CS 71 
 .L912 
 1908 
 no. 2 
 Copy 1 
 
 A GENEALOGICAL QUEST 
 
 No. 2 
 
 WILLIAM G. LOW 
 
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A HENEAI.OdKWL QUEST. No. 2. 
 
 Ill A. I). 1!M)S I printed a ]t:iiiiitlil('( called "A 
 (TCiiealoiiical (^lU'st." It took up the (piestion of 
 wlietliei- the tii-st ThoDius Loir in Ipswich, Mass., 
 the proii-enitor of nnnierous descendants, was tlie 
 son of John Lowe, captain of the ship Ambrose, of 
 W'inthroii's Heet. Copies of the panipiilet have been 
 tihnl Avitli the Ipswich Historical Society, Yale Uni- 
 versity Library, Colnnibia University Library, New 
 York Public Librar}- and the Long Island His- 
 torical Societv. 
 
 The above-mentioned pamphlet havinjj shown, in 
 the estimation of some competent judges, that 
 Thomas Lo\\' (or Loe, or Lowe,) was prohablij not 
 the son of Capt. John Lowe of the Andirose, I pro- 
 ceeded to search farther, to determine the paternal 
 orijiin of Thomas Low (1) of Ipswich. 
 
 While I do not claim to have established this, it 
 seems to me desirable to put in printed form what 
 I have found. I may not be able to discover any- 
 thini>' more, while some one else, at some other 
 time, mav find mv contribntion nsefnl in makin" 
 further searches. 
 
 Two points of departure have been adopted as a 
 basis of investiiiation. These are: 
 
 I. That Thomas Low came to America in con- 
 nection with the immij»ration of Rev. Nathaniel 
 Roii'ers, who sailed from Gravesend, Enj;land, June 
 1, l(lo(>, and arrived in Massachusetts Bay in the 
 following Novend)er. Vide Palmer's edition of 
 Calamy's History of Nonconformity, sul) nomine 
 Richard Jcnnimjs, of Ipswich, county Suffolk, after- 
 wards rector of Combes, county Suffolk, Vol. II 
 
 / 
 
2 
 
 p. 41(>. The ship may have been the Rebecca, which 
 sailed on the above date. 
 
 2. That the Susannah., nientione<l in the Will of 
 Thomas Loav (1) was a second wife. 
 
 The first ])oint is suggested by the records of the 
 Town of Ipswich. In Schofield's volume of snch 
 records, on page 23, A\'e find as follows : 
 
 "Granted to Thomas Low, ten acres of upland at 
 Chebacco, next his ten acres there, in exchange for 
 ten acres due to him bij grant unto Mr. Rogers com- 
 pany near the three miles brook by Mr. Appleton's 
 farme." In another part of said records, also. 
 "First September 1638. liy the consent of the 
 seven. There was reserved for three of Mr. Koggers 
 his friends to come three six acre lotts, acljoyning 
 to Mr. Roggers his twenty acres near Heartbreak 
 hill." 
 
 Nathaniel Ward was the first minister of Ipswich 
 and, on his resignation, Rev. John Norton was 
 elected his successor in 1036 and two 3^ears after 
 (1638) chose Mr. Rogers for his colleague. 
 
 Before coming to this country Rev. Nathaniel 
 Rogers had been the rector at Assington, county 
 Suffolk, and of much repute thereabouts. His com- 
 pany, or companions, in the immigration are sup- 
 posed to have come from that region. 
 
 In Winthrop's Journal, as published by Babcock 
 of Hartford in 1790 at page 111, under date of Nov, 
 17th, 1636, is written "Two ships arrived here from 
 London, and one a week lief ore. Thev were full 
 of passengers, men women and children. One of 
 them had been from London twenty-six weeks, and 
 between land and land sixteen weeks, the other two 
 something less time, their beer all spent and leaked 
 
3 
 
 out a nioiith hcforc Ihcir arrival, so as they were 
 foi'ccd to sliiikiuii water (and that very little) 
 mixed with sacke or vinegar, and their otlier i)ro- 
 visions very sliort and bad, yet thron.nh the great 
 providence of the Lord they came all safe on shore, 
 and most of them sonnd and well liking-. They had 
 continual tempests, and when they were near the 
 shore (beinji' l)r()us>ht two or three days with a 
 strong East wind) the weather was so thick all that 
 time that they could not make land, and the seamen 
 were in great perplexity when on a sndden the fog 
 cleared, so as they saw Cape Anne fair on their star- 
 board bow, and i)resently grew thick again, yet by 
 their compass they made their liarl)our. There were 
 aboard that ship two godly ministers, Mr. Nathaniel 
 Rogers and Mr. Partridge, and many good people 
 in that and the other ship, and we had prayed 
 earnestl}^ for them for a small pinnace of 30 tons 
 which came ont with them, and was come in three 
 weeks before, bronght ns news of their coming. In 
 one of the other ships the passengers had had but 
 1/. pint of drink for a day fonrteen days together, 
 yet throngh the Lord's mercy did all well. One of 
 the ships was overset in the night by a sndden gnst, 
 and lay so half an hour, yet righted of herself." 
 
 The second point is snggested by Thomas Low's 
 Will and the fact that neither of his daughters 
 bears Susannah's name, bnt are named Margaret 
 and Sarah. It was customary to name the eldest 
 daughter after her mother, as is illustrated by the 
 fact that such was the case with the daughters of 
 Margaret and Sarah and those of Thomas and John, 
 their brothers. 
 
 ]\farf/aref Lmr married Daniel Davison and had 
 a daughter named Marf/drct, mentioned in Thomas 
 Low's (1) Will. 
 
i^arah' Loio married Joseph Safford and had a 
 daniiliter H<ira/i, mentioned in said AVill. Thomas 
 Low (2) married Martha IJoreman and had eldest 
 danii'hter Martha. Her brother was mentioned in 
 the Will rather than she. 
 
 John Low married Sarali Thorndike and had 
 danuhter Sarah, mentioned in said Will. 
 
 Moreover, the AVill gives to Susannah "what 
 goods she l)roiiii]it with lier" and later says "and 
 my will is That in case my wife shall think meete 
 to remove from my son John, Then my will is" &c. 
 The testator does not say our son, nor from John, 
 bnt from mij son John. 
 
 The AVill was made in 1G77 and John was born 
 as early as 1G34-35. If Susannah was his mother, 
 neither of the above expressions seems natural or 
 prol)able. 
 
 Having mentioned these preliminary points, I 
 will set out what seems to bear upon our question 
 gathered on this side of the Atlantic and tlien what 
 has been discovered on the otlu^- si(h' of it, in 
 Enghind. 
 
 7'houias Low (1) was born about 1G05, as is in- 
 dicated by a deposition made Ity liim in complaint 
 of l^uller r. Lee, Essex Court Files, book 5, leaf 
 '**<(), and Avas sworn in court held at Ipswich the 
 25tli of Septend)er 1600, in Avhich his age is given 
 as about 55. 
 
 His daughter Sarah dci)osed at tlie same time 
 that she was about 23. 
 
 Tho)i)us Low (2) was born al)out l(;31-32 as he 
 was eiglity years old when he died 12 April 1712. 
 Ftis tombstone in Essex churdiyard says SO years 
 of age. There is no mention of achlitional months 
 and davs. The New England Historical and 
 
Geiienl(),uif':il Kofiisloi-, voliiuic 7 pa,i2,o 83 says 
 "Thouuis Low ai;o(l 37 in KKIS." 
 
 .]/(ir(/(ir(i , (Ijuinliter of Tlioiiuis Low (1) is sup- 
 posed to come after Tlioinas {'2) in llie family 
 althoui"!! slie was manied before liim, 8 April H'>~uJ 
 Thomas did not mari-y until 4 July 1()(»0, when lie 
 was twenty-nine. 
 
 John /.ovr made a dei)osition, Se])t. 24, 11)78; Vide 
 Book 21) leaf 75 and r>ook 31 leaf 75, the deposition 
 being recorded in duplicate; iiivinii, liis age as about 
 13 years, making the year of his birth iibont 1()35. 
 
 (SV/rf/// Loir, as stated above, seems to liave been 
 born in 1G37. 
 
 The use of the word "about" in connection with 
 all the above, except Thomas (2), leaves room for 
 some divergence frohi perfect accuracy, bnt it is 
 fair to assume a more or less approximate degree 
 of correctness. 
 
 The first John Choate in America accoTding to 
 the book "Choates in America," page XI, is said to 
 have been •**T)ronght over by ^Ir. LowT" The same 
 book is of the opinion that he was the J(»hn Choate 
 l>aptized at (Jroton Church, county Suffolk, Eng- 
 land, 6 -Tune 1(>21. This date conforms to his known 
 age in lOdl. Vide Probate Conrt files in Salem, 
 ^lass. lie i)i-oliably came fi'om the same neighbor- 
 hood in England as Thomas Low, who brought him 
 over. 
 
 The above information was gathered on this side, 
 of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 Now I will set forth some facts gathered in Eng- 
 land, with the assistance of ^h\ Vincent 1>. Red- 
 stone, E. R. nist. Soc. and Vice President of the 
 Suffolk Institute of Arclupology and Natural Ilis- 
 torv, of Woodbridge, countv Suffolk, who has made 
 
6 
 
 a special study of the families of Suffolk, liaving 
 also completed a transcript of the Ilegistei" liills 
 of the Archdeaconry of Sndbnry, Eng. for the years 
 1580-1(137. These bills are the annual returns made 
 l)v incumbents of the entries to be found in their 
 parish registers. 
 
 1. The register of Polstead, county Suffolk, con- 
 tains the following suguestive entry — 77/ os. Lowe & 
 Marf/arct Tod married 22 June 1G30. This seems 
 to have siguilicance from the place, the name of the 
 bride and the date. 
 
 a. The place, Polstead, is in Southern Suffolk 
 about three miles E. by S. from Assington, ^vhere 
 Rev. Nathaniel Rogers was rector, 1630-35. 
 
 From a Little Guide to Suffolk by Wm. A. Dutt, 
 published by Methuen & Co. of London in 1904, I 
 extract a few notes, pp. 27G, 277. 
 
 "Polstead is a scattered village in the valley of 
 the P.ox. The church contains some good Norman 
 work" &c. 
 
 "The register contains the surnames of several 
 of the original emigrants to America, including 
 those of some persons who went over in the May- 
 flower. Near the church is an ancient tree known 
 as the Gospel Oak, believed to be thirteen hundred 
 years old, and probably the oldest in the county.'' 
 
 h. The name of the bi-ide "Margaret" is that of 
 the eldest daughter of our Thomas Low (1) in 
 America. 
 
 c. The date of the marriage is suitable with refer- 
 ence to the birth of our Thomas Low in 1031. 
 
 2. The register of (}roto)i cJiiircJi, county Suffolk, 
 ^yhere ./o/m Choate was ba])tiz<Ml, June 1024, gives 
 
 Tlionuifi JjOirr, son of Thomas iS: Afargaivt Lowe 
 bapl. S May, 103L 
 
(iroto)i is 31/2 niilos Nortli AVcsl of rolslcad and 
 % of a mile from lioxford, whicli lies betwoeii them. 
 ^Ir. Kcdstoiic iiifoi-ms uic tlia) I'oxfoi'd was (lie 
 home of the Tod family. 
 
 3. The Bo.i-ford rei>istei* J4ives 
 
 M(ir</(irct, (.huiiihter of 'foJin &. Maiiiarei Lowe 
 ba]). 17 June 1(532 
 
 John, son of Thomas cV: ^rai-,<»aret Lowe hap. 2 
 Mar. 1(;33. The rector of Uoxford parish told 
 Mr. Redstone that "John" in the 1632 entry is a 
 probable mistake, similar to others which appear 
 to have been made by a Mr. Beale, who was paid to 
 make a copy of a former register of paper upon 
 parchment of that period. No other mention is 
 made in the register of a John Lowe with wife jNIar- 
 garet. These are the latest Lowe entries in the 
 register. Thomas and Margaret disap])ear after 
 the last entry. If Thomas and his family went to 
 Mass. in 163G, Sarah, boru in 1037, mnst have been 
 American born. 
 
 So Ave find that a Thomas Lowe in England had 
 children, Thomas, Margaret, John, born 1031, 1032 
 and 1633. The correspondence with Thomas Low, 
 (or Loe, or LoAve,) in America with children, 
 Thomas, Margaret and John, Thomas born in 1031, 
 Margaret, between that date and John, and John 
 about 1635, is striking. It is quite possible that 
 John was somewhat incorrect as to his age. This 
 has been found to be so in the case of another im- 
 migrant, to the extent of two years. 
 
 It is also probable, I learn, that 1633 includes 
 the part of 1631 up to Easter, when the annmil 
 parish returns were made for the archdeaconry 
 records at Sudbury. There is also to be considered 
 the lack of perfect accuracy on the part of Mr. 
 
8 
 
 Beale, the copyist above-mentioned, who may have 
 written 1(;33 instead of 1035. 
 
 Altogether, both Mr. Redstone and I incline to 
 the opinion that the Thomas Loire, who mai-ried 
 Mar<iarct Tod at Polstead, is probably the Thomas 
 Low (1) of Mass., with children Thomas, Mar- 
 garet, John and Sarah. Of course, it is not a cer- 
 tainty, bnt rather a probability. The loss of early 
 records in Thebacco makes a demonstration ex- 
 tremely difticnlt, if not impossible. 
 
 Wm. G. Low. 
 
 [lO^TRl 
 
LS!}^^L°^ CONGRESS 
 
 III „, 
 
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