♂John Dudley

John Dudley (born 15 January 1754) was a yeoman of Mount Vernon, in the District of Maine^W, and a son of the New Hampshire judge John Dudley (1725–1805). He was a brother of Nathaniel Dudley (1763–1844), the fourth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006).

Birth and family

A family history published in 1886 gives his birth as 15 January 1754 at Exeter, New Hampshire, the second son of John Dudley (1725–1805) and Elizabeth Gilman. It lists him as “John 2d”, an earlier son of the same name, born in 1751, having died the next year. The same book says he died in December 1828 at Mount Vernon and gives his wife as Susanna Smith. The family moved from Exeter to a farm at Raymond in 1766, when he was twelve.

The 1806 deed

The records name him once, at his father’s death. By a deed dated 10 March 1806, Nathaniel Dudley, then of Mount Vernon, and John Dudley of Mount Vernon, yeoman, sold to Moses Dudley (1766–1843) of Raymond all the land that fell to them in Raymond from the estate of “our late Father John Dudley Esqr. deceased”. It was held in common and undivided, and consisted of their shares in the Dunlop Lot and in the farm where Josiah Hook then lived, together one third of the whole. The deed was acknowledged at Rockingham on 14 March 1806 and recorded on 28 February 1807. Two shares making one third implies six heirs, which agrees with the family history’s statement that six children survived the judge. The judge had died intestate in 1805, and Moses had been granted administration of his estate that June.

The deed gives neither his age nor his birthplace, so his identity with the John 2d of the family history, who died at Mount Vernon, rests on that book. The John Dudley who witnessed the deed, with Gilman Dudley, is a different man from the grantor.