Henry Dow

• General Notes
  • Henry, to be known as a progenitor of the largest American family, was at twenty five a farmer in Ormsby. He had a little inheritance from his mother, more than enough to equip his holding of land. Ormsby is not far from Runham. Its parish register was copied in 1880 by Rev R. S. Blofield, rector. In it occur three important items, which prove that Henry, born 1606 of Runham is Henry of Ormsby and America:
    
    Edward Dow and Elizabeth Robbins were married ye xxvii of January, anno Dom 1628.
    Henry Dow and Jan Nud was married ye 11 February 1630 Anno Domini 1631
    Thomas doue filius Thomas Doue et Joane uxoris ejus vicesimo Septi mo die December baptirjatus fuit.
    
    The mention of the father as Thomas is an obvious pen slip. We follow the youngster to America, where he died at ten.
    It is clear that brothers Edward and Henry were together as husbandmen in Ormsby, that each found a wife there, that the ties of Runham gradually were loosed as Ormsby ties grew strong. What happended to Edward we have not traced. Of Henry's path, the account is faily ample. Of Joan Nudd we know but little: not her maiden name. She was twenty-three at her marriage and had a baby boy. Her husband was Roger Nudd, son of John, who died in Ormsby 1629. Probably Henry and Roger were fellow farmers. The Nudds were numerous in Norfolk, mostly in the seaward parish. Vital rec. of that parish are not extant prior to 1671. The Nudd affairs are fully discussed under the chapter of Thomas Nudd, immigrant of 1637.
    Under what circumstances Henry and Joan became dissenters is not known. They were of the established church in 1630. There arose in Ormsby a great deal of dissatisfaction, religious and otherwise. This crystallized into a determination of seven families to try the New World. It was an arrangement planned long in advance and was consummated on the same boat. Hotten's Original Lists give all the families, who afterwards appear together in Hampton, N.H., the Page, Moulton, Marston families intermarried with Dow with especial frequency. It has often been asserted, with more or less cynicism, that a desire to better one's material condition was the paramount reason for going to America, desire for religious freedom being very secondary. It may be that these people were at no time dissenters in England. They had to be, in Massachusetts Bay, for there were no others. That all of them were of strong religious feeling is sure. No others could stand the intensely religious atmosphere of New England, a situation in which one must travel a very narrow path of rectitude, almost all ordinary pleasures being outside the pale. If the percentage of immigrants whose motive was improvement of material conditions and not intense religiousness had been at large, the stern puritan life could not have maintained its iron grip, but would have degenerated into the free and easy morals of Virginia during the same period. In Massachusetts Bay all were of the persuasion which became Congregationalism, in contrast to that of the Plymouth colony whos notion of Government became Presbyterianism.
    In the Rolls Office, Chancery Lane, London, is a small parchment-bound volume labelled on the cover:
    
    TC 27. 979 A A. D. 1637 13 Car. 1
    
    This is filled with entries of persons "desirous to pass beyond seas" and consists of 16 pp, most of which are taken up by names of Puritan on the way to Holland. The contents has been copied into Hotten's Original Lists, Drake's Founders of New England, etc.
    The entry vital to us is:
    
    "These people went to New England: with William: Andrewes: of Ipswich M'r of the : John: and Dorethy: of Ipswich and with William Andrewes his son M'r of the Rose: of Yarmouth April the 11th 1637. The examination of Henerey Dowe of Ormsby in Norff Husbandman, ageed 29 yeares and Joane: his wife ageed 30 yeares with four children, and one Saruant Ann Maning aged 17 yeares, are desirous to passe into New England to inhabitt."
    
    This is all clear. Henry Dow of Ormsby married the widow of his friend, a year older than himsel, took her baby boy; had three children of his own and was able to start with a servant. This latter does not indicate affluence. Passage to America was very costly. Young men and women of good family gladly indentured themselves for a long term if the employer would pay the passage. It was in this way that Margaret Cole, who became Henry Dow's second wife, came to Dedham with the family of Mitchill Metcalfe. But, it does show that Henry was decidedly thrifty or charitable to bring the maid. Of Ann Manning, saruant ageed 17 nothing further appears; no doubt she found a husband as soon as her term of service was up. The Andrewes, father and son were in the regular business of carrying emigrants across, so they do not appear again in these pages.
    From Henry Dow are descended nearly three-fifths of all the Dows of America. The party landed in Boston after a long voyage, no details of which have appeared. One child either died on voyage or on land before Watertown statistics were begun. How and why Henry parted from his companions we do not know. All but he turned up 1640 in Hampton and asked him to join them there. Henry proceeded almost at once to Watertown, just being settled about ten miles west of Boston. Presumably the selection of the place was influenced by the opportunity to become a grantee on equal terms, with allotment of land free. No settler in those days had to buy land unless it was thought desirable to pay the Indians for a title. He remained seven years in Watertown, a very inconspicuous citizen. He was admitted a freeman May 2, 1638, but held no office in his town. In fact, the only mentions of him in Watertown are in the land records and vital statistics. He could have had free land in Hampton in 1640, but decided not to accept it. There is reason to think that he stayed in Watertown until the land boomed. In a few years the settled place commanded a price at which the original settlers took profits and moved on to begin anew and clear forest land. We know that Henry Dow left Watertown a moderate capitalist.
    In Lands, Grants & Possessions, first Inventory, we find:
    
    Henry Dow
    1. An Homestall of Eight acres more of less bounded of the East with Hill street and west with William Rix the North with Thomas Hastings & the South with Robert Veazey.
    2. A farm of Ninety seven acres of Upland in the 5 division.
    
    In the third Inventory is entered:
    
    1. An HOmestall of Eight Acres by estimation bounded on the East with the highway the West with Thomas Smith and Eliz Barron the North with Thomas Boyson & the South with William Godfree in his possession.
    
    Clearly, between the two inventories an almost complete change of adjacent land ownership had taken place, the original settlers selling out to new comers. Henry's farm has not been placed, no effort having been made. The home was on the west side of School Street.
    An entry of April 9, 1638:
    A Division of Land at Y'e Townplott, Henry Dow    Six acres
    
    In 1642:
    
    Ordered that all the Townes Men that had no farms laid out formerly shall take them by ten in a Division, and to cast Lotts for the severall Divisions allowing 13 acres of Upland to every head of Persons and cattle.
                                               Lott:                         No of lot
    Henry Dow             Ninety seven acres              102
    
    The little book of Watertown vital records is extant:
    
    The Records of the Births, Deathes and MArriages in Watertown ---Keppt according to the order of Cout Made in the yeare 1638:
    
    p 6. 1638 Joseth Dow of Henry and Jone Dow borne the 20'd -- 11 mo
    p 9 of the book is blank, the clerk having neglected his duty, but what belongs there is in the records of the Clerk of the Court of Middlesex Co.:
    
    1640 Joan the wife of Henry Dow buried 20 (4)
    1641 Daniell the son of Henry & Margaret Dow borne 22 (7)
    Thomas the son of Henry & Jone Dow buried 10 (5)
    1643 Mary the daughter of Henry & Margaret Dow borne 14 (7)
    
    In the transcript of Don Gleason Hill of the First Church (of Dedham):
    Margarette Cole our sister by p'dence being maried to a brother of Watertown named Dow was dismissed to y't Church 1643. The wedding was not at Watertown.
    
    Thus is recorded the birth of Joseph Dow, first Dow ever born in America, whos posterity is the most numerous; also the death of his older brother; the death of his mother at 33, twice a wife, five times a mother; the birth of two new children, following his father's speedy remarriage. We must not accuse Henry of idelicacy. In primitive New England life for a man without a wife's help was hard indeed; for a woman without help from a husband harder yet; for children without both parents almost unsupportable. Margaret Cole had known Henry Dow in Ormsby, had come to America in 1639 with the Metcalfe family and had settled in Dedham. She was indentured, just as Ann Manning had been, and was younger than Henry Dow. In First Church Dedham:
    Margaret Coole, a maid servant, giving good satisfaction to ye church was received in ye 3rd month of this yeare, 1639.
    Others from Ormsby were admitted about the same time. Margaret survived her husband by 16 years; she married second August 23, 1661 to Richard Kimball of Ipswich. He was of Watertown 1641 to 1644 and came then to know the Dows.
    In 1644 the time was ripe to move. Henry sold out all his lands and started overland for Hampton. In that town is an entry:
    June 16, 1640, grant of a house to Henry Dow, if her come.
    Evidently he had thought then of moving. But, he had become an astute land speculator. In 1644 he got enough for his Watertown property to buy treble (triple) the property offered as a gift. In 1644 he bought his house lot from John Sanders, freeman, of Ipswich in 1634, who came early to Hampton, but sold out, went to Newbury, returning finally to Hampton. In 1649 Henry bought the homestead of William Wakefield, freeman of 1638, who moved to Newbury in 1646. It was from this latter plot that Henry set off 10 acres for Thomas Nudd as his home. He bought a house already built from John Sanborn (where the store of J. J. Leavitt stood in 1890). The original Sanders purchase was on the road from Hampton village to Hampton Beach, about 1 1/2 miles from the ocean. In the part of the town now known as Boar's Head was the Oxe Common, land where the share holders pastured. The Cow Common was divided in 1645 into 147 shares and allotted to proprietors of house lots,
    Hen: Dow receiving 3 shares by virtue of proportionate lot owning.
    The homestead remained long in the family, sold by Olive Dow, unmarried, of the sixth generation.
    The fates were much kinder in Hampton than in Watertown. Henry was there a man of influence, his merits known. Of course, currency was scarce to all alike and it was wholly in the usual conduct of business that Henry in 1650 binds himself to pay a debt in good mercatable wheat. He was sesectman in 1651, Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts 1655-6. He traded briskly in real estate at all times. In 1650 he sells to Manuel Hiliard a 10 acre house lot and 3 acres of salt march for money. He signs his name this year as Doue. February 16, 1659, he made provision for his oldest son:
    a house and barn bought from Thomas Sleeper, 100 rods of adjoining land, a share of the oxe common, the share of the cow common bought from Thomas Sleeper, also 5 acres of planting ground in the east field.
    He was appointed with two others to examine the land grants and highways, but died before this was completed, on April 21, 1659. He was one of the dozen men of Hampton always styled "gentleman" and as "Mr."
    All men and women of early Hampton attended strictly to their religious obervances. In the meeting house every detail was arranged:
    All the men to sett at the west end and all the women to sett at the east end and the devotion to be at the greet poest that is betwin the two windos. Second seat: hen grene hene dou steu Sanborn tho louit wi fifield jo merian. Margaret Cole Dow sat by ould mistris husse her dafter husse goody swaine goody pebody goody brown mistris stanyen Mary Perkinges.
    
    Bro Page and Bro: Dow were the commmittee to negotiate for the services of Rev. Seaborn Cotton after the resignation of Rev. Wheelwright.
    Ten years prior to making his last will and testament, Henry Dow filed the following, now in Probate Court at Exeter:
    Upon a promise made unto my former wife that if I were the longer liver I would make him as my own sonne, he now being grown to man's estate, I doe now and freely give and grant unto Thomas Nudd, my sonne in law to him and his heirs a parcell of lande out of my house lott, containing 10 acres be it more of lesse, etc."
    
    Thus God, who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, proved kind to little Tommy Nudd, to whom was given a stepfather before he was 2 and a stepmother at 12. His name occurs with that of his half-brother Henry many times as witness, etc. In 1648 he was official keeper of the calves at a princely salary of 11 pounds a year. The job was no sinecure; he drove all calves to the common at sunrise and separated each to its home at sunset. In the list of the first selectmen of Hampton his name appears among five. This was error, perhaps arising from his position keeping calves. He had a share in the Common, the gift of Henry Dow. In 1663 the shares were Henry Dow 1, Daniel Dow 1, bought form Nicholas Boulter, Henry's widow 1.
    The original of Henry's will is on file in Salem, Mass. It reads:
    The last Will and testament of Henry Dowe of Hampton, being sick and weake of body but sound of understanding and memorie:
    Item: I give and bequethe to Margerite my loveing wyfe my house lott being by estimation tenn acres more or lesse and six acres of fresh meadow at the springs, and one share of the cowes Common, three of my cowe and the dwelling house uppon the aforesaid, and my household stuff, excepting what shall be otherways disposed of.
    Item: I give and bequethe unto my Sonne Henry Dowe all the planting ground that is in my hands in the East Field, and my seventeen acres of Salt march, and one share of the Cowe commons, and one share of the Oxe Common and all my cattell excepting the three Coess abovesaid.
    Item: to my Sonne Henry one feather bed wch hee useth to lie uppon and all the bed clothes thereunto belonging and the middlemost iron pott, and I do by these presents make and appoint my Sonne Henry my sole executor to this my last will and testament.
    Item: I do give and bequeath unto my Sonne Joseph the sum of thirty pounds to be paid when he shall arrive to the age of twenty and one years.
    Item: I doe give and bequeath unto my Sonne Daniell and to my daughters Mary and Hannah five pounds apiece to be paid to them when they arrive to their ages of twenty and one years.
    Item: I give unto my Sonne Thomas and to my Sonne Jeremei five pounds apeece to be paid to them att the age of one and twenty years, and after my wyfes decease, the house and house lott and six acres of meadow to returne into the hands of my executor. In case that he please to resigne up the house and fifty rods of ground which was sometimes possessed by Thomas Sleeper into the hands of my Sonne Joseph, and to pay unto my five youngest children abovesaid five and twenty pounds, that is to say, five pounds apeece to be payd, five pounds to the Eldest the yeare after my wyfe decease, and so five pounds a yeare to the younger untill the summe of five pounds be payd to the youngest; and still with this proviso, that in case my Sonne Henry bee not willing to leave the place where Thomas Sleeper lived and take the land aforesaid after my wyfes decease upon the conditions above named, then the said house and house lott with the six acres of meadow are to return to my Sonne Joseph, who upon the taking possession is to undertake for the paying of the twenty five pounds above s'd to my five youngest children according to the terms mentioned.
    Item: I give unto my wyfe two of the best of my swine, and so much of the corne in the house as may maintaine hir and my Children untill harvest, and the corn till harvest bee twenty bushells.
    To this my last will and testament I set my hand and Seale ye 16th 2nd mo 1659.
                                                           Henry Dowe
                                                         with seale to it
       Witness
    Robert X Page
        his mark
    Sam Dalton
    
    This is the only appearance of Samuel Dalton, substantial citizen of Hampton. Robert Page was shipmate from Ormsby.  Henry Dow (b. 1634) married his daughter and then his daughter-in-law.
    The estate was carefully administered, as was customary in those days, and the appraisal made by three disinterested experts. Some of the valuations now seem very high, some very low. Salt marsh, for its hay very easy to cut, was the most valuable land and its abundance was the primary cause of choosing Hampton for settlement.On the invention of the mowing machine, salt marsh fell in a year from very high prices to almost nothing. There is a true inventory of Henry Dow's lands and goods in Robert P. Dow's Book of the Dows on page 33-34.
    
    A very interesting item had been dug out by William G. Nichols, who notes incidentally that John Huggins of Dedham disappears from that town simultaneously with the appearance of John Huggins in Hampton, where he remained permanently. The record of Suffolk deeds notes that 23 (10) 1643 Richard Cole late of Hampton for 5 pounds sells to Henry Dove (or Doue) of Watertown his lott and appurtenances in Hampton, provided that if said Richard Cole shall return to this country within three years and will satisfy the said 5 pounds and other charges he shall have his lot back agian.
    We remember that Margaret Cole came from Ormsby with the Metcalfe family as a servant, the usual custom. It is clear that some connection exists between Margaret and Richard Cole. If her were her father one might suppose that they would come to America together and that no homesickness for old England would induce Richard to return without her. It is more likely that he was her brother and had come on a later vessel. It is evident that he acquired his Hampton property long before Henry Dow decided to move to Hampton. Richard had gone to England before September 1643. Perhaps Henry Dow drove a sharp bargain with his brother-in-law. Perhaps, however, he acted in all kindness, advancing money to Richard in full expectation that the latter would redeem his lot. As Richard did not come back at all, Henry Dow added a rare bargain to his land holdings. We note that Henry did not use this lot, but bought a place when he came to Hampton in 1644.