ELEVENTH GENERATION


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:

child941 i. Patience GIFFORD.

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