1489.Richard Holden. Born ca 1609 in Lindsey, Suffolk.155 Richard died in Groton, MA 1 Mar 1695/6.155 Occupation: Glazier.
From the Holden Genealogy:155 Page 30: Richard Holden and his brother Justinian Holden came to America on the ship called Francis in 1634. On the tenth of April, 1634, there sailed from Ipswich in the county of Suffolk, England, two ships, the Elizabeth and the Francis, bound for the port of Boston in the new commonwealth of Massachusetts, and bearing one hundred and eighty-six souls, more than one hundred and twenty head of cattle, as well as other goods and chattels. On the passenger-lists, still extant, are the names of Richard Houlding, age twenty-five; and Justinian Houlding, aged twenty-three, the American progenitors of the majority of the persons who figure in these pages. From page 36: No one who was timorous by nature would have ventured forth upon the seas for such an extended voyage to establish themselves in a country inhabited by wild beasts and hostile savages. Richard Holden was one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Groton, Mass., helping carve it from the wilderness under the constant threat of an attack from the surrounding Indians, which finally occurred 13 March, 1675-6. As his house was one of the forty-six burned at this time and as his accumulation of stock and personal property was probably destroyed or stolen, he repaired with his family to Watertown, where he and Justinian had first settled down, and where Justinian was still living. But by 1684 he was again in Groton, after a short stay in Woburn and Cambridge. His name, also that of his son Justinian, is found in a list of names comprising those of heads of families resident in Groton, which was made up subsequent to twenty-ninth of November, 1680, but not much later. Up to 1666 Richards was a member of the militia of Groton... Because of health he requested to be released of duty Sept. 1665. From page 39: Richard's (family) stayed by the soil, with a tendency to engage in trades on the side, such as carpentry, lumbering, etc.... Richard's descendants were, for the most part, plain farmer folk of the frontier, but soon there appear a sprinkling of clergymen, teachers and merchants in a small way.... Richard Houlding, Holdin, or, as it is now spelled, Holden, the elder of the two brothers who took passage from Ipswich on the Francis, was born probably in 1608 or 1609. His age in April, 1634, the date of sailing, is given as twenty-five years, and in April, 1661, as fifty-one years. He died in Groton, March 1, 1695-6, aged eighty-seven. He married, probably prior to 1640, Martha Fosdick of Charlestown. According to her testimony, on the 6th of the 2nd. mo. (April), 1658, she was then age thirty-eight years or thereabouts, so that she was about nineteen at the time of her marriage. She was therefore, born in 1620 or the year following, and was one of the children of Stephen Fosdick of Charlestown and is named in his will of the twenty-third of February, 1663-4. Richard and Martha Holden had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Martha Holden's death is recorded in Watertown records as follows: "Mathee Houlding, wife of Richard Houlding, dyed the 6th of December, (1681). Page 42: The settlement at Groton progressed favorably for twenty years and there ws every reason for the inhabitants to congratulate themselves on their location and on the porsperous condition of thei farms and town. Means of defense against the ever-dreaded Indians had not been overlooked and there was a military company in town commanded by Captain James Parker. The Indians, supplied by traders with guns and ammunition and addicted to the use of liquor, were becoming more boastful and restless, and the people of the frontier towns had often to take measures which would prevent drunken Indians from doing harm, but aside from this danger little was feared. The rising of Philip, and his energy and ability in stirring up the tribes, was unexpected, although there had not been wanting warnings that there was reason to expect an outbreak. There are many instances on record where the treatment accorded Indians by individual whites was of a character sure to excite resentment
Groton took such precautions, when hostilities commenced, as seemed necessary. Five houses were fortified by palisades and designated as garrison houses to which the inhabitants should retreat in case of an alarm. This did not come until March 2, 1675-6, when a small band of Indians pillaged eight or nine houses, drove off some cattle and killed Timothy Cooper, a townsman. Four of the garrison houses were near one another, the fifth at a distance of half a mile. On the ninth of March, Indians surprised a party of four at work, of whom one was killed and another captured. Four days later a large body of the enemy appeared, said to have been as many as four hundred and burned the abandoned dwellings to more than forty, and the meeting house. Nutting's garrison was successfully assaulted, but with small loss of life to the defenders. The women and children escaped to Captain Parker's garrison.” The Indians then withdrew. But the people of Groton went elsewhere as their homes were gone. Some of the town's men joined forces to protect the remains of the town and fight the Indians. Richard's son Justinian, "enlisted to the credit of Cambridge when his parent retired to Watertown, where they and the younger children were sure of shelter with the elder Justinian.
Some time about 1684 Richard returned to Groton, after a stay in Woburn, Watertown and Cambridge. His name, also that of his son Justinian, is found in a list of names comprising those of heads of families, which was made up soon after November 29, 1684. All of his children were married by or about this time. He was now an old man, his wife was dad, and there was not further incentive for him to keep up an independent establishment. He was now an old man, his wife was dead, and there was no further incentive for him to keep up an independent establishment. He still owned landed property and rights in future divisions to the original prorietors.
To his son Samuel he had already given thirty-three acres. In 1791 he deeded to his son Stephen “all my lands and rights of land not yet taken up within the township of Groton in the County of Middlesex in New England. That is to say, The house and homested Orchard Fencing all moveables within doors and without chattels houses whatsoever.” This in return for Stephen’s care and maintenaqce of him during the latter part of his life, for it was with Stephen that he spent the remainder of his days. In this deed of his property to Stephen he states that he had been living with him “contentedly” for several years past.
In 1696 he died, full of years. His grave was probably marked with an uncarved bowlder, according to the custom of the day in remote districts, which has long since become overgrown with turf. The place is unknown.
Page 47: There is no record extant of the birth of the children given below, except of those recorded as born at Watertown or Woburn. A list of the children surviving in 1679 is obtained from Middlesex Deeds, 7: 154, 297; two deed in which the children of Richard and Martha Holden are named.
Page 50: Richard Holden lived in Watertown, Woburn, and Groton, and temporarily in Cambridge. There is nothing to indicate that he was in possession of any estate when he came to New England, or although he became a considerable land owner, that he acquired more than what was sufficient to support himself and family in a comfortable and fitting manner. Neither his location in Watertown or Woburn was suitable for farming with success, and the destruction of Groton by the Indians probably deprived him of whatever accumulation he had made in stock and personal property. Nevertheless he was respected, and maintained an honorable position
There is no record extant which fixes the date when Richard Holden and his brother Justinian first settled in Watertown. They lived just east of Grove Street on Belmont Street and within the present bounds of Belmont. On the tenth of the third month, 1642, a highway six rods wide was ordered laid out from Justinian Holden's lot to George Parkhurst's house. This is Grove Street. This order was passed in May, and in the following July Watertown records mention the birth of Richard Holden’s son, Stephen.
Ca 1641 Richard married Martha Fosdick (1455) , daughter of Stephen Fosdick (632) (ca 1583-21 May 1664) & Anne Harre.155 Born ca 1620 in England.155 Martha died in Watertown, MA on 6 Dec 1681.155
1490.Justinian Holden. Born ca 1611. Justinian was baptized in Lindsey, Suffolk, on 6 Oct 1611.155 Justinian died in Cambridge, MA in Aug 1691.155
From the Holden Genealogy, pages 44–45:155 Justinian Holden was a farmer and carpenter, or, as he would now be described, a builder, and as his means permitted accumulated land, eventually devoting himself wholly to his profitable farming interests. Itwascustomaryfortheearlysettlerstohaveatradein addition to their occupation of farming, which they could put to use and financial advantage during the winters and in off seasons. Justinian is variously styled, in the deeds with which his name is connected, as planter, husbandman, carpenter and yeoman. He was a successful man, of good standing in the community. He kept servants, and his farm on the shore of Fresh Pond in Cambridge was valuable property. It was inventoried at the time of his death at £1,075, a goodly amount in those days.
Justinian was admitted freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Com- pany May 6, 1657, which is proof of his standing in the church.
He was probably one of the constables of Watertown in 1652 or 1653. He is called of Cambridge in 1664, when he is allowed ten shillings for killing a wolf and a fox. He was elected surveyor of Cambridge in 1672 and again in 1673. In 1681 the county court granted his petition that he be released from military duty by reason of “great deafness and giddiness in the head,” he being then seventy years of age.
He died in August, 1691, aged eighty years, at his farm in Cambridge.
By his will he bequeathed his farm to his wife and son, Samuel, until the youngest child should reach the age of twelve years. It is doubtful if the intent of the testator was to entail his principal messuage of 140 acres, but it was found necessary in 1712 for his heirs to petition the General Court to break the entail which resulted from the wording of the will.
From the Holden Genealogy, pages 58–59:155 Justinian Holden arrived in New England in 1634, but the first mention found of him is in Watertown records, 10 3d mo. 1642, when his lot is mentioned, and on that day it was ordered by the Town that townsmen who had not had farms laid out formerly should take them “ten in a division.” By this vote Justinian Holden obtained a farm of forty acres. The grant was according to “head of persons and cattle,” thirteen acres of upland to each. He was not named among the townsmen, 113 in number, June, 1637. In the inventory of each man’s possessions, made up between 1639 and 1644, his possessions are listed as:
A homestall of five acres, bounded south with the highway, north by land of George Parkhurst, east by the homestall of Richard Holden and west by that of John Rogers.
Thirty acres of upland, being a great dividend in the fourth division and the nineteenth lot.
Forty acres of upland for a farm in the seventh division.
Three acres and three roods of upland bounded on the north and east by land of Christopher Grant and on the northwest by land of George Parkhurst, and on the west by land of Richard Holden.
The homestall was on the corner of what is now Grove Street in Belmont and with the other lands was sold to Rev. John Sherman in 1673. In 1653, on the first day of the first month, Justinian Holden purchased for £210 the large farm of Deacon Nathaniel Sparhawk, from the latter’s estate, consisting of 294 acres, with dwelling house and buildings lying north of Fresh Pond, now within the limits of Belmont, at that time a part of Cambridge and then leased to James KidderuntilMarch,1657. In1660hewasdescribedasofCambridge, and in 1662 was “to sitt in ye foremost seats” in the Meeting House. In the late winter of 1664-5, the town of Cambridge granted lots carrying a right in the cow commons, and Holden, having Lot 128, ten acres, was entitled to two cow commons. In 1684 he received a dividend of fifteen acres out of the common lands beyond the eight-mile limit, between that line and Concord line.
As noted in a former chapter, while a resident of Watertown he twice filled the important office of constable, which carried with it the duties of collecting rates and making disbursements therefrom on town account, and after becoming a resident of Cambridge was twice surveyor.
Justinian Holden was probably one of the constables for Watertown in 1652 or 1653, and in 1654 the town owed him £1-1-0 for killing a wolf and a fox.
In February and March, 1664-5, the town of Cambridge granted lots which should carry an interest in the cow commons, at the same time voting that no more proprietors should be admitted. Justinian Holden had lot 128, ten acres, entitling him to two cow commons. Twenty years later, 24 Mar., 1684, in a division of the lots beyond the eight-mile line, between that and Concord line, he received fifteen acres in the third and fourth “squardrant.”
He was elected surveyor in November, 1672, and again in 1673.
In June, 1681, the County Court granted the following petition, which is in the files of the Court:
“To the Honored Court now sitting at Charles Town this 25th of June 1681 the petition of Justinian Holden of Cambridge humbly sheweth that whereas your Pet^r is disabled by the Providence of God from attending the Countrey service in military exercises by reason of great deaftness, & Giddiness in his head besides other infirmityes of old age, he being now about 70 years of age; he doth humbly crave of this Honored Court that they would please fully to free him from the said exercises, & yr Petr shall humbly Pray &c.”
Will: From the Holden Genealogy, page 60:155 Abstract of Will of Justinian Holden
To dear and loving wife and eldest son Samuel Holden, farm house, barn, orchard and all lands adjoining bounded south with the Great Pond, west with “Woods his ditch” into the Little Pond, east by a brook, and north by a ditch, in joint tenancy during the life of the wife, then to son Samuel.
To son John Holden the house and lands bought of Thorp, and all lands in a straight line to the Sandy Hill and so along the highway leading to the farm house, and so down to the pond, not going over Wood’s ditch, allowing his brethren free ingress, etc., to mill and market.
To son Isaac Holden twenty acres, bounded by land given by me to my son Isaac, to a ditch called “Woods his ditch,” east to Sandy Hill, and so upon a line to Monottomy.
To his three sons John, Isaac and Joseph Holden, a parcell of meadow beyond the first ditch next the farm, bounded north by meadow of John Stratton, south by Reuben Luxford, and east by the brook.
To his four sons, Samuel, John, Isaac, and Joseph Holden, to be divided between them, all his pasture and three wood lots called Shepard’s Swamp.
Son Isaac Holden to have twenty acres. The executors are to set an orchard of two acres in the Rye field, and care for it until Joseph is of age, when it is to be his.
To his three daughters, Mary, Grace, and Elizabeth Holden his moveable estate and twenty acres meadow between the farm ditch and Luxford’s ditch.
Wife Mary to have the use of the whole estate until the youngest child is twelve years of age in consideration of bringing up the young children.
Lands given to “my sons I give to them and to their heirs lawfully begotten,” or if any of them should die without lawful issue, then the lands “shall go to the surviving sons equally.”
Wife Mary and son Samuel executors, friends Isaac Amsden of Marlboro, and William Shattock of Watertown to be overseers.
The mark of Justinian Holden. (With a seal of which the device is obliterated by the silk used to re- pair the document.)
Witnessed by John Rutter, Lydia Barron, Jonathan Remington.
Dated, 12 Aug., 1691; proved 6 Oct., 1691
An inventory was taken 30 Sept., 1691, by Jacob Amsden and Elless Barron, disclosing personal estate to the value of £80 including his “books,” valued at 15 shillings, and his “armer” valued at £1-16-0, and twx) dwelling houses, two orchards, and land and meadow, including three acres, called Shepard’s swamp in “Cambridge Woods,” to the value of £1073. An additional inventory of £45-09 was filed 6 Sept., 1692.
On the 12 Aug., 1699, an agreement was drawn up, but which was not signed by Isaac, stating that Samuel, John, Isaac, and Samuel as guardian for Joseph, agree that as no provision has been made by their father for their mother, after the bringing up of the minor children, that each is to cut and house hay for one cow, supply two loads of wood, and that she is to live on the land she now lives upon. They further agree to pay £6-13-4 to their sisters Mary, Grace and Elizabeth, to each when eighteen or married.
Although probably not so intended the terms of the will created an entail on the principal messuage of 140 acres, and it was found necessary in 1712 for his heirs to petition the General Court to break the entail which resulted from that clause in his will which provided that the lands he had given to his sons should pass to their own lawful issue, or in case of their decease without issue, to pass to the surviving sons equally. The division of the estate had been so irregular that the sons, Samuel, John, Isaac, and Joseph, set forth in their petitions that the “said lands are very mean and poore and by the Devise of their Father aforesaid Parcelled out into Nineteen Several Peices or Alotments So intermixed One among another that the making & fencing Out Necessary ways across the Divisions will be Such an intolerable Charge that all the Timber and Stone that can be procured or gotten on the premises is not Sufficient to Fence the same one time; and the Living is Cut out in so many parcells as Renders it uncapable of Improvement in any Measure for the support of their Familys who are greatly Multiplyed with a Numerous Posterity Since the Testators decease And must necessarily Quit the Estate to provide for themselves and Familys Elsewhere Unless they can be Allowed to pass away their Right and Interest to and among One another So as to make a Comfortable laving for one or more of them and will probably fall into the hands of Strangers and the Minde and Intent of the Testator be thereby Defeated by the Estate passing out of his Name and Family.” For the prevention of which the Court passed an Act permitting the petitioners to convey their respective parts to one another, to be holden of such purchasers respectively, their heirs and assigns forever.
An adjustment was effected between the sons, and soon parts of the estate were by their own deed transferred to a stranger.
Nevertheless it became necessary to again petition the legislature, and this was done 16 Nov., 1728, by Benjamin Clark of Cambridge, and his wife Lydia, and John Shattuck and others. Their petition was received 18 Dec., 1725, and allowed the 3 Sept., 1729.
Ca 1641 Justinian first married Elizabeth. Elizabeth died in Cambridge, MA 18 Mar 1672/3.155
In 1673 Justinian second married Mary Rutter (13221) , daughter of John Rutter (ca 1616-21 May 1695) & Elizabeth Plimpton (4511) (ca 1616-15 May 1689). Born ca 1648 in Sudbury, MA. Mary died aft 12 Nov 1716.