Thomas Hartshorn - Susanna Buck Family Group

What We Know About This Family

Noteworthy

Thomas Hartshorn and Susanna Buck both immigrated to America from England. They married and had several children at a time when the Indian Wars were being fought. Thomas and three of his sons served in King Philip's War, and his son, Lt. John Hartshorn in particular suffered with the killing of his third wife, his son, and at least one grandson in the Massacre at Haverhill in 1708. John gained additional renown as a tombstone sculptor later in his life. The Hartshorns had large families and a relatively good survival rate for the children. To this day, their descendants in the region and elsewhere are numerous.

An Overview of Their Lives

Thomas Hartshorn (Hartshorne) settled in the Lynn, Massachusetts area about 1635. A tailor by profession, he was living in Reading in 1639, five years before its incorporation. Susannah and John Buck (father or brother?) arrived in America as servants to a brewer Henry Batchelour, who settled in Ipswitch. Court records indicate that after she finished her apprenticeship, Batchelour sued Susannah for slander, but lost the suit. She retaliated by suing him for retaining her luggage (disposition not known). Thomas and Susannah were married in 1640 in Reading and settled about that time in a house on Elm Street that remained in the family for 200 years. He and his wife had several sons, and thanks to some of their descendants who still bear the surname (particularly Derick), we know a fair amount about this early family. I've summarized here, but for many additional details, be sure to see the documents in that section.

Thomas was recorded as a freeman in May 1648, and in September of the same year, he was a full member of First Church. Susannah was also a member. Between 1650 and 1666, Thomas was granted or came into possession of four tracts of land. We can get glimpses of their life in some of the surviving records of the time. In 1658, a court case was recorded in which Thomas was mentioned as the constable who kept possession of a colt until the case was settled. Thomas was a Selectman in 1661 and 1667, and held the office of Constable in 1672. In 1662, he was one of twenty people who paid a dog whipper, and the town voted in 1672 to hang any dog whose owner did not pay the whipper. He signed a petition of the citizens of Reading to Massachusetts in 1677, and in that same year, he served as a juror in Hampton.

Susannah died in 1659 when her youngest, her only daughter, Susannah (our direct ancestor) was only two weeks old. Two years later, Thomas married the widow Sarah Ayres Lampson, who had eight children between the ages of less than 1 to 16. Sarah's brothers complained that William Lamson's estate had been undervalued, and so his children's rights were not properly secured. Thomas put up some of his property as security for her children's rights to their late father's property. Her children had been contracted out as apprentices, and some of the Hartshorn children did the same. Thomas and Sarah had one additional child together. In 1679, Thomas at the age of about 65, served as a Sergeant in the Reading Militia Company. At least three of his sons also served in King Philip's War.

Thomas left a will probated in 1683 that mentioned his son, Thomas, and designated his son Benjamin as Executor. His daughter, Susannah, received some household items, and provision was made for his widow during her lifetime.

About the Children

• Thomas Hartshorn and his first wife had one child, Mary, who apparently died as an infant, followed not long after by the death of her mother. Thomas married for the second time Sarah Swan in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts, and together they had six children. Thomas and Sarah had moved at some point after the births of their children to Windham, Connecticut where they both died, Thomas in 1713 and Sarah in 1729.


• John Hartshorn married Ruth Swan in 1672 in Haverhill. They had seven children before Ruth died of smallpox in 1690. He was at various times in his life a weaver, a tailor, and a clerk. He was a lieutenant in the militia and was active in the Indian Wars, serving under Capt. Sill from 1675-76. He served in Queen Anne’s War in the Massachusetts Militia in 1693. At about age 50, John began carving gravestones in Haverhill. After the death of his first wife and before 1693, John married Abigail Brown, the daughter of his step-sister, Sarah Lamson Brown (daughter of William Lamson and Sarah Ayers Lamson Hartshorn). After Abigail’s death before 1697, he married Joanna (surname unknown), who was killed during the great Indian massacre of 1708. John's son, John, and his son, John, were also killed. John discovered his stunned four-month old grandson, David, in a pile of clapboards after he had been tossed from a loft in the house and revived him. Hannah Frame Hartshorn, John's daughter-in-law and mother of John and David, escaped death because she managed to hide herself and the other children. Some sources give alternative versions of which Hartshorns were killed. I believe the ones I listed are correct going by the vital statistics. Hannah remarried and had more children, and her son David grew to be a man of unusual height, who married and had 17 children. He was teased that his height came from the "fall" from the loft. There may have been two other sons or grandsons killed -- their deaths do not appear in the Haverhill Vital Statistics. The next year, John took as his fourth wife, Mary Leighton Spofford, widow of Thomas. She died in 1719 many years before her husband. In 1723, he relocated to Connecticut, where he continued carving tombstones. John died in Norwich, New London, Connecticut in 1737.
  

• Joseph Hartshorn also served in King Philip's War. He married a woman named Sarah before 1777, and they had several children. He removed about 1693 to a part of Dedham, Massachusetts that later became Walpole. He was listed there as a surveyor in 1710.


• Benjamin Hartshorn's first wife died eight days after their first child, a daughter, was born and died at 8 days of age. He married his second wife a little over two years later. Benjamin was only 40 when he died, and his widow survived him by 54 years.


• David Hartshorn was born in Reading, and removed to other places in New England. He made a living in several ways during his lifetime. He and his wife, Rebecca Batchelder, were married in 1682/83. He served in King Philip's War in 1676, He was granted residence in Salem by the Selectmen in 1679 and was still there in 1691. In 1697, he bought 20 acres of land in Medfield. He was recorded on the deeds as a tailor and as a yeoman. He settled in Norwich Farms, Connecticut, which later became Franklin. During his 40 years of residence there, he was referred to often as a physician. He and his wife were among the first members of the church in which he was a deacon. He was a Selectman in 1709 and built a sawmill in Beaver Creek. He also taught school for a time in Norwich. Their four sons all survived him, but their daughter died as a child.


• Susannah Hartshorn was the last-born child and only daughter of Thomas and Susannah Buck Hartshorn. Her mother died when she was only two weeks old. Susannah grew up with her siblings, step-siblings (the children of her father's second wife), and her half sibling, Timothy, in Reading. She married in 1684 and settled in Marblehead with her first husband, John Devereux (Jr.), the son of the first immigrant Devereux in Marblehead and his wife, Ann. Susannah and John are our direct ancestors and have their own family group page. John predeceased his father, so he was younger than 40 at his death before 1693. John Sr. left legacies to Susannah's three daughters. Her oldest, a son, John, died young. In January 1695, Susannah married the widower Stephen Parker, who had four surviving children from his first marriage. They settled in Watertown and had two additional daughters. Their daughter Ruth married her cousin Joseph Swett Jr. (son of her aunt Hannah Devereux), and their daughter Ruth married Robert "King" Hooper, who built a huge fortune that was lost in the Revolution. Their mansion remains an attraction in today's Marblehead. Stephen and Susannah Parker died within three days of each other in May 1718.


• Timothy Hartshorn was the only one of the children who lived his entire life in the town where he was born. He and his wife had nine children, all of whom survived him and were mentioned in his probate.
  
  

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is basically complete. Further research may reveal Susannah Buck's relationship to the John Buck with whom she arrived from England.