Pioneer Sketches
Mary Raymond, a descendant of Roger Conant, the founder of both Beverly and
of Salem, MA!
Mary Raymond, a descendant of Roger Conant, the founder of both Beverly and of Salem, MA!
Compiled by William L.
(Bill) Smith
This page includes sketches I have compiled from my family history research for my own use. I am posting them on the Internet in the interest of sharing this information with interested parties. If you appear to be directly related, based on the information in the the sketches, or have comments to share with me about these sketches, I would be happy to hear from you. I do not do research for others, nor am I particularly interested in speculative relationships or unrelated surname discussions. There are many other worthy sites for these activities. I hope you enjoy reading some of these interesting stories.
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Introduction and background
The Nathaniel Raymond family
The Lot Conant family
Roger Conant
References
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Mary Raymond was the wife of William Presson/Preston
(b. 1 Jan 1704/05, Beverly, MA). She was the daughter of Nathaniel
and Rebecca (Conant) Raymond. Rebecca Conant was the daughter of Lot
and the granddaughter of Roger Conant. Roger Conant
is well documented in Massachusetts history. We will share a bit of that history
here, and provide links to additional information.
Enjoy the journey!
Rebecca Conant, daughter of Lot Conant, married Nathaniel Raymond
The Lot Conant family
ID: I4980 (DW&GMForbes database, WorldConnect)
Name: Lot* CONANT
Sex: M
Birth: Abt 1624 in MA 1
Death: 29 SEP 1674 in Beverly, Essex, MA 1
IDNO: 662
Note:
Lot owned property in Marblehead MA by 1657 where he served as select-man in 1662 and was granted "commanage" for one cow in 1667. He is on the May 1674 list of Marblehead householders. His permanent home was apparently in Beverly and he sold his Marblehead holdings ( 10 Mar 1669/70 - "land bounding that of John Trebye and Richard Thisle - to Vinson Stilson; 20 Mar 1671 - land and house to John Treby). He is described in the land deeds as "Lott Conant of Beverly, yeoman". This Marblehead connection was undoubtedly a result of his marriage to Elizabeth Walton who's father William had settled in Marblehead as early as 1639 and was the pastor there until his death in 1668.
In 1666, his father gave him the Beverly homestead with 32 acres and 72 acres in town, though Lot leased the homestead back to his parents for "on indian corn per annum". In Jul 1667 his church membership was transferred from First Church at Salem to the new church at Bass River( Beverly).
Lot was fined 4 shillings in Mar 1672 for "attacking Matthew ffairfield"
In addition to his occupation as a farmer (yeoman), he also apparently worked at a trade (possibly a shoemaker as that was son Nathaniel's occupation) as evidenced by his special bequest of "the shop and tools" as noted in his will.
Lot Conant's Last Will and Testament
I, Lot Conant aged about fiftie yeers being sicke and weak, yet of p'fit understanding doe hereby declare my last will and testament wherein in the first place I do bequeath my soul unto god that gave it, and my body to the grave in hope of a blessed reserrection: and for my outward estate and goods I doe bequeath and give unto my five sonns to each of them fiftie pounds and unto my son nathaniel the shop and tools over & above the rest, and unto my five daughters twenty pounds to each of them and this estate I leave to be whole and unbroken till they come to full age or to marriage estate and in the meane time the whole to rest in the hands of my wife, and for the bringing up of the children and further more my will is that my wife be executrix and that the land be not at all disposed off from the children and that my wife have the dwelling house and orchard for her life time. and also that my kins woman mari Leach have a cow or heifer at her beig married or going from my wife. And for help unto my wife in this matter I do instruct and designe mr. John Hale, Captaine Lathrop and my brother Exercise Conant to be assisting. Hereunto I have subscribed my hand this 24 of the 7 month 1674.
Witness Roger Conant Signed Lot Conant Exercise Conant Sworn 26:9 mo:1674
Father: Gov. Roger* CONANT b: Bef 9 APR 1592 in East Budleigh, Devon, England
Mother: Sarah* HORTON b: 19 SEP 1598 in Budleigh, Devon, England
Marriage 1 Elizabeth* WALTON b: 27 OCT 1629 in Seaton, Devonshire, England
Married: 1649 in of Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts 1
Children
1. Elizabeth CONANT b: 13 MAY 1616
2. Twin CONANT b: 28 JUL 1650
3. Nathaniel CONANT b: 28 JUL 1650 in Beverly,Essex,Ma
4. Elizabeth CONANT b: Abt 1651 in Salem,Essex Co,Ma
5. John* CONANT b: 15 DEC 1652 in Beverly,Essex,Mass
6. Lot CONANT b: 16 FEB 1657/1658 in Beverly Essex Ma
7. Elizabeth CONANT b: 13 MAY 1660 in Beverly Essex Ma
8. Mary* CONANT b: 14 JUL 1662 in Beverly Essex MA
9. Martha CONANT b: 15 AUG 1664 in Beverly,Essex,Ma
10. Sarah (Twin) CONANT b: 19 FEB 1665/1666 in Beverly Essex Ma
11. William (Twin) CONANT b: 19 FEB 1665/1666 in Beverly Essex Ma
12. Mary CONANT b: 14 JUL 1668
13. Roger CONANT b: 10 MAR 1668/1669 in Beverly Essex Ma
14. Rebecca CONANT b: 31 JAN 1670/1671 in Beverly Essex Ma
Roger Conant
The first permanent settlement in the town of Beverly, Essex Co, MA, was effected by Roger Conant, John and William Woodberry, and John Balch, about 1630, according to "History of Beverly," by Edwin M. Stone, in 1843. Beverly is situated on the Massachusetts Bay, 16 miles north of Boston. The bordering towns, 1843, were Salem, Danvers, Wenham and Manchester. Roger Conant was born in Budleigh, England, in April, 1591. He was the son of Richard and Agnes Conant, and grandson of John Conant. Roger was the brother of Dr. John Conant, of Exeter College. In 1623, Roger emigrated to Plymouth, where he remained until 1625, when, he removed to Nantasket, before going to settle in Beverly. Roger Conant had four sons, Lot, Roger, Exercise, and Joshua. Lot, probably the oldest, was born in 1624.
Sources:
http://www.salemweb.com/roger.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~anderson207/Roger2Con.html
DW&GMForbes database, WorldConnect
Entries: 5174 Updated: Thu May 30 23:24:39 2002 Contact: Forbes
ID: I5004
Name: Gov. Roger* CONANT
Sex: M
Birth: Bef 9 APR 1592 in East Budleigh, Devon, England 1
Christening: 9 APR 1593 East Budleigh, Devon,Eng 1
Death: 19 NOV 1679 in Beverly, Essex, MA 1
IDNO: 1324
The Founder of Salem
In 1623 he emigrated to Plymouth on the ship "Ann" with his wife, Sarah and son, Caleb. However, he was uncomfortable with the strict Pilgrim society in Plymouth and moved his family to Nantasket in 1624. In the late autumn of 1625, Conant was invited by the Rev. John White and other members of the Dorchester Company to move to their fishing settlement on Cape Ann as their governor.
After a year's residence, Conant became convinced in 1626 of the need for a more permanent settlement and found an ideal site at the mouth of the Naumkeag River (now the City of Salem), where he continued as their governor. There the settlement thrived and grew by farming as well as fishing. In 1627 a patent was solicited from England and it was obtained by a group led by John Endicott who arrived in Naumkeag in 1628. Endicott and the other settlers of the New England Company now owned the rights to Naumkeag. Fortunately for the peaceful continuity of the settlement, Conant remained in Salem and, despite what must have been a disappointment for him, acceded to Endicott's authority as the new governor. (The Dorchester Company went into bankruptcy in 1627 and became the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 under charter from England). Known as the"Old Planters", Conant and his followers lent continuity to the new settlement of Salem.
Conant built the first house in Salem on what is Essex Street today, almost opposite the Town Market. In 1639, his was one of the signatures on the building contract for enlarging the meeting house in Town House Square for the First Church in Salem. This document remains part of the town records at City Hall. He was active in the affairs of the town throughout his life. In 1679, he died at the age of 87.
A cloaked statue of Roger Conant faces the Salem Common and stands atop a huge boulder brought from the woods near the floating bridge at Lynn.
Artist Henry H. Kitson designed this heroic bronze statue for the Conant Family Association and the statue was dedicated on June 17, 1913.
Father: Richard CONANT b: 1548 in Devonshire, England
Mother: Agnes* CLARK b: 16 MAY 1548 in of East Budleigh, Devon, England
Marriage 1 Sarah* HORTON b: 19 SEP 1598 in Budleigh, Devon, England
Married: 11 NOV 1618 in Blackfriar's, London, Middlesex, England 1
Children
1. Caleb CONANT
2. Sarah CONANT b: 19 SEP 1619 in London,,, England
3. Sarah CONANT b: Abt 1623 in Ma
4. Lot* CONANT b: Abt 1624 in MA
5. Joanna CONANT b: Abt 1626 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts
6. Roger CONANT b: Abt 1628 in Salem, Essex,Ma
7. Joshua CONANT b: Abt 1630 in Salem, Essex,Ma
8. Mary CONANT b: Abt 1632 in Salem, Essex,Mass
9. Elizabeth CONANT b: Abt 1635 in Salem Essex Ma
10. Exercise* CONANT b: 24 DEC 1637 in Salem, Mass.
DW&GMForbes
This Conant connection is built on top of the Preston research noted in the next paragraph. It is based on mostly Internet sources, supplemented by some library research in Independence - Mid-Continent Library.
This story of our ancestory, as it appears here, now, has
been established through individual contributions of Gene Preston, Elena
Anderson, and Bill Smith during the May-June 1998 period, based, necessarily,
on works of many others, largely anonymous, over the years. We, of course,
are just beginning to assemble pieces of the true story, bit by bit, as
we scrape away the sediment of time. The true story happened. We can but
reveal as much of this truth as is still available, in the records, both
oral and written, for us to find.
Bill Smith, Complier, 9 Nov 2002
This page created 9 Nov 2002. Last updated 30 May2004, by William
L. (Bill) Smith.
