley died in an Indian war, and Thomas Vinson’s account tells how the eldest son, John, who had enlisted as a soldier, was shot by “a skulking Indian” while standing sentinel on the walls of the fort at York, in Maine, and lived about two hours. By the same account, the three grandchildren the will provided for, John, Christopher and Deborah Colson, were that son’s children.

John Colson died at Weymouth on 4 July 1752, in his seventy-first year, and is commemorated by a gravestone that the 1923 history places in Pond Plain Cemetery in South Weymouth. His will was proved at Dorchester on 24 July 1752.

Lines of descent

Both lines run through his daughter Elizabeth, her daughter Sarah Hovey (1747–1805) and Sarah’s son Nicholas Blanchard (1766–1849). They meet again in Wesley Blanchard (1844–1908), whose parents, Joseph Knapp Blanchard (1820–1885) and Elizabeth Trueworthy Blanchard (1825–1884), were both descended from John Colson and Susannah Lincoln. From Wesley the descent to Nancy Jane Blanchard runs as one.

Notes

The town’s register of deaths enters him as “John, July 4, 1752”, and the gravestone reading printed with the entry spells the name Coleson and gives his age as “in 71st y.”. A man in his seventy-first year in July 1752 was born between July 1681 and July 1682, which agrees with the grandson’s 1681.

Thomas Vinson’s account and the 1923 history differ in places. The account puts the marriage “about 1705” and has John Colson settled at Weymouth from about 1700; the history gives the Hingham marriage of 1706 and has the couple living at Hingham until the purchase of 1711/12. The account counts five sons and six daughters; the history lists twelve children. The records do not settle either point.

The 1923 history takes Mary Colson, a widow who died at Weymouth on 8 February 1715/16, to have been his mother, but cites no record that names her as such. His trade, the Lincoln marriage, the Mutton Lane purchase and the bequests other than those to Susanna and Elizabeth come from the history, which cites the Suffolk County deeds and probate records. The will itself was read in the probate register for its opening, those two bequests and the naming of the executor.