THE KENT FAMILY. K ENT.-This name is found among the earliest settlers of New England and are a more numerous family than it is perhaps thought to be and some one interested ought to take the matter in hand and get out a good thorough Genealogy of it. The records with what is now known could be quite readily collected. The intent of this record however is mainly to trace in a direct line the first ancestor in New England, of Edward E. Kent of Spencer. Mass., and in doing so many names and families have been collected that will not be used in this line. From what particular place they came from in Old England I cannot say. Have found the starting point in this tracing to be as follows, viz;--Among other names of such persons or passengers as took the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance to pass for New England in the good ship Mary & John of London, Robert Sayres, Master, the 26th day of March, 1633, are found two persons by the name of Richard Kent. (New Eng. His. & Gen. Reg. for July, 1855.) They are thought to have been cousins. They landed at Ipswich, Mass. in 1633 or 4. One of them (probably the elder) was made a freeman March 4, 1635, by the court then setting at Ipswich. The same year they both settled at Newbury. One is called Richard Kent, Sr., and the other Richard Kent, Jr. It would seem that the elder Richard had been married and lost a wife in Old England and that he left behind a daughter Sarah, and a Rebecca who married Samuel Scollard, and after his death she came to New England and married John Bishop in 1647. RICHARD KENT, SR. married 2d Emma as in his will (no date) he mentions son John, daughter Sarah, wife Emma, brother Stephen and his (Stephen's) daughter Mary. Joshua Coffin in his history of Newbury page 307, says, "Richard Kent, Sr. was a malster and that he died June 14, 1654 and that his children were Rebecca (who married Samuel Scullard and then John Bishop), John born July 20, 1645. Sarah whom he left in Old England and other daughters and also says that Stephen Kent brother to Richard Kent, Sr. was of Newbury 1635, thence to Haverhill, thence to Woodbridge, N. J. That his 2d wife Ann died in 1660, that he married again Eleanor widow of William Seadlock, May 9, 1662, is sure his children were Elizabeth born March 1, 1642, Hannah born March 20, 1644, Stephen born March 6, 1648, Rebecca born Aug. 3, 1650, and Mary born (no date)." From the New Eng. His. & Gen. Reg., Vol. 2d, Page 108, we copy the following, viz;-"Southampton, April 24, 1638. Among the list of names of the passengers intended for New England in the good ship Confidence of London, John Jobson, Master, we find Stephen Kent of England aged 17, and Margery his wife aged 16." (This is rather young but such is the record.) In the same list there is also the name of Rebecca Kent aged 16. This is without doubt the same Stephen Kent mentioned above and his 1st wife's name was Margery. RICHARD KENT, JR. and supposed cousin of Richard Kent, Sr. was accompanied. from Old England by his wife, Jane, who died June 26, 1674. He married 2d Joana, widow of Nicholas Davidson of Charlestown, Jan. 6, 1675. He died Nov. 25, 1689, without children, devising his estate by will to his nephew John Kent, son of his brother James Kent. James Kent, the brother of Richard, Jr., died December 12, 1681. John Kent, his only son and heir, was born in 1641, married, Feb. 24, 1665, Mary Hobbs and died January 30, 1718, aged 77 years. Their children were: 1. John, b. April 8, 1665, d. June 24, 1665. 2. Sarah, b. Aug. 1, 1666, m. Jacob Toppan June 1696. 3. Mary, b. Sept. 10, 1668, d. Mar. 17, 1702–3. 4. Richard, b. June 25, 1670. 5. Jane, b. no date, m. James Smith about 1695. 6. John, b. July 16, 1675, m. Sarah Little Jan. 14, 1701, d. March 23, 1702-3. 7. James, b. Sept. 3, 1679, m. Elizabeth. 8. William, b. July 31, 1682, d. March 26, 1703. There was another John Kent, who married Sarah Woodman, March 13, 1666. He was born in 1644. Their children were: 1. Sarah, b. Aug. 30, 1667, m. 1st Samuel Greenleaf, March 1, 1686; m. 2d Peter Tappan, Jr., Apr. 25, 1696. 2. John, b. Nov, 23, 1668, m. perhaps Rebecca Somerby. 4. Mary, b. Oct. 24, 1674, m. Stephen Swett about 1695. 5. Emma, b. Apr. 20, 1677, m. Samuel Haseltine, Jan. 1, 1701. 6. Hannah, b. Sept. 10, 1679, m. Nathan Morrill, Sept. 6, 1699. 7. Judith, b. no date, m. Thomas Morrill, Mar. 16, 1703-4. 8. Rebecca, b. Feb. 70, 1684-5, m. Charles Hart, June, 1704. 9. James, b. Mar. 5, 1686-7, m. Hannah Hodgkins, Mar. 23, 1709. Joshua Coffin, in his notes on the Kent family, vol. 15, page 273, New Eng. His. & Gen. Reg., says in the History of Newbury are several errors not chargeable to the printer. Thus, on page 307 are some mistakes in the families of John Kent, Sr., and John Kent, Jr., which may be thus corrected.' He calls John Kent, Sr., the one who m. Mary Hobbs, and John Kent, Jr., the one who m. Sarah Woodman, and the records of these families as above given are as he corrected the m. Cannot say whose son John, Jr., was. In 1678, John Kent, Sr., took oath of allegiance at Newbury; aged 37, born 1641. In 1678, John Kent, Jr., took oath of allegiance at Newbury; aged 34, born 1644. John Kent, son of Richard, Sr., was born (so recorded) July 20, 1645. Therethus appears to have been three by the name of John Kent, even at this early date, at Newbury, and nearly of the same age. John, Sr-, and John, Jr., (as they are called) have been recorded, and their families, as above, and we will now, on the next page, start with Richard, Sr., and his family as the one we are really interested in tracing. FIRST GENERATION. I. RICHARD KENT, SR. (malster), was one of the passengers as took oaths of supremacy and allegiance to pass for New England in the good ship Mary and John of London, Robert Sayers, master, under date of March 26, 1633. We find him at Ipswich, Mass., Horace A. Tenney says, in 1634. Joshua Coffin, in his History of Newbury, says he came to Ipswich in 1635. He was made a freeman Mar. 4, 1635, by the Court setting at Ipswich. The same year he settled in Newbury, Mass. He married his first wife in Old England, and she died there. Some of his children were born there. He married his second wife, without doubt, in Newbury or vicinity. He left behind in Old England daughters Rebecca and Sarah, and perhaps other children. Rebecca married there Samuel Scullard, and after his death she came, and probably her sister Sarah with her, to New England, where she married John Bishop. Rich Kent in his will (no date) mentions son John, daughter Sarah, wife Emma, brother Stephen, and his daughter Mary. He does not mention daughter Rebecca. She may have died previous to his making his will. He died June 14, 1654, in Newbury, probably. Thus we find his children, so far as is certainly known, to have been as follows: CHILDREN BY FIRST MARRIAGE. 2. 1, Rebecca, b. in Old England about 1612, m. Ist in Old England Samuel Scullard; m. 2d in New England John Bishop. 3. 2, Sarah, b. in Old England. Probably unmarried at time of her father's death. CHILD BY SECOND MARRIAGE (WIFE EMMA). (4). 3, John, b. in Newbury, Mass., July 20, 1645, m. in Dedham, Mass., 21st of 3d mo., 1666, Hannah Grisold. 21st of 3d mo. would be 21st of May, N. S. 1666. JOHN KENT (Richard), son of Richard, Sr., by his second wife, Emma, was born in Newbury, Mass., July 20, 1645. Of his early life but little is known, as his father died when he, John, was but nine years old. Who he lived with or where we cannot, with our present knowledge, state. But he probably left the town where he was born while yet very young. He, without doubt, had a guardian, who, perhaps, bound him out to some farmer, or to learn a trade. That he had to fight his early battles of this life alone, as it were, is almost sure, and we will hope that his lot was cast among those who were kind to the fatherless boy. We next find him at Dedham, Mass., where he was married, if the figures are rightly deciphered, May 21, 1662, to Hannah Grisold. We think, however, that this date is an error, as he at that date would be only 17 years of age; and then again their first child was not born until July 2, 1667. He was probably married May 21, 1666, and it is presumed soon after removed to Charlestown, Mass., as none of the births of their children are found at Dedham, but are all among the Charlestown records. "In 1673 John Kent and Hannah, his wife, were admitted to full communion in the First Church in Charlestown by dismission from the Church of Christ in Dedham " (vol. 23, page 436, New Eng. His. and Gen. Reg.) He was one of the Tything men at Charlestown, 1679. The Dedham records have her name "Grisold," the Charlestown "Grissell." She died Jan. 9, 1690. The children of John and Hannah Grisold (Grissell) Kent were as follows, and all supposed to have been born in Charles town: 5. 1, Hannah, b. July 2, 1667. She m. Joseph Cahoon. (7). 3, John, Jr., born 1670, m. 1st Sarah Smith, Dec. 22, 1692, m. 2d Elizabeth. 8. 4, Joshua, b. June 15, 1672, d. June 20, 1672. |