52 Ancestors: #50, William Green, Groton Proprietor

My 7x great-grandfather William Green was born around 1640,¹ but who his parents were, or whether he was born in England or Massachusetts, is unknown.

William was one of the original proprietors and settlers of the town of Groton, Middlesex County, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is thought that the first division of land was made as early as 1661; he appears on a list of the original proprietors made in 1678 by town clerk James Parker, with 14 "acre-rights" or shares, which may have been for roughly 50 acres per share.² His land grant, unfortunately, does not appear to be one for which the records have survived, though several other grants refer to boundaries with his land. He served as a constable in 1675 and a surveyor in 1680.³

He married Mary Crispe, say 1660, undoubtedly in Massachusetts (Mary was born in Watertown, and their first child was born in Cambridge).⁴ They had eight children:⁵

1. Mary, b. 1661, married Daniel Cady
2. William, b. 1665
3. Anna, b. 1667, probably d. young
4. John, b. 1669, married Hannah ______
5. Eleazar, b. 1672, married Elizabeth Prescott
6. Hannah, b. ca 1676, d. 1682
7. Elizabeth, b. 1680, married John Cady
8. Hannah, b. 1683, married Hezekiah Whitcombe

William Green died in 1713, after 13 July (the date of his will) and before 27 October (which appears to be the date the will was proved). Among other bequests, he left one third of his "Moveable Estate" to his "beloved wife Mary Green" and the other two thirds to his three daughters Mary, Elizabeth, and Hannah. He named his son Eleazar executor, and signed the will with his mark.⁶

Will of William Green, 1713

My descent from William Green:

• William Green + Mary Crispe
• Eleazar Green + Elizabeth Prescott
• William Green + Hannah Holden
• Jonas Green + Abigail Nevers
• Guy Green + Hannah Gould
• Abigail Green + Isaac Hodsdon
• Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon + Kate Rand
• Mary Milliken Hodsdon + Chester Kirk (my paternal grandparents)

(Note: This post is in response to Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge at No Story Too Small.)

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SOURCES

1. Barbara M. VanAmburg Delorey, “All About the Green Family,” A Talk-A-Bout, 7 Mar 2010 (http://barbsaysso.blogspot.com : accessed 19 Oct 2014).
2. Samuel A. Green, An Account of the Early Land-Grants of Groton, Massachusetts (Groton: n.p., 1879), pp. 13-14; digital images, Internet Archive (http://archive.org/details/accountofearlyla00gree : downloaded 21 Dec 2014).
3. Delorey,  “All About the Green Family.”
4. Frederick C. Warner, "Mary Green and Mercy Parish, Daughters of Benjamin Crispe of Watertown, Mass.," The American Genealogist (1987), 62:25-27; database and digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://americanancestors.org : accessed 28 Oct 2014).
5. Delorey,  “All About the Green Family.”
6. "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871," database and digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://americanancestors.org : accessed 21 Dec 2014), Volume: Middlesex Cases 8000-9999, pp. 9859:1-3, case number 9859, William Green (1713).