Ancestry of Ethel Blanch Miles - Urs Boxler Photography

Ancestry of Ethel B. Miles
Descendants of JOHN Read, Sr.
Generation No. 1
1. JOHN 2 READ, SR. (WILLIAM 1 ) was born Abt. 1598, and died September 07, 1685 in Rehoboth,
Bristol, Mass, USA 1 . He married SARAH LESSIE 23 , daughter of WILLIAM LESSIE.
Notes for JOHN READ, SR.:
John Read; born 1598 at Ryborough, Lincoln, or Kent, England; married Sarah Lessie, daughter of
William Lessie, before 1640; died 7 Sep 1685 at Rehoboth, MA.[John Whittemore Reed, History of the
Reed Family in no series (Boston: n.pub., 1861), date only]
[William Richard Cutter, New England Families Genealogical and Memorial in no series, Baltimore,
Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1913, 1996] John Read or Reed had 14 children. He was born in
1598, supposed to be son of William and Lucy (Henage) Reed. He was brother of William Reed, of
Weymouth, Massachusetts. He came to America in 1630 and lived for a time in Weymouth, where he
was in 1637. He was of Dorchester in 1638, and removed from there to Braintree. In 1643 or 1644 he
went to Rehoboth with Rev. Mr. Newman and his church, and his name is third on the list of proprietors
of that town. He was constable, and a man of affairs. He kept an inn. He married Sarah. He died
September 7, 1685, aged eighty-seven. Children: Samuel, William, Abigail, baptized in Dorchester,
December 30, 1638; John, born in Braintree, August 29, 1640; Thomas, November 9, 1641; Ezekiel
(twin), died young; Zachariah (twin), died young; Moses, October, 1650; Mary, January, 1652;
Elizabeth, January, 1654: Daniel, March, 1655; Israel, 1657; Mehitable, August, 1660: Josiah,
mentioned below."
[Elizabeth M.L. Rixford, Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service in no series, Vermont:
Tuttle Co., 1934) JOHN READ, the first of this branch of the family to come to America, is thought to
have been a son of William and Lucy (Heneage) Reade. He was born probably at Maidstone, County
Kent, near London, England, in 1598, and sailed from London for America on April 1, 1630, with the
great fleet of eleven ships, which accompanied Governor John Winthrop, with about seven hundred
persons, arriving at Salem, Massachusetts, June 22, 1630. He was of Weymouth, Massachusetts, in
1637, of Dorchester in 1638, and from there removed to that part of Braintree which is now Quincy,
where he was a freeman, May 13, 1640. In the spring of 1643/44, he joined the company of the
Reverend Samuel Newman, of Weymouth, in founding a settlement at Seekonk, which Indian name he
replaced with the Scripture town name, Rehoboth; and the name of John Read is the third in the list of
estates in 1643; according to which, the allotments of land were distributed. His estate was valued at
lbs. 300, a large property for those times. He served as constable, and lived at the Rim, now in the
town of Seekonk, where he was proprietor of an inn, and a leading man of the town. He died Sept. 7,
1685, at the age of eighty-seven years, and was buried in the old Seekonk Burying Ground, the
inscription on his gravestone, "J. R. aet eighty-seven, D. S. 1685." He and his wife, Sarah, were the
parents of thirteen children.
More About JOHN READ, SR.:
Burial: old Seekonk Burying Ground
Freeman: May 13, 1640
Immigration: Bet. April 01 - June 22, 1630, London to Salem with John Winthrop
Occupation: Innkeeper
Residence 1: Bet. 1630 - 1637, Weymouth, Norfolk County, Mass, USA
Residence 2: 1638, Dorchester, Suffolk County, MASS, USA
Residence 3: Aft. 1638, Braintree, Norfolk County, MASS, USA
Residence 4: Aft. 1643, Rehoboth, Bristol, Mass, USA
More About SARAH LESSIE:
Register Report of JOHN Read, Sr.: 253