1882. William GIFFORD
(941) died in 1687. He was born in (prob.) England. IMMIGRANT -
It is possible that William was the son of a Walter Gifford who came to Massachusetts
in 1630. It is certain, though, that he was one of the early proprietors at
Sandwich and that he joined the Quakers. He was fined a number of times for
not taking the oath of fidelity, for attending Quaker meetings, for "seditious
utterances" against the King. ... The earliest mention of William Gifford
seems to be 4 June 1650 when he was a member of the Grand Inquest. In 1651 he,
our Thomas Burgess Sr., and two others were granted authority to call a town
meeting at three days notice and it was voted "that what neighbors stay
away above an hour, after the time appointed, shall lose their votes in what
is done before they come." ... It seemed to require but slight pretext in
those times to warrant the arrest of a Quaker; but sometimes the pretext was
so very slight that even the all too willing Judges had to suspend sentence,
or release the prisoner with an admonition." Times changed and 23 Apr 1675
William was in a list of those having just rights and privileges in the town
of Sandwich. In 1677 he is called surveyor. By this time he was a large landholder
at Dartmouth and Falmouth as well as Sandwich, and Boyer, p. 212, says that he,
Peter Gaunt (of our Brownell-Burgess line), George Allen and others were among
the first proprietors of the Monmouth Patent in New Jersey 1665. He seems to
have lived in Sandwich all his adult life, though. Boyer says he was sometimes
called a "taylor." The name of his first wife, the mother of most
of his children, is not known nor are their birth dates, except for one in 1658.
Austin also says the oldest son John ... was on a Coroner's Jury in 1665. I
should think he must have been at least 21 years old for that and working backward
another twenty years or so it would appear that William must have been born in
England. In the early 1680s he deeded nearly 400 acres at Dartmouth to sons
and 16 July 1683 he married Mary Mills, who bore him three more children. They
are all mentioned in his will dated 9 Apr 1687 and proved 9 Mar 1688, even the
Kirby grandchildren. And he gives "To the Friends in Sandwich called Quakers,
£ (Pounds)5." (Bonnie Hubbard)
Children were:
941 i.
Patience GIFFORD.