John Geare of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine

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1 John Geare of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine Scott Andrew Bartley 1. John 1 Geare, ancestry unknown, was born in England about 1655, [1] and died before 16 May [2] John married before 19 December 1689, Sarah Wills, [3] born before 16 May 1667, daughter of Thomas 1 and Sarah (Abbott) Wills. [4] Sarah died after 24 August [5] John Geare and John Dodge were apprenticed in Bristol, England, on 30 June 1674 to Josias Rootes for five years in New England. [6] Josias Roots of Boston, Massachusetts, mariner, bought of James and Elizabeth Mears of Boston on 22 January 1673[/4], land and buildings in Boston near Peter Oliver s dock. [7] Previously, Josias was a resident of Beverly, Massachusetts [8] John testified with Walter Winsor at Strawberry Bank (part of Portsmouth, New Hampshire) in 1685, and he signed an oath of allegiance there on 28 August [9] On 19 December 1689, John Geer and wife Sarah with Richard Cutt and wife Joanna, both wives being the daughters of Thomas Wills of Kittery, and Elias Stillman of Portsmouth and wife Lucy, the relict and administratrix of Thomas Wills, deceased, sold for 45 to Francis Mercer of Portsmouth a piece of land 1 John Geare was about age 40 in 1695 and about age 46 in January 1701/2 (Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [Portland, Maine: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, , repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1972], 255), the sources not identified, as is the case for many statements in this valuable work. 2 John Geare was listed as deceased in a 1712 tax evaluation (Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], 255). 3 On 19 December 1689, John and wife Sarah joined in a deed (see note 10 below). 4 Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], 255, 760; Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Descendants of George Abbott, of Rowley, Mass., 2 vols. (n.p.: the author, 1906), 2:1022 (Sarah Wills married Mr. Gere and they had a son Samuel of Kittery, citing Exeter Deeds, 12:368, although no reference to them is found in New Hampshire Provincial Deeds/ Rockingham County Deeds, 12:368). 5 6 John Geare was evidently under 21 on 30 June 1674 when he was apprenticed to Josias Rootes in Bristol, England (Gordon Ireland, Servants to Foreign Plantations from Bristol, England, to New England, Register 93 [1939]: , as bound to Josias Kootes [sic]; Peter Wilson Coldham, The Complete Book of Emigrants, [Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1990], 224, as apprenticed to Josias Rootes). 7 Suffolk Deeds, 14 vols. (Boston: Rockwell and Churchill, ), 8: James Pierce Root, Root Genealogical Records, (New York: R. C. Root Anthony & Co., 1870), New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, 40 vols. (Concord, N.H.: various publishers, ), 1:565. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register 172 (Summer 2018):

2 258 The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Summer that had been sold to Thomas Wills by John Cutt of Portsmouth, adjoining Mr. Snell s land to the west and including Mr. Cutt s wharf and warehouse. [10] John was taxed at Strawberry Bank in October He was a bondsman with Edward Melcher in [11] John was fined for not mustering out on 18 May [12] John Geer served on a jury on 4 April He was fined for not appearing for grand jury duty on 2 October [13] John, cordwainer, received a grant of 20 acres on the east side of Spruce Creek at the Kittery town meeting held on 16 May John assigned this grant to John Follett on 6 October [14] John Geare was of Portsmouth in 1695, age about 40, but moved to Kittery by 1704 when he was taxed there. [15] John and Sarah witnessed a deed between residents of the Isle of Shoals on 9 October [16] John was taxed in Kittery on 24 January 1708/9. [17] He received 15 shillings from the court for those at Kittery who had suffered the most from the recent Indian attacks in [18] The real estate of the freeholders of Kittery was valued on 16 May That of John Gear, Decd., was valued at 3, next to Sylvanus Trip with the same value. [19] Sarah Geare owned the covenant and was baptized at the North Church in Portsmouth on 7 December [20] The land of widow Sarah Gear was mentioned in the will of Sylvanus Trip of Kittery dated 29 December [21] Sarah was sued in 1722 by Richard Cutt, husband of her younger half-sister Joanna for half of Crooked Lane in Kittery. This land was received by Sarah from her mother s side of the family (though not Joanna s mother), but Sarah lost the suit. [22] 10 J. Hamilton Shapleigh, The Shapleigh, Stileman, Martyn, Cutts, Trueworthy, and Jose Families of New-Hampshire and Maine, Register 27 (1873): 269, citing Rockingham County, New Hampshire Deeds, 4:34; 269. The 1695 will of Elias Stileman naming wife Lucy is at 27:268, and the 1699 will of Lucy Stileman alias Wills alias Chadborn is at 27: the surname appears sometimes as Grure or Grare. 12 New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers [note 9], 2: York Deeds, 18 vols. in 19 (Portland, Maine: Maine Historical Society et al., ), 5:33 34; Province and Court Records of Maine, 6 vols. (Portland, Maine: ), 4: York Deeds [note 13], 7:240, referenced in an undated deed from John Follett to Andrew Haley; Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], 35, third column, dated the Haley transfer in York Deeds [note 13], 6:147, Sarah signed by mark. 17 Documentary History of the State of Maine, 24 vols., Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Second Series (Portland, Maine, ), 9: Everett S. Stackpole, Old Kittery and Her Families (Lewiston, Maine: Press of the Lewiston Journal, 1903), Ibid., North Church Records, Portsmouth, N.H., The New Hampshire Genealogical Record 4 (1907):58. However, this may be the baptism of a child, as noted in Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], William M. Sargent, Maine Wills, (Portland, Maine: Brown, Thurston & Co., 1887),

3 2018 John Geare of Portsmouth and Kittery 259 On 4 February 1728/9, Sarah Gere of Portsmouth widow, gave for love and affection to her son Samuel Gere of Kittery, cooper, and son-in-law John Abbott Jr. of Portsmouth, cordwainer, upon the condition that they support her for the rest of her life, equal halves of her dwelling house and 13 acres of land in Kittery, being all the land granted to Richard Abbott on 13 June 1659 by the selectmen of Kittery, sold to Walter Abbott, late of Kittery, descended to his daughter Sarah Wills, and then to her, Sarah Gere, bounded by John Leighton, late of Kittery, deceased, on the northwest side, Sylvanus Trip on the southeast side, Piscataqua River on the southwest side. Son Samuel was to have the first choice of land. She granted all rights to land in Kittery and Berwick and all her household goods and chattels to her son and son-in-law, to be divided equally between them. [23] Children of John 1 and Sarah (Wills) Geare: [24] i. Joanna 2 Gear, bp. as an adult Kittery 17 April 1715, and owned the covenant; [25] m. likely in Portsmouth 21 Nov. 1723, John Abbott Jr., [26] cordwainer, son of John 3 (John 2, Walter 1 ) Abbott. [27] Perhaps Joanna was identical with Hannah Geare, age 14 in [28] 2. ii. Samuel Gear, b. by 1707, [29] bp. Kittery 17 Apr. 1715; [30] m. Abigail Hodsdon. Likely children of John and Sarah (Wills) Geare, order uncertain: [31] iii. Elizabeth Gear, m. Portsmouth 15 Nov. 1719, John Roberts of Portsmouth. [32] iv. Mary Gear, m. Portsmouth by Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, 26 March 1723, Benjamin Langley. [33] In 1731 Benjamin Langley sold land 23 York Deeds [note 13], 12:2:368; Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder 3 (1886); 202; Stackpole, Old Kittery [note 18], 84, gives the date of the Abbott brothers deed to Thomas and Sarah (Abbott) Wills as 30 January Son Samuel and son-in-law John Abbott Jr. are named in the 4 February 1728/9 deed (see note 23). 25 Robert J. Dunkle and Valerie Ruocco, Parish Records of the First Church and Society of Kittery, Maine, 1714 to 1791, Register 151 (1997): Priscilla Hammond, A Record of Birth, Marriages, and Deaths in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Vicinity, (typescript, 1939), R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, NEHGS, Mss A 6890, p. 25, John Abitt junr of Portsmo and Johannah Gear of Kittery in y e Prove of Maine were Marryd 21 No: Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], 57 58, 255; Abbott, Descendants of George Abbott [note 4], 2: , , Samuel Gear signed a deed 18 February 1728/9, when presumably he was at least 21 (York Deeds [see note 13], 12:2: ). 30 Dunkle and Ruocco, Parish Records of Kittery [note 25], Register 151: , infant. 31 No other Geare/Gear/Geer family lived in or near Portsmouth or Barrington. These two girls are shown as daughters of John Geare without qualification in Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], Hammond, Record of Portsmouth and Vicinity [note 26], p. 16, Jno Roberts and Elizabeth Gear both of this Town wr Marryd 15 No: Portsmouth, NH: Vital Records, , 509, database online at AmericanAncestors.org; bride

4 260 The New England Historical and Genealogical Register Summer in Barrington, N.H., where Benjamin Gear would later settle (see below). [34] 2. Samuel 2 Gear, son of John 1 and Sarah (Wills) Geare, was born by 1707 and was baptized in Kittery 17 April 1715 with his sister Joanna. He died before 19 October 1733, when his widow had an intention to remarry. Samuel married in Kittery on 7 January 1724/5, Abigail Hodsdon, [35] likely a daughter of John 2 (Nicholas 1 ) and Deborah ( ) Hodsdon. [36] Abigail married second in Kittery 24 December 1733, John Thomas, [37] and third 31 August 1769, Samuel Hayes. As Abigail Hayes of Dover, she left a will dated 15 December 1777, mentioning three sons John, Samuel, and Benj a Geer; daughter Abigail Drue, and son-in-law Eliz a [sic] Drew (who was to be sole executor). [38] On 18 February 1728/9, Samuel Gear of Kittery, cooper, sold to John Woodman Jr. of Kittery, cordwainer, for 12 a half acre of land in Kittery at the place commonly called Crooked Lane by the Cove between Sylvanus Trip and Gear. [39] This seemingly was the land referenced on 18 September 1735 as being near the high water mark of the Piscataqua River, belonging lately to Samuel Geer, deceased. [40] Children of Samuel 2 and Abigail (Hodgdon) Gear, born probably in Kittery. [41] The History of Durham, New Hampshire shows Abigail, wife of Elijah Drew, as Abigail Thomas, [42] and thus a younger half-sister of the three Gear sons: i. John 3 Gear, b. say 1726; living on 15 Dec. 1777, the date of his mother s will. ii. Samuel Gear, b. say 1728, living on 15 Dec. 1777, the date of his mother s will. as Mary Geer; New Hampshire State Vital Records. These New Hampshire State Vital Records are online under various titles on AmericanAncestors.org, FamilySearch.org, and Ancestry.com. 34 Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], Joseph Crook Anderson II and Lois Ware Thurston, Vital Records of Kittery, Maine, to the Year 1892, Maine Genealogical Society Special Publication No. 8 (Camden, Maine: Picton Press., 1991), 61 (by John Newmarsh, Kittery minister), 92 (intention 7 September 1724). 36 Noyes, Libby, and Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire [note 1], ; Almira Larkin White, ed., Genealogy of the Descendants of Nicholas Hodsdon-Hodgdon of Hingham, Mass., and Kittery, Maine (n.p.: A. J. Hodgdon, 1904), 20, mentioned this John 2 but with a wife Rebecca. John and Deborah Hodsdon had been living for four years on Mrs. Sarah Geare s land on Crooked Lane in Kittery by April 1722 (Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, ). 37 Anderson and Thurston, Vital Records of Kittery [note 35], 77 (by John Newmarsh), 98 (intention 19 October 1733, both of Kittery), he as Tomas. 38 Scott Andrew Bartley, The Parentage of Benjamin Gear of Dover, N.H., The New Hampshire Genealogical Record 17 (2000): See note York Deeds [see note 13], 18: Bartley, Parentage of Benjamin Gear [note 38], New Hampshire Genealogical Record 17: Everett S. Stackpole, History of the Town of Durham, New Hampshire (Durham, N.H.: the town, 1913), 2:150. Elijah Drew and Abigail Thomas were married 25 November 1760 (Rev. Alfred Gooding, Records of the South Church of Portsmouth, N.H., Register 82 [1928]:286).

5 2018 John Geare of Portsmouth and Kittery 261 iii. Benjamin Gear, b. say 1730; living on 15 Dec. 1777, the date of his mother s will. He m. say 1754 Elizabeth ( ) Allen, and lived in Dover, N.H., until 1787 when they evidently moved to Barrington, N.H. Both may have been living as late as Benjamin and Elizabeth had five children. [43] Scott Andrew Bartley (drew@yourgenealogist.com) was the former Manuscripts Curator at NEHGS and then Librarian/Archivist for the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. He is currently the genealogist for NEHGS s Early Settlers of Vermont to 1784 Study Project, the first volume of which has been recently published. 43 Bartley, Parentage of Benjamin Gear [note 38], New Hampshire Genealogical Record 17:49 53.